Yale Reject Needs Advice

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hey, so I just got rejected from Yale. But I'm a fairly optimistic person.. so here we go</p>

<p>New York/Asian/Male</p>

<p>Stats:
SATS: 2300 - 700 CR 800 Math 800 Writing (11 essay)
PSATS: only 210 this year (218 last year), still commended
SAT2's:
770 Bio
750 Chem
740 World History
740 Math 1C
800 Math 2C
740 Physics</p>

<p>ACT: 35 with 10 essay</p>

<p>AP's:
5 on World History
5 on European History
5 on Phys B
5 on Lang
4 on US :S</p>

<p>Taking Micro, US gov, Psych, Lit, Spanish, Phys C, and Calc BC next year</p>

<p>GPA is 99.5/100. We don't have class rankings.. but we have around 550 people. All honor/AP classes. Our school's grading system has A+ as highest, then A, then B+. Gotten A+ all except for maybe 5 A's (we have 9 periods a day) All my core courses were the toughest possible (honors/APs). I'd say I'm maybe top 1-2%, but again, we don't rank.</p>

<p>My school is very competitive, public, on Long Island. Problem is like 10 people applied to Yale early... As of now, we have like ~16 acceptances to Ivy league schools early</p>

<p>Extra Curricular Stuffs:</p>

<p>Biggest investment:
Cross Country, Winter Track, and Spring track for 3 years
Was Captain for Cross Country, and Winter Track. Member of Athletic Leadership Council because of this.</p>

<p>Won MVP in JV and Varsity XC, won most improved freshman year
Finished one spot off All-Conference...
Basically, I spend like 18 hours a week on running... mornings, weekends, summers... I've improved a lot and I tried to show that in my essays, also tried to emphasize my leadership</p>

<p>Math Olympiads/ Mathletes 3 years
- First in county as 9th grader, got some type of gold medal this year for doing well in the county competition</p>

<p>Science Olympiads for 2 years, Young Democrats for 2 years (These were purely out of interest, not going to really stress them)</p>

<p>I went to Chinese school for many years. It was my first language... 3+ hours every weekend basically.</p>

<p>Minor awards/achievements/activities</p>

<p>National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, National Merit Commendation, wrote for Literary magazine in school, AP Scholar w/ Distinction, some small research awards, cello, Spanish honor society.. all things I tried not to stress too much so I could focus on my better points
Other volunteer stuff includes tutoring, school events (habitat for humanity for example)</p>

<p>Summers: </p>

<p>I did volunteer work at a hospital, track stuff (coaching, organizing races, participating in charity runs)
Spent 3 days a week the last three summers doing trust accounting at a pension firm
Most of my other time was spent running, or doing driver's ed</p>

<p>Research:
I've completed a game theory analysis of Circular Tic-Tac-Toe, a study on Interracial Marriages, and more recently, a study on global interest on China compared to its economy using Internet tools (Google Trends) <-- sent to Intel STS</p>

<p>I've spent a lot of time throughout my high school career working on my internet gaming forum, which has over 150,000 posts and has seen over 500 members</p>

<p>Schools:
Harvard
Princeton
Upenn-Wharton
Duke
Dartmouth
Cornell
UChicago
Binghamton as safety
(May add on NYU, UVA... school suggestions would be appreciated :S)
Maybe Stanford.. but looking at the results from this year's early round.. kind of scared</p>

<p>All of these schools I have reason to want to go to.. but out of these, my top choice would be Wharton.</p>

<p>Teacher Recs: One from Math teacher I've had for two years- she likes me but well, it's math class, not so sure if she'd be able to tell enough about my personality. Another rec from English teacher, she really enjoyed my writing and thinks I'm a funny guy.</p>

<p>Essays: Comm App essay about how much I've improved in running through the years from the slowest kid on the team to Captain/MVP. Included examples of leadership.</p>

<p>I have a more creative essay about my personality, showing how I like being different... hard to describe here</p>

<p>For most of the schools, I'm not too concerned with the essays; I'm actually kind of excited to write some of them.</p>

<p>So... first off, my college list; too optimistic? I was flat-out rejected from Yale along with several other applicants from my school, and the rest were deferred. I thought that I had a shot at Harvard/Pton too.. but I'm not so sure.. so your views on that would be appreciated.</p>

<p>Secondly, I really want to go to Wharton but I'm a little unsure. I definitely have a strong interest in business, and I'm pretty good at math, but I'm not sure if I have the business-related activities for it. I never took a business course, because I've never had room, and I took computer courses in the past (but I want to do E-commerce). Thus, I also don't have a teacher rec from a business teacher or a business club.
But... my research kind of relates to business/the economy. My Circular tic-tac-toe one related to game theory, and my China one relates to E-commerce for sure.
I'm writing an essay about my web-forum, which I related to running a business.
Plus, I speak Chinese, which should be good for business. I did trust-accounting for three years... and I've heard that Wharton cares a lot about leadership, which I focused on in my essays.
Of course I'm also interested in economics, so applying to CAS would be alright with me, but I figure I'd ask my chances at Wharton.</p>

