Yale Class of 2018 SCEA Discussion thread

<p>The admission cycle for the Class of 2018 has officially opened. Best of luck to all SCEA applicants!</p>

<p>I wish that the supplements were live! I have all this anxious energy built up! Hahaā€¦ Iā€™m just waiting for admissions season to end to know where Iā€™ll be for sure.</p>

<p>I wish you all the best of luckā€¦ but my88keys - admission season is a long and arduous process full of ups and downs. Itā€™s one of those things where you just have to submit and forget until (if youā€™re lucky) dec 15th or April 1st. If any of you guys have questions, Iā€™m a Yale class of 2017 student. I might be able to shed some light on the various questions that will inevitably pop up. And yesā€¦I will chance you if you want a truly honest ā€˜chancingā€™ from a Yalie that just finished the admissions process 4ish months ago.</p>

<p>Does applying as a junior have an adverse affect on me?
Going to do NROTC program as well.
Thanks!</p>

<p>Seriously consider not applying SCEA though. They explicitly state that your chances do not increase in the early rounds so you should decide whether you have the entire package of test scores, essays, awards etc. or not before the end of the first semester. All you have to do is look at my profile to see that Iā€™ve been wanting to go to this school for quite a while, but I am choosing to apply RD. The extra time for essays, awards, and senior grades (you can update Yale throughout the year) may make you a MUCH stronger candidate and present your best file to the committee. Iā€™m not saying ā€œstrategizeā€ and apply early to schools that you donā€™t really want to attend compared to Yale; just donā€™t view the November 1st deadline as absolute.</p>

<p>Hi, I applied to Yale SCEA last year. I was deferred, and got really depressed for a few days, improved my application and got into a lot of great schools (including Princeton and a full scholarship at Duke) RD thanks to the experience I got from SCEA.</p>

<p>So even though Yale was my first choice (well, my first choice that my parents found acceptable), it turned into a practice session for the real deal. If I had instead SCEAd for my second choice and then applied to Yale RD, I might be going somewhere else next Fall.</p>

<p>So ā€” be really thoughtful about SCEA. Definitely, definitely do it. Somewhere. I cannot understate the value of having a round two when it comes to college admissions. This was one of the first ā€œpermanentā€ efforts Iā€™ve attempted in my life, and being able to build experience helped me just as much as reading books like Admissions Confidential (READ BOOKS LIKE ADMISSIONS CONFIDENTIAL).</p>

<p>And when you get deferred (admit it, you probably will), just accept it as one of lifeā€™s turns. Be a Comeback Kid.</p>

<p>And donā€™t ever become a cynical old geezer.</p>

<p>Definitely applying SCEA. I really wonā€™t get much more of an advantage from the few minor awards Iā€™ll get in November and December. Stanfordā€™s actually my top choice, but Stanford only allows you to take the October SAT for Early Action, while Yale lets you take October and November, and I need to boost my scores as well as take a couple of subject tests. </p>

<p>If I get deferred/rejected from Yaleā€™s SCEA, then I can still apply to all the other schools I want to attend. If I get accepted, Iā€™m only applying to Stanford and saving about $500 in application fees. If Stanford accepts me RD, then I get into my dream school, and if not, Yaleā€™s nothing to complain about.</p>

<p>Itā€™s a win-win-win, unless the incredibly likely event of me not getting into either schools occurs, in which case I have plenty of fallback schools.</p>

<p>SCEA is great experienceā€¦I did it to Harvard early and got deferred. I altered my supplement to Yale accordingly and got in. Not saying thatā€™s how it is for everyone, but you definitely learn some lessons.</p>

<p>Yale is my first choice, so Iā€™m hoping that I get in! Iā€™d love to get in SCEA, just so I could cut down my application fees and work. Plus, thatā€™d make for a nice Christmas. But, if I donā€™t, there are still a lot of good schools out there that I will apply to (and hopefully get into some). I feel like my brain goes from being excited about Yale to reminding myself I probably wonā€™t get in.</p>

<p>Iā€™m trying not to spend too much time on CC, so I donā€™t get too pessimistic.</p>

<p>^^Same! Every time I think about Yale, an image of a rejection letter in my head forces me to consider my chances.</p>

<p>I just wish theyā€™d get on the Common App already. I absolutely abhor waiting.</p>

<p>I think Iā€™ll apply SCEA to Yale or ED to Penn LSM. Iā€™m visiting both in a few weeks. </p>

<p>But yeah, I wish the supplement was up too :(</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice @Philo. </p>

<p>Iā€™m an international (Canadian) student and I donā€™t know. Many kids I know who got in from my country had bigger awards (mostly international - mine are nationalish) but I like Yale and will just give it a shot. I have low expectations, nowadays.</p>

<p>Finally! Yale is up!</p>

<p>I have a really low (3.3 unweighted, 3.5 weighted) gpa and I know that if I apply regular decision there is no way I will stand out amongst 26.000 people with better grades. Do you think that I have a better (if anyā€¦) chance at getting accepted Early? Everything other than my grades is good. My essay has been edited by multiple teachers and my counselor, I have many extra curriculars, recommendations should be good, and Iā€™m taking the ACT in a few weeks. Iā€™ve taken many practice tests and my score should be somewhere in the 29-32 range. </p>

<p>What do you think?</p>

<p>I wouldnā€™t. Both the GPA and the ACT are on the very low end of Yale. You might actually have less of a chance early than regular. Iā€™d wait until regular and focus on getting a 34+ on the ACT and bringing up your GPA.</p>

<p>Bump on 5ovietā€™s question even though I am not a Yale SCEA applicant (questbridge).</p>

<p>You can apply as a junior I believe, but I wouldnā€™t necessarily recommend it unless youā€™ve totally exhausted your HSā€™ curriculum/experiences and aced all your standardized testing. Personally, I wouldnā€™t want to miss out on senior year of high school, so I wouldnā€™t, but you can if you want to.</p>

<p>is the SCEA common app yale supplementā€™s deadline really novemember 1 now?</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I donā€™t know why youā€™re saying now. Itā€™s always been Nov. 1</p>

<p>@cvn70jsf35, @Philovitist, @killbeefgoham and others who have can answer:</p>

<p>You mentioned that you altered your common app to make it better for RD round? What did you change? Any general advice for people who are trying to get into these top schools SCEA?
Also, Iā€™ve always heard of people saying to ā€œpackage yourselfā€ to present to admissions in the application. Could anyone clarify that? Do they mean like make sure your passion is shown in multiple parts of the application?</p>