Yale ED

Colleges and Universities A-Z Yale University
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<p>I really would like to go to Yale because I have always liked Yale, it has a really good program for my intended major, and it offers my family a lot of financial aid. So, I would like to apply ED (I am a junior right now).</p>

<p>The thing is Yale asks for all SAT's, and my SAT record is pretty bad. I got a 2290 on my first try, then a 2180, and then a 2300. I know it was stupid of me to retake the 2290, but I go to a VERY competitive school where at least 10 people will get 2300 or above, and I felt insecure with a 2290. Of course, in the end, I didn't improve much. So, is this bad, considering I did worse and did not improve much?</p>

<p>As for the ACT's, I got a 34 as a sophomore, and I was forced to take it in March by my school even though I was not ready. As a sophomore I did really well in science, but bombed reading. Now, on the march, I feel I did well in reading but bombed science. There is a chance of me getting a 36 superscored, but i know for a fact I didn't get a 36 overall or even a 35. So, I am planning on retaking the ACT in June, but I don't if I should or not. Should I retake (my school already has 5 competitive people with 36's)?</p>

<p>I have a 4.0 UW GPA and I have 15 Aps/IBs, but so do everyone else in my school. So, that will not be a differentiator.</p>

<p>My extracurriculars look amazing from an outsider's viewpoint, but my extracurriculars don't really differentiate me from my peers at my school since we all do about the same things. I do excel in activities like Model UN and Debate more than others, but those are regional awards and I don't know if I will put those in the top 5 accomplishments. Even research, I feel like everyone is going to do something this summer. </p>

<p>So, in the end, should I apply to Yale ED? Probably at least 3 people from my school will apply. I am sorry for the long post, but replies will be greatly appreciated. </p>

2

<p>Yale has REA and not ED.</p>

<p>At under 7% admit rate, it really does not matter whether you apply early or regular. Not sure why it should matter how many apply from your school, it matters only whether you want to apply and when you want to.</p>

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<p>Technically, Yale calls it SCEA (Single Choice Early Action) rather than REA (Restricted Early Action). Life’s too short to know the difference, but long enough to mention it :-)</p>

<p>The task at hand is to differentiate yourself from other applicants at large, not from other applicants at your particular HS.</p>

<p>7% is 7% – make sure that you find other schools that you would be happy to attend and can afford.</p>

<p>ETA: your scores are fine; obsessing about them is not.</p>

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<p>I am sorry, I just meant whatever early admission option Yale has.</p>

<p>I know I have to differentiate myself from applicants at large, and I do believe that I have that. I am not saying I am a guarantee to any of the Ivies, but I do feel my chances are pretty high. However, I have also heard that Ivies do not take more than a few applicants per school, and my school is abnormally over-competitive this year. This is why I am especially worried.</p>

<p>In addition, my main question is regarding my bad SAT and maybe ACT record. My highest scores will still be competitive at large, but not for my high school. In addition, there is also that SAT score that went down significantly. So, is this bad for Yale? How bad does it look to go down on a score? How much importance does Yale give to scores?</p>

<p>And finally, yes, I do have 3 or 4 safeties which are very good and affordable public state universities, and I am fairly confident I will be accepted at those places. However, I would like to go to Yale or Harvard or any of the other top-tier universities I can get in. </p>

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<p>Duke admission dean lists out 7 separate areas of scoring for applicants and SAT/ACT score is just one of them. Most colleges in top 20 follow something similar. So you are stuck on 16% of you application at this point.</p>

<p>It also matters how many Yale usually admits from your school and what type of students. Having a strong class this year does not necessarily result in Yale accepting more students since they do like to spread the seats around.</p>

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<p>Yes, the fact that they are not going to accept more people from my school is what is bugging me. Usually, I think at least 3 people from my school get in but not all the competitive applicants apply. But, this year, I think like 15 of us are applying, and so yeah.</p>

<p>So, can I be assured my bad SAT record will not harm me?</p>

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<p>Of course they like to spread the seats around, but they will do what will result in the best entering class. Usually DS’s school gets 3 or 4 kids into UPenn per year. This year, they accepted 7 just in the ED round. Btw, that’s of a graduating class of roughly 100 at the HS. </p>

<p>Hope for the best but prepare for what 93% of the applicants will get. </p>

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<p>Sounds like a private school. Unless OP attends a private school the rules are not the same. Public schools usually get about the same number and Yale is very tradition bound. Our public had Yale picking 2-3 students every year irrespective of how good the crop is that year. We have had one year where Harvard went from 1 to 5, every other top school admitted multiple students from that batch (not happened since in 4 years) but Yale had been steady at 3 that year and since.</p>

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<p>Saying your scores comprise a bad SAT record is both disingenuous and asking for external validation. </p>

