Yale Class of 2018 SCEA Discussion thread

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
541

<p>Unless your hooked (and even then), its beyond competitive. Yale RD rate last year was 5.3%. Columbia, Harvard and Princeton RD rates were 5.6%, 3.8% and 5.4%, respectively. Picture 100 bright kids in a room and only 4 or 5 are called. Sorry to be so depressing.</p>

<p>I think you maybe pick a few of these top schools and assume you’ll be rejected, but make sure you have a well balanced list with safe and target schools you love. Here is more food for thought: </p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/96791-years-applicants-please-listen.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/96791-years-applicants-please-listen.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>[Learn</a> to Leverage Your Competitiveness as a College Applicant - college-admissions - College Confidential](<a href=“http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_admissions/denials_deferrals_waitlists_3.htm]Learn”>http://www.collegeconfidential.com/college_admissions/denials_deferrals_waitlists_3.htm)</p>

<p>Good luck to everyone!</p>

542

<p>Interesting links, arwarw. And this is of course why my D has already applied to 14 schools… 3 safeties, 7 matches and 4 reach schools.</p>

543

<p>Why three safeties?</p>

544

<p>Knockaround: Keeping the options alive. If it comes down to the safeties (and hopefully not), my D will want to go back and re-visit them and then finally decide. We would also like to be able to compare FA offerings, housing, etc. It may also come down to where friends are attending, etc. I would never want her to feel stuck or cornered when it comes down to the final decision.</p>

545

<p>WWWard that sounds like great coverage. What schools are your D’s match schools?</p>

546

<p>She has applied to Yale, Stanford, Columbia and Princeton as her Reach Schools… Brown, Dartmouth, Penn, Duke, Northwestern, UChicago and USC as her Match Schools (NW and UC borderline / almost Reach) and then UMiami, FSU and UTampa (already accepted) as Safeties. Her top 5 are Yale, Brown, Columbia, Penn and Duke… so sort of a mix between match and reach. If she at least gets in to one of those 5, I believe that she will be content. Brown and Penn are the only interviews thus far. Still have not heard from Yale in that regard.</p>

<p>What about for your D…?</p>

547

<p>WWWard I think my daughter may be in a different stratosphere then yours. Her SAT’s and grades are solidly ‘average’ for a Yale admit. Her match schools are Fordham, BU, UNC, USC and Barnard (BU and Fordham may actually be reaches because of the specific program she’s applying to). Her reaches are Brown, NU, Williams - Safety is U of Minn. She is applying early to Brown, and may apply to Yale, if Brown defers her.</p>

548

<p>arwarw: Interesting mix of schools. I would have thought that she was an SCEA Yale applicant because you are on this thread. It would have been a very close call between Yale and Brown for my D had Brown also offered Early Action vs. Early Decision. </p>

<p>One of my D’s friends has very strong stats and has Fordham as her first choice. She has already gotten in there as well. </p>

<p>I can not guess the program of study from those schools… what is she hoping to pursue? My D is looking to double major… theatre and computer science.</p>

<p>Think positive… I am sure that she will love it at Brown :)</p>

549

<p>She wants to pursue Theatre. She visited Yale, but she was unable to attend classes or meet professors, so she is unsure about applying. I made her visit Fordham, which she was not excited about - but she now loves it. The Lincoln Center campus would work well for her.</p>

<p>She attended a six week Theatre program at Brown and that really had a huge impact on her. Sorry to Hijack the thread - please dont mind me.</p>

550

<p>No worries. So they have theatre in common. Well best of luck to her…</p>

551

<p>WWWard- I’m confused regarding the terminology of reach and match. Would you call it a match or a reach if someone’s stat’s are within the 25-75 th% for a very selective like Brown, Dartmouth, U Penn, Duke or U Chicago? Given the very low acceptance rates, I thought these would be reaches for everyone.</p>

552

<p>milkweed: Well, I am quite sure that people see this notion differently and much of it could be subjective as candidates are evaluated, either by themselves or others… but to me, a Match school would be one in which a candidate matches all of the known parameters for a school’s 25th-75th percentile… i.e. all required test scores, rank in class, GPA, etc. And to me, I would take it even further… even if you Match the parameters, if that school accepts less than 10%, I would still call it a Reach. For the schools you mentioned, Brown, Dartmouth, U Penn, Duke or U Chicago, if you meet all known parameters, I would call it a Match, but clearly a cautionary one - due to their acceptance rates. But if you still see them as Reaches, then that it is even a safer way to view them.</p>

<p>While someone may Match statistically with such a quality school, I would never simply assume admission. It is of course why my D has applied to 7 schools that she and her GC feel that she actually Matches with in terms of her overall application strength. I tend to be a cautious optimist. She is close to matching with all 14 schools that she has applied to, but I would still be shocked if she gets into more than 8 out of 14. And that would still be true if I knew that she fully matched with all 14. I just project way too much subjectivity into the admissions process. Plus - I realize the huge size of each school’s applicant pools. It is super-competitive out there, and I doubt that any candidate would ever gain admission everywhere they apply to… or at least they should not count on such.</p>

<p>There are clearly some people that consider any school that accepts less than ___ , enter a percentage… 10%, 15%, 20%… a Reach school… and that may be accurate. Every applicant/parent team should be both realistic and cautionary in their approach. </p>

<p>But to me… a Reach school is one in which all of the parameters were not met to safely put the candidate into the 25th-75th percentile group, or if the school is in that super-elite category of accepting very few applicants. Yale, Columbia and Stanford only accept 7% and Princeton only accepts 8%… so I would never categorize them as Match schools even if all parameters for a projected admission had been met.</p>

<p>That is at least my take on it. And now you can likely see why I supported my D’s decision to already apply to 14 schools :slight_smile: But looking at Brown, Dartmouth, U Penn, Duke & U Chicago as Reaches for everyone is likely the safer way to proceed…</p>

553

<p>Thanks for your response WWWard and best of luck to your daughter!</p>

554

<p>Thanks and you’re welcome…</p>

555

<p>guys i am a puddle of nerves :O</p>

556

<p>@awesomenerd Aren’t we all?</p>

557

<p>@awesomenerd Aren’t we all?</p>

<p>@WWWard Thanks for that post! Based on your reasoning, all my schools could be match schools but I prefer to take a more conservative approach to college admissions so as not to be disappointed when the rejections roll in ;)</p>

558

<p>Oops, double post. My phone derped.</p>

559

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<p>Not really, for some reason.</p>

560

<p>awesomenerd: I feel your angst :slight_smile: Ironically, I am far more anxious than my daughter, the actual applicant. She is involved in two different theatrical productions along with normal school work, etc. and is simply way too busy and otherwise distracted to be nervous or anxious about Dec 17th. Maybe that is the key… just stay busy or become busy :slight_smile: Good luck with both the decision and managing the wait over the next few days…</p>