Yale Class of 2018 SCEA Discussion thread

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
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<p>^
[Partnership</a> with Columbia | Barnard College](<a href=“http://barnard.edu/about/columbia-partnership]Partnership”>Our Partnership with Columbia University | Barnard College)</p>

<p>The University and the College are intertwined in countless ways: Students at each institution can take courses at the other, live in the same residence halls, share access to twenty-two libraries, and compete together in the Columbia-Barnard Athletic Consortium. Barnard students receive the diploma of the University signed by the presidents of both institutions, and the College is represented in the University Senate. At the same time, Barnard is legally separate and financially independent from the University; sets its own student fees; has a separate endowment, administration and faculty, and admissions office; and undertakes its own fund-raising. Barnard provides education to all university undergraduates in architecture, dance, education, theater, and urban studies, while programs in computer science, statistics, and engineering are centered at Columbia.</p>

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<p>arwarw: Thanks! Very cool. Good luck to your daughter…</p>

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<p>Thanks WWWard - good luck to your daughter as well!</p>

<p>Regarding visits: my daughter found them eye opening - a few schools that looked great on paper were nixed after the visit, and a few schools that she was not overly excited about were moved up her list after the visit. If possible, have your daughter meet with students and professors in her area(s) of interest and attend classes. There is really nothing like a visit.</p>

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<p>We will certainly try to do exactly that… Thanks, arwarw</p>

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<p>@WWWard Before I visited, I honestly wasn’t even considering it at all. I didn’t want to stay in-state for college, and I hate humidity so Houston’s weather was another big negative. However, I didn’t actually know anything about Rice itself, and when I visited, I fell in love. (Sounds cheesy, but it’s true.) The biggest reasons why I love Rice so much are the fact that they’re really strong in the sciences (huge emphasis on research, plenty of opportunities outside of class esp. with the Texas Medical Center right across the street) and they have a really great social culture that’s supported by the residential college system. Plus they have a very unique/quirky student body and personality, and that really really appealed to me. It’s hard to put into words, but it just felt right.
I’d be extremely fortunate to get into Yale, but if I don’t, I would be just as ecstatic to get into Rice.
And arwarw is definitely right about college visits. Visiting had a HUGE impact on me and my perceptions of the schools I was looking at. It’s the best way to get a sense of the school and feel what it’s really like. Some of the schools on my list weren’t as amazing as I’d thought before visiting, and some schools I hadn’t even considered suddenly shot up to the top of my list.</p>

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<p>Thanks, thelemonisinplay. I would dare say that you are truly fortunate then to have been inspired by a couple options at least. Hopefully you will gain admission to both schools, and then be faced with that tough decision between them. And hopefully my daughter will be equally as inspired after visiting her main prospects. </p>

<p>Being in Florida, we certainly understand humidity… and a change of seasons is one of the key things that my D is looking for… aside from a quality education of course :)</p>

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<p>Quality education is one of the things I’m not looking very closely at, at least not for deciding where out of my acceptances I’ll go to. That sounds bad so let me explain. Yes, I want an education, and hopefully a good one, but I don’t think there is a huge difference between the colleges I applied to. I come from a very good school, but even here there are some teachers that I don’t think are very good, and its more the students that make our school as strong as it is. And even in good universities, there will be bad and good teachers. I’ve sat in on a class a JHU where a professor made a subject I love seem painfully boring, and I’ve sat in on a Rutgers Grad student that managed to intrigue me in a subject that was so-so for me. How good a teacher is depends on your own temperament anyways. The colleges I applied to are all academically strong so I’m sure I’ll be able to learn something at least from all of them, and I’m not going to think too much about minute differences in how they rank academically. After all, what the difference between number 4 and number 14 out of thousands of colleges? What I choose will mostly be based money, distance, weather, and most importantly, the community. Community, by the way, is why I Yale is my first choice over schools like Princeton and Harvard. </p>

<p>Sorry, this went on much longer than I imagined, but I just had this discussion with my parents. Just my thoughts.</p>

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<p>No problem WWWard! I think I rambled quite a lot, haha, but I hope it helped at least. And thank you! That would be simultaneously the best and worst decision to have to make, honestly, but I’m fairly confident that if I got into Yale there’s no way I would go anywhere else.</p>

<p>Haha I can completely understand that. Best of luck to your daughter! Hopefully she’ll be in a position where she’ll have to make a choice between some truly fantastic schools in just a few months ;)</p>

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<p>Wow, thanks to everyone for contributing what they know about each college. I visited all ivy leagues this summer and yale was definitely my favorite. After hearing about Columbia, I’m not sure if that’s my second choice anymore. Looks like Brown would be a better choice. Two of my close family friends chose Brown over Yale and they both love it there!</p>

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<p>How are you guys going to check your decisions? I personally will put a blindfold over my eyes, ask someone else to open the page, and then (if I don’t hear the bulldog singing) take off my blindfold and slowly read the letter backwards from the bottom, mitigating my crescendo of sadness.</p>