<p>You may want to figure that out- it’s off putting. </p>

<p>There are no sure things at Ivy schools. There are no sure things at most of the top 30 schools in the country. All you can do is be the best you that you are capable of, and the rest is wasted energy. </p>

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<p>Yep.</p>

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<p>It’s interesting that FA is important to you, but you don’t know what kind of early admissions Y has, as ED and EA are very different. Since Y is EA, it doesn’t hurt you to apply early, this can’t be said for ED schools if you need to compare FA packages. It’s very important to know this difference if FA is a concern for your family.</p>

<p>If Y is your first choice, another thing that comes into play is if you have other, multiple schools that are non-restrictive EA that you would be interested in attending. For instance, if you are interested in UChicago and MIT, you could apply to both of these and other non-restrictive EA schools, while with HYPS you only can apply to a single school (with some additions of rolling publics, etc.)</p>

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<p>As for my SAT record, I am not calling it bad because I feel that a 2300 or even the 2180 are horrible scores. Many people have told me it is bad that I have gone down (2290 to a 2180), and that is why I am worrying the most. The fact that my school had 3 2380’s and probably other 2300’s only makes this worse. </p>

<p>My school is public, and though our school has always been competitive, it has not been as competitive as it is this year. In previous years, you could clearly differentiate people who were geniuses as opposed to the ones who were just smart or above average. In our year, none of us are clear-cut geniuses, but we are all equal more or less in basically everything. @texaspg, it is good to hear that other top schools will consider more students from a class if they are qualified. </p>

<p>Financial aid is not important to my family, because I am an only child and from a highly supportive family who will support me financially in any of my endeavors for as long as I need. But, I do not want to depend on them financially, and since only one of my parents work and our family income is about $115 K, I feel I will get a lot of aid at schools like Yale and Harvard. So, financial aid is not a necessity, but just sort of a goal for me. </p>

<p>I know scores are not everything, and I assure you that scores or GPA are not the only things going for me. I just didn’t have room to include my whole resume since the focus of this thread was to evaluate if a “bad” SAT record would harm me. </p>

<p>@Decorative22, I am not sure what you mean by external validation. Like I said, I am not calling a 2300 or a 2290 bad. I am just calling the fact I did worse and that I took it 3 times even when I technically didn’t need to is bad. I am not trying to be disingenuous, and I apologize if it seemed I was like that. </p>

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<p>You used the word bad three times in regard to your SAT record. </p>

<p>Doing so when even your “worst” score, is in the tippy top of scores, which I assume you understand, is disingenuous. You do not, for many schools, have to send in all of your tests. Send in the highest, and stop perseverating. If for some reasons the schools you are applying to require all of them, do you realistically think in a holistic process that your higher scores will be ignored in favor of your lower, yet still outstanding scores? </p>

<p>Posting those, and making those comments, seems to be asking people
to reply and tell you what you already know, which is that all of those scores are good and nothing to be disregarded or belittled. That’s where the external validation arrives. </p>

<p>If you did not mean to come across that way, I understand. It is still a point to be considered. If you are clever enough to achieve those scores, then you are clever enough to understand how your posts appeared. </p>

<p>I wish you luck in the application process. As I said previously there are no guarantees of admission among the top 30 schools, so do your best, be the genuine you, and see what happens. :slight_smile: </p>

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<p>“So, in the end, should I apply to Yale ED?”</p>

<p>Look very hard at other schools first. If you’re fortunate enough to fall in love with almost any school other than HYP and Stanford, you can realize high ED acceptance rates (30% to 50%) at the some of the best and most selective schools in the world. However, in the RD round, those same school’s applicant pools will increase tenfold for only about 50% of the remaining beds. Really think about that before you forgo your one ED chance to apply SCEA to Yale or Harvard. </p>

<p>During SCEA, Yale will be making some very tough decisions about an applicant pool that likely will include (among other things) Olympic qualifiers, professional actors, published writers, true scholars and kids who were elected to their local school boards and town councils. I imagine your SAT testing history will barely even registrar a fleeting thought in their decision process.</p>

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<p>Here’s my personal opinion…
Your grades, SAT, ACT scores are fine. I personally feel that applying SCEA improves one’s chances for acceptance but many people will argue against me on this point. Your biggest problem is that your ECs are the same as the other applicants from your HS. So your only differentiating point will be your essays. So instead of fixating on your SATs, you should be fixating on your essays.</p>