<p>I don't know, I'm just kind of lost here. Be perfectly honest and harsh, please</p>

<p>Thanks for reading this massively long thread, much appreciated.</p>

2

<p>I am going to be honest, you don't really seem to stick out in a crowd of academic scholars. However, you should definately apply to all of the Ivy's. If I were you, I would definately add NYU, UVA, College of William and Mary, Boston College, and Tufts to your list. You might have a solid shot at Duke... your ethnicity will be a plus.</p>

<p>Cornell....likely
Chicago..very likely-(an excellent institution)</p>

<p>After looking at your profile for a second time, you have a shot at getting admitted to an Ivy league school. Stanford is as competitive as Harvard to a degree. Will you be considered for the regular admission pool at Yale? Good luck!</p>

3

<p>Asian a plus at Duke? Seriously?</p>

<p>Nah, I was flat-out rejected, no deferral, was kind of surprised.</p>

<p>In terms of my academics, I think I definitely have a math/research/computer focus, and I always figured my stats were good enough for those schools... I think the hard part is trying to stand out w/ essays, EC's, interview, etc.</p>

4

<p>it's not a plus.</p>

5

<p>my friend just got into wharton with nearly identical stats and all (i mean even the summer internship kind of thing, i believe his was with a hedge fund that his dad had connections with)</p>

<p>but i mean just to let you know, he didnt have anything that would make me be like... wow so id say its a crapshoot for ya</p>

6

<p>K, thanks for the honest replies</p>

<p>Btw it's 4 years XC/Track.
Another question is: Is focusing on my running in essays a good idea? I mean, it's my biggest commitment by far, but I don't want to overkill it. I always thought it kind of made me stand out... Is it more common than I thought for an Asian person to be captain of XC/Winter/Spring track, and MVP?</p>

7

<p>I think that you really just had a tough break, and that you definitely have a good shot at getting into just about any school in the country with that resume, I'll sure you'll be quite satisfied with your regular decision results.</p>

8

<p>Thanks a lot. </p>

<p>Harsh criticism still needed</p>

9

<p>haha wow you were rejected? wow. cuz with those stats you're probably competitive with any school.</p>

10

<p>You're in at Duke, it is unspoken....it will definately be a benefit.</p>

11

<p>Just added some new schools: Stanford, Northwestern, and NYU</p>

<p>Right now I look at them like this</p>

<p>Would be super amazing to get into: Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, or Wharton
Solid shot at: Cornell, Dartmouth, Chicago, Northwestern, Duke
Shouldn't be too hard: NYU
Should be easy: Binghamton</p>

<p>Agree, disagree?</p>

12

<p>last bump, any thoughts?</p>

13

<p>Basically agree, though I do not see a fit at Chicago.</p>

14

<p>Well, Chicago cares a lot about the essays. Assuming they're good, Chicago has a pretty high acceptance rate still, relatively.</p>

15

<p>you're competitive obviously but it's hard for NE students for these super competitive schools. Are our xcountry times competitive for any of these schools?
I think your game theory/ game site stuff sounds pretty interesting. Sports essays can be trite; make sure yours are not. I'm not sure about Duke, but Asians are scarce at top LACs so maybe think about that. It's great that you speak Chinese but somehow when you are Chinese, it doesn't seem as impressive, sorry (not fair I know)</p>

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<p>I would take a hard look at your applications with an adult or two you trust and see if you can improve them in any way. As our college counselor's told us, EA/ED gives you a read. This doesn't mean the others will not see something Yale didn't, they may well, but the rejection is a read and makes taking another look at the application important.</p>

<p>You are in a super competitive pool being Asian from NY applying to Wharton. This year I interviewed 4 Asian guys applying with similar stats to yours--higher CR in most cases though--who fit that description and also speak Chinese. I'm just one of many alumni interviewers in NYC. That one will be tough without a spectacular application that truly differentiates you.</p>

<p>Because it will be the hardest year in history to get into the schools on your list, I'd add a couple like Vandy, Emory and CMU, all of which have fine business programs just to be safe.</p>

17

<p>hmom5: You interview for Wharton? I never knew the interviewers get to know the applicants' stats. I'm not thinking of my ability to speak Chinese as any real boost, but I suppose it's a plus for business in the future; that's all.</p>

<p>Around 10 people from my school applied to Yale early, and I think four of them got deferred, rest rejected. I think I didn't do a great job of seeming like I was very interested in Yale and should've probably described my academic ambitions. Yale is a real artsy kind of place, so I think it's possible I wouldn't have fit there. I like Wharton because it's more serious and professional-like.</p>

<p>Hmom, would you be willing to give any essay advice, or read mine?</p>

18

<p>Yo, whaddup wo du zhong hua ming guo du siong di! Sorry my pinyin is horrible cause I'm from Taiwan and I learned using zhuyinfuhaos. ;P</p>

19

<p>Sure, PM me your essay.</p>

20

<p>Yeah, but how much do you bench?</p>