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<p>I think I’ll start a movie an 30 minutes before hand, and pause it after 45 minutes, then turn down the sound (cause I feel like the noise or absence of will be terrifying) and quickly read through it. If I don’t get in, I can go finish my movie and it’ll be chill. If I do, I’ll celebrate, and then finish my movie anyways, because why not.</p>

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<p>I find this entire process fascinating. And as a parent, I do think that this college selection decision is likely one of the biggest decisions that an adult will ever make in their lifetime, so I am hoping that my two girls choose wisely. It is also why I would like my D to have a # of options to choose from when it comes time to decide.</p>

<p>I failed to do so for myself. I only applied to 3 schools.</p>

<p>I also think it is very interesting how the list changes over time for a # of applicants… due to campus visits, greater research, the influence of peers, teachers, counselors, etc. I just had a discussion with my daughter, and she is now very negative on Princeton and Dartmouth, for example. This is based on student reviews/feedback & the apparent isolation factor of the schools’ environments… i.e. small towns or even rural settings. </p>

<p>Her dream list, in order, is now basically just Yale, Brown, Columbia, Penn and Duke. And in her mind’s eye, there is a clear separation between Yale/Brown and the others. Brown especially seems to be overrun with students who simply love it there :slight_smile: </p>

<p>But as it is so hard to predict acceptance into just one or two schools, I will simply have to hope that we return to Florida in early January, after numerous campus visits, with her feeling comfortable with all 5 of those options. And then hopefully she will get into one or more of those quality programs.</p>

<p>And I do not really see other applicants as competitors in this process. I genuinely hope that every applicant succeeds in finding a quality match. Clearly, it is impossible for every one to gain admission to their dream scenario, but it would be great if every high school senior could graduate looking confidently and enthusiastically toward their college years. </p>

<p>I wish such for each of you… Good Luck</p>

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<p>Hi everyone! I am a ball of nerves right now, so it’s nice hearing from people with the same nervous anxiety :P. I wish y’all luck. </p>

<p>Marioandluigi - I am tempted to just wait until all my supplements are done to check. I don’t know how great my self-control is, but at least whatever happens, I will be able to apply to my other schools without feeling drained. At that point, I think I will just treat it like a bandaid and check it quickly - avoid prolonging the pain XD. Although your method sounds much more interesting. Sound is dead on my computer, so I can’t follow your methods.</p>

<p>Just my two-cents: do something fun after decisions come out, no matter what happens. Be it eating pho with friends and curling up with a book, I think we all deserve a little break.</p>

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<p>i like the movie idea :slight_smile: though i can’t because i have semester exams that week and I have to run a club meeting on that Tuesday so I’ll be checking at school</p>

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<p>This generation is oh so lucky. You will at least be able to find out instantly using any web-enabled device of your choosing. In my day, we were at the mercy of the U.S. Postal Service, and we had to make that daily trip to the mailbox… looking for the thin or thick envelopes… lol. And of course some friends got their envelopes before others, etc.</p>

<p>I have even heard of people filming themselves as they log-on to learn their fate… with the lucky ones then posting the videos on youtube, etc.</p>

<p>However you choose to orchestrate the Big Reveal… Best of Luck.</p>

<p>And the good news… it is now just 13 days away… :)</p>

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<p>Does anyone know how competitive the applicant pool really is? Roughly half of the scea applicants at my school have test scores below the 25th percentile for Y, a few mildly interesting ec’s, and generic essays (they told me they wrote them within a week). I know my sample size is extremely small, but it seems like the kids on CC have a significant advantage (or more initiative) in that they know the ins and outs of ivy admissions. Looking at past years’ results threads, it seems like the kids accepted are those who can sort of craft “the whole package” for themselves (e.g. High test scores, great recs, meaningful essays etc). Freshman year I had this notion that top schools were reserved for “geniuses”, but now I take solace in the fact that Yale or any of its peers will take a student who is not only well rounded, but is also able to fully utilize his/her resources to make an impact in the community. I made the most of what I had, and this gives me a sliver of hope for the 17th, however small that sliver may be.</p>

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<p>there’s no other SCEA students to yale from my school other than me (but i know some doing princeton, columbia, harvard, mit, JHU, etc.), but i still think it’s going to be extremely competitive</p>

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<p>We’ve had someone get into yale early (two kids last year) from my school for the past two years. I don’t know anyone else from my school applying. Most people are going for harvard, stanford, penn etc. I doubt this means anything, though.
I think most people think Yalies/other ivy league students are “geniuses” who just study and do nothing else. If only more people read college confidential, I suppose…</p>

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<p>cross your fingers :slight_smile:
12 days
22 hours</p>

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<p>Looking at past results threads here on CC and evaluating the stats and credentials of those who were deferred and outright rejected, I would have to characterize the process as highly competitive. And the percentages tend to speak for themselves. Only around 14% of SCEA applicants on average are accepted initially and then only around 5% of those deferred are finally accepted RD. I am confident though that Yale evaluates every applicant fully and really looks to accept all that they can. But there is a limit… and most will be disappointed. And as a total application pool is finally analyzed, only around 6.7% will have been accepted. That seems to be the very definition of competitive. </p>

<p>Good Luck…</p>