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<p>@neurogirl97 I got into Yale EA last year, and I’m sorry, but you obviously don’t get it. It’s sad to see college confidential littered with high-scoring ambitious high school students that have the wrong mindset and are looking to get into any ivy-league (or similar ranking) college for the name and prestige. First of all, you need to find the school that is the right fit for you. How can you say that you want to go to any top-tier school? They are very different in academic philosophies, student communities, and overall atmosphere. You need to sit down and look at what your #1 choice is NOT based on prestige or name. Trust, me $60,000/year is not worth the name/prestige. After you figure out what your #1 choice is, that should be the college you apply early to. You seem preoccupied with what everyone else in your school is doing, but in reality, the chance of anyone getting into Yale EA at any single school is unlikely in itself. Stop comparing your scores/extracurriculars to everyone else in your school. You are not them. They are not you. If your school’s applicants all have similar looking applications, you all obviously didn’t do the application right. Extracurriculars and scores are just a part of who you are. Top-tier colleges are picking people they think will be future leaders and innovators, not the annoying high schooler who is involved in 10 clubs and is president of all of them (and complains on college confidential about their “bad” SAT trend). There is a reason why there’s no real way to tell if someone is getting into a top-tier university. People can seem like a perfect applicant (tons of APs, perfect SAT/ACT, lots of leadership), but colleges can usually see through this and realize that some paper-perfect applicants have been spending tons and tons of time padding their resume and have little to offer to the college. Many above-average (but still smart) applicants with 5-6 APs, high, but not stellar, ACT/SAT scores, and minimal leadership “surprisingly” get into top schools. How do these applicants get in over perfect scored, award-winning, extracurricular-laden individuals? The essays and teacher recommendations truly show who you are as an individual. Adcoms have been doing this for years, and they can tell apart the people that have real talent and potential and those who are so focused on school that they don’t do much of anything else. </p>

<p>So, to answer your question…it doesn’t matter that much. Do you really think admissions committees are judging you on whether you answered 10 more questions on a single test? If they accept you, it’ll not be because of your SAT score relative to others in your school. If they reject you, it’ll not be because of your SAT score relative to others in your school either. I agree with other posters on the fact that you seem to be looking for external validation. It is obvious that you are posting just so someone on the internet can tell you that your SAT scores are good and that you’ll be fine (which you should already know, come on, 2300 SAT is FINE). But what isn’t fine is your portrayed attitude toward college admissions. I don’t know you personally, but from what I can tell, you need to change perspective quick. Take it from someone who goes to Yale and has talked to the amazing students here. The greatest and most impressive students are not the 36 ACT prep-school bookworms. The ones that are truly exceptional are the 32-33 ACT passion-driven students that got in for their character and talent. THAT’s what Yale’s looking for. </p>

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<p>P.S. Sorry for the long and slightly-unnecessary rant. Hopefully it helps you. I’m NOT saying that none of these schools will take you! I’m just saying that you could do much better with a different perspective. I really do wish you the best of luck in your college admissions journey. Please keep everything I said in mind and pick the school that is the best fit for you. You’ll be much happier :)</p>

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<p>@PilotInk The realest thing I’ve ever read =D> ^:)^ </p>

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<p>@PilotInk, thank you so much for your detailed response. Your are right that my perspective is wrong, and really, my perspective has not always been like this. I used to be the person who did not compare themselves with others, and I always had a lot of self confidence. But lately, I haven’t been achieving everything I wanted to achieve, and that has really lowered my confidence. Even my parents, who are usually extremely supportive of me, have been losing hope in me, and that greatly lowered my confidence. Honestly, you are right, I posted on this forum for a confidence boost. And I truly think I got that. I am not involved in ten clubs but I am involved in a number of activities that I enjoy. I don’t do any activities if I don’t truly enjoy them. For example, I quit Band and Robotics after freshman year because I didn’t like them. But, with all my peers around me doing so many things, and my mom’s nagging (she is just upset and has short temper, and so that is how she expresses her disappointment) that they are doing better than me got to me.
I am sorry if you think I am so prestige-driven, because I am honestly not. When I mean top-tier, I mean the ones that offer substantial aid. And, Yale is my first choice which is why I would like to apply EA. But, I was just wondering if I should try my luck at a different school where I might have better chances. </p>

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<p>@neurogirl97 I’m sorry to hear about your situation. Trust me, I understand the stress of colleges and going to an ultra-competitive high school. Have faith in yourself and know that no matter where you end up, it’ll be a great and memorable experience nonetheless. There’s no doubt that you’ll have a higher chance at ED schools. Does that mean you should apply? This is completely your own decision. I’m assuming you’re a junior, so you’ll have the summer to think about where you’ll fit the best. If you can’t choose between two colleges and one of them is SCEA and one of them is ED, the obvious choice is to ED if you want to maximize your chances. However, you stated that financial aid is a factor, so I would advise against that as you wouldn’t be able to bargain for money and pick the school that offers the most. It’s one tough decision, but you have time!
I also want to commend you on your reception of criticism. After I clicked “post comment,” I was a little hesitant and worried that I was too harsh and you would react badly, which was not my intention at all. Being able to access, accept, and respond to criticism/advice is an admirable and very useful ability.</p>