Our school has never gotten a kid into Yale in our ten-year history. This year, we had four people apply (all four of us are potential valedictorians, 4.0 students, etc). I was the only one who applied SCEA and was deferred. I sent an update early last month talking about a charity event I organized that raised 2k for charity. One of the other kids was rejected from Stanford REA and the other two did not apply anywhere early.
Today, Yale called our school scheduling an urgent “information session” for next Thursday. We all got super stressed out at this point.
Does this meeting mean anything? Why would Yale fly somebody out to my school to do an “information session”? Does this urgency mean anything?
Honestly, I have never heard of this happening before. All of our counselors said this is very unprecedented and hasn’t occurred before at our school.
Any speculation/tips/thoughts? All four of us are pretty stressed and unsure.
I would think it means they don’t know your school that well (as it only has a ten year history), but they are probably very impressed with one, some, or all of you. Did you all have the same GC?
Either that, or perhaps the admit officer wanted to fly out there to get away from the cold of New England.
If you get a chance to talk with them, by all means, enjoy it.
The odds might be improving for you or your classmates, but try not to get your hopes too high. You understand by now that lots of deserving kids fall victim to the numbers game.
Stuff like this makes the waiting get far too stressful.
I wasn’t stressed out at all before this. I kinda just accepted that this would be just another year and all of us would get rejected. We did not have the same GC. My school has nearly 3,000 kids attending, so there are like 8 counselors.
Definitely gonna go to the session, but this will be like the third info session I go to XD
Just a thought: next week is spring break, and there may be a current Yalie nearby who was willing to do an information session at your school during break. The Admissions Office trains and pays students to visit high schools, make a presentation and answer questions. My son has done a couple of them.
It wouldn’t reflect on your applications, so you shouldn’t stress.
^ This is what I thought as well. The session at your school is probably focused on the Juniors and Sophomores. It was probably not an “emergency” bur rather one that wasn’t pre-planned until recently.
For current applicants, they’re deep into the pile already. I think this is nothing to be concerned about.
I wouldn’t read too much into it but it will allow them to put a face to the names on the applications. Also, since Yale is not familiar with your school, this will give them an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the school so that they have a contextual foundation for reading the apps. In the admissions game, some schools have a definitely leg up because Yale is very familiar with their students and curriculum. Especially if they have a lot of alumni who have kids that go there like my D’s hs. Since they have no past history, it is a good sign that they are interested in finding out more though honestly I doubt if all four of you will get in - maybe 1. Good luck.
You said that it was an “information session” but you didn’t mention if Yale specifically requested that any or all of the four of you be there. If not, I think it will be of little consequence to the four of you and likely just a last minute typical info session for sophs and juniors. Good luck in any event!
The four of us got notifications from our counselors saying that we should be at the meeting, but the meeting is open and up to 15 people could sign up.
Then it’s for sure an information mtg. It makes no sense that this person would even need/want to meet with you four – you’re not her/his expected audience.
I’ll be frank: if the extraordinary circumstance happened where Yale needed some last minute face time with any of you, Yale admissions would call you directly (or direct one of the leading alum volunteers nearby to do so). This is an info mtg. Please politely ask your GC if this person specifically requested any of you by name. If not, then let it pass.
Literally – Yale is near the final decisions stages right now. There’s no way on this earth that Yale would send a person to meet with the four of you at this moment *without having contacted you directly to ensure your attendance.
Agree with T26E4 and scoutsmom. This is surely a session done by a current Yale student and means nothing with regard to the applications of current students. The admissions officers do their school visits in the fall before the applications come rolling in. At this point in the year they are reading applications 50-60 hours a week and would not think of doing a school visit. Schools that are not the target for admissions officer’s visits might warrant a visit by a student over winter or spring break. It is stressful waiting this last month but this piece of news should not cause you any stress. I can assure you that no one is taking attendance at that meeting to report back to New Haven. If you have an interest in getting a fresh insight from a current student by all means attend.
Our LPS is having its 50th anniversary. Yale is scheduled to be hosting an information session on Tuesday. It is very likely a coincidence with Spring Break. More likely it’s a way to push work-study funds to a student than it is to be about you.
I totally agree with all, especially @YaleGradandDad. My D has been hired (yay!! making some extra money) as a Yale Ambassador for spring break and is scheduled to go to 4 high schools next week. They are just information sessions and I am sure there are some kids that are at each school who are waiting to hear from Yale. They will be really upset when they find out their Yale visitor is a freshman with absolutely no pull in admissions.