Unless I’m mistaken this Institute doesn’t seem to be affiliated with Princeton University.
And regardless, can we keep this thread’s focus on Yale please? Thanks!
apologies-that’s because I asked, as WhiteTesla talked about the observation on several schools.
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No worries.
Btw, I googled @TeslaWhite ’s excerpt above and it’s from “Princeton Institute” in Zimbabwe. No relation to Princeton University as far as I can tell.
Agreed.
Rejected. 4.7 W, 1560 SAT, philosophy major involved with lots of philosophy ec’s (directed international conference, director of a student-run philosophy initiative, declared climate emergency in town, philosophy research and CogSci research etc…). Feeling rlly dejected, I thought I had good stats, ECs, and essays. It’ll be alright I think.
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I’m definitely not that impressive—most of my activities are on the school/local level, like Key Club. I put a lot of time into my essays and made sure they reflected my values and future goals.
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Wow. Good to know. Congratulations, once again!!
yale don’t really care too much about stats. 32-35 middle 50 is pretty low considering the caliber of students applying. Schools like Duke and Vandy care more about stats with 34-35 ranges, though they both still reject a majority of 36s. Yale cares way more about the other stuff and hooks. Just as many academic super stars in the 10-15 range as at Yale, they just have people slightly more impressive in the other stuff
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I don’t know any legacies this year, but last years I knew a double legacy who was deferred then rejected. I feel that legacy at many top colleges has been deemphasized.
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I agree with every word of this. You articulated the “climate” and chances at these tippy top schools perfectly!
I know a double legacy who was accepted to class of '24 w a 1430 SAT and no major ECs tho. But maybe they are decreasing legacy acceptances as Yale is one of the ivies w the most.
Yup. Things are changing rapidly away from legacy it seems. And Yale does have a lot.
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I think there are so many legacies that it’s not enough in and of itself anymore. I know a double-legacy who got deferred (1560, national level awards, etc.) while a single-legacy classmate (with lower grades, lower test scores and fewer awards and ECs) was admitted. It might have something to do with a newish research center named after the parents (probably at the very least a 7-digit donation). Unfortunately, the double-legacy’s 5-digit donation is not comparable.
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As an alum known to be more involved in this admissions process as an interviewer, etc. I’ve been asked to read a handful of essays over the years and some have been truly terrible. Likewise, after doing > 100 interviews over that time, some have raised serious red flags that I shared with admissions. As others have said you can’t sit back and say one kid got in over another because of grades/scores/EC’s/hooks because you are not seeing the entire “package” only seen by admissions and you are not seeing the bigger picture of how they craft a class. Of course it is distressing to get bad news at this time and it is natural to seek an explanation. The answer is there are just too many fully qualified applicants seeking too few top 20 spots giving admissions the latitude to make subjective choices. For those who take as much (or even more) time to find their matches and safeties that thrill them this process works out just fine.
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accepted!
98 average
36 act, ranked #1 in class
12 APs, six 5s and one 4 all in school
international writing, music awards
sports & school leadership
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i’m also international
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I wish you the best for your other schools’ applications. You did have very good stats and ECs. I hope you will get in a top university that you like. My son was deferred. That African American student was accepted. Another Asian American student who didn’t get interviewed was rejected. Basically you only compete with ppl in your own pool. Every pool has its own quota.
In the Justice department’s lawsuit against Yale, they highlight that the admit for those just in the top decile of academic applicants to Yale is below 20% - implying that even for the very top academic applicants, the average expectation should be that one won’t get in. It also highlights that many admissions come from lower deciles of academic performance, since Yale is seeking qualities beyond and above just academic prowess.
I would strongly recommend reading the David Card submission in the SFFA/Harvard lawsuit. He’s a Nobel Laureate from UC Berkeley who wrote up his analysis regarding the likely factors leading to lower admissions rates for Asian applicants to Harvard at higher academic deciles, relative to White applicants at similar deciles.
I don’t recall the percentages in my head precisely, but one of the simple facts was that Asian applicants were markedly more likely than White applicants to state their intention to major in physical or engineering sciences, to hail from major east and west-coast population centers, and have primary ECs in community service and music versus athletics. At the same time, all applications over the six years of data increasingly shifted to an intent to major in those areas. In other words, he found the data show that it wasn’t “race” that was the correct group to evaluate the large majority of students, but many other factors (including location and major intent, as well as parental occupation) as well as factors that can’t be included in the model (eg content of LORs or essays).
From what you wrote, it sounds like your S is in an especially competitive subset of applicants to these schools.
It’s entirely likely in my opinion that a candidate who is an “underrepresented minority” (and especially if they are a Black American, regardless of any financial disadvantage) will gain admission at higher rates than others will similar objective, academic qualifications.
That benefit doesn’t by any means also imply there are quotas for other races, or simplistic buckets of races, it just means there is likely a benefit to maintaining the diversity of the campus, which in turn may mean not allowing one trait to overwhelm the campus (too many science/music combinations from California, regardless of race) and trying to raise the presence of another type (among many options to maintain diversity, I for one believe the data make clear that Blacks get an advantage, and I personally think that’s to an extant a good thing).
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What about Columbia , especially Columbia College ? Any thoughts, please ?
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Can you comment on Columbia and Brown for admissions , please? the same as at Yale ?