<p>Time to repost a message I've put up every year since Dec. 2005:</p>
<hr>
<p>Okay, the EA decisions are about to come out. Everyone is hopeful. Everyone is nervous. Two years ago I had the same sense of hope and nervousness, because my daughter was an EA applicant to Yale.</p>
<p>She had very strong stats, and she really liked Yale. However when Dec. 15th rolled around she was not admitted. She was not even deferred. She was REJECTED. Needless to say she was very disappointed. She became convinced that no college would take her. It was a long, cold winter.</p>
<p>Why am I telling you this? Because fast forward from Dec. 15th to April 1st and it's a brand new day. The RD round was very kind to her. She was accepted at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Pomona, and all her safeties. She is now a very happy sophomore at Harvard College. I'm telling you this because the majority of you are NOT going to get accepted by Yale EA. And some of you, like her, will even be rejected outright. So the moral of the story is that even if you lose in EA, it's not the end of the world. If your stats are strong enough that you have a decent shot at Yale, you will get MANY fine acceptances in the RD round. I can't guarantee you Harvard, but unless you made some really big mistakes in drawing up your college list, next April you will have many wonderful schools stumbling all over themselves - vying for your affection. Trust me; it will all work out fine.</p>
<p>PS: 2010 Update: D1 graduated from Harvard two years ago and is nicely employed. She loved her time at Harvard, got a great education, and has long since forgotten all about her Yale disappointment. D2 was rejected by Yale in RD but was not particularly disappointed by it, since it never was tops on her list. She is now a sophomore at another Ivy and loving it. As I said, these things have a way of working out fine.</p>
<p>I remember your post last year when I was anxiously waiting for the SCEA decisions. I was deferred and I must say, it was hard to believe you at that time. I was so distressed and lost so much confidence in myself that I applied to almost 20 other colleges.
On April 1st, I had the great satisfaction of being accepted to all (including Yale) but one college I had applied to.
Thinking retrospectively to the saga of admission, I think I should have given some credit to your post and live a less stressful winter.
I hope all the 2015 hopefuls who read your post and this confirmation of its assertion will find some consolation in their rejection/deferral and be faithful that there are good news to come in April.</p>
<p>Thank you for your post Coureur! It is greatly appreciated and puts things in perspective for us. I will undoubtedly be devastated if I’m rejected/deferred but I will keep in mind that it does not mean I will not reach anywhere. Also, congratulations on your daughters’ success!</p>
<p>after hearing about all the people at my school getting rejected by stanford, i felt like i was destined for rejection, but now im feeling a little better about december 15th now. thank you for brightening my friday night</p>
<p>coureur is absolutely right - it is not as much about the actual school as it is about the experiences you will have. Any with all seriousness, any college will have something we all love and people we all enjoy to be around with. Ultimately, it is what you make of the opportunities given to you and not what school you went to. So keep that in mind when December 15 comes around!</p>
<p>Coureur is absolutely right. Both of my children got deferred and ultimately rejected to Yale but both now attend Harvard. Yale was the only school they did not get accepted to (got waitlisted at 2 schools). Now D #3 is subjecting herself to the same torture! Even with siblings who went through this it was nice to see Coureur’s post just as a reminder that it all works out in the end. You will all look back at this in a year, happy at the University you were accepted to (maybe Yale!) and say wow all that worry and fuss for nothing. Easy to say for an adult but it will all work out and you will find the right place for you! Good luck to everyone!</p>
<p>I’ve been a very active recruiter and interviewer for Yale for over 20 years now. Consistently, I tell my audiences of Yale aspirants that almost universally, each of them will have successful collegiate careers – they’ve already demonstrated a great level of academic success that should bode well for their college and afterward – regardless of which college is lucky enough to confer them a diploma.</p>
<p>Having “been there and done that”, I also attest to the belief that while Yale was a wonderful time in my life that I wouldn’t trade, I’m also equally assured that my life’s happiness and success wouldn’t have been much different if I had attended any of the other colleges that accepted me – and I was sincerely honored to have been accepted by them.</p>
<p>The naked fact is that over 90% of Yale applicants will be denied – for whatever reason. The fact is that almost 100% of Yale applicants will be successful college grads in 4-5 years, likely having attended wonderful colleges.</p>
<p>Good luck to you all – but frankly, I’m sure you won’t need it – even if Yale doesn’t accept you.</p>
<p>OP,
Yeah the letter is supposed to be inspirational but still gives a sense of false hope: e.g “she didn’t get in to Yale but got into Harvard”. Give me a break, the people that need to be calibrated are those that applied to Yale, Harvard, Stanford etc and got rejected by ALL of them, because they really weren’t qualified to go to ANY of them. These kids need to be reminded that they should take advantage of non-Ivy opportunities, and focus on what educational path will guide them to a successful career as opposed to merely an ego boost.</p>
<p>^^Hmm…I see - kids who go to non-Ivy schools are on the correct path to a successful career but those who go to an Ivy school are merely looking for an ego boost? Interesting theory. </p>
<p>The real message here is NOT that if you are rejected by Yale you will get into Harvard but that you WILL very likely still go to a great school and be very happy about it. You seem to have missed the part where I wrote:</p>
<p>"I can’t guarantee you Harvard, but unless you made some really big mistakes in drawing up your college list, next April you will have many wonderful schools stumbling all over themselves - vying for your affection. Trust me; it will all work out fine.</p>
<p>…or the part in post #13 where iceui2 wrote:</p>
<p>“coureur is absolutely right - it is not as much about the actual school as it is about the experiences you will have. Any with all seriousness, any college will have something we all love and people we all enjoy to be around with. Ultimately, it is what you make of the opportunities given to you and not what school you went to.”</p>
<p>Others seem to be getting the correct message.</p>
those words are very encouraging, and just shows that we can’t take this process too seriously</p>