What we read in our ‘research’ (blogs and such) is that if you are a conservatory level player, submitting an arts portfolio will perhaps benefit you but if not at that level, it might actually hurt your application. You can google “Should I submit an arts portfolio to Yale” and you’ll find a bunch of articles.
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Thanks. That’s what my daughter said.
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D23 submitted her music supplemental materials with SCEA application based on that recommendation. Now we wait.
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Curious: is she applying for a music major?
Looking at the most recent stats and assuming the legacy applicants wanted that EA boost, you are looking at about 250 legacies…
She listed two areas of interest, Music and Social Science, but did not opt in for BA/MM program.
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My son is looking at Physics and Music as dual majors.
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Wow! In that case EA has a lower probability than RD. Well, she already applied and it’s too late to worry about it now. At the end of the day, you can make it good wherever you go 
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This is in part due to the move to test optional. There are many applicants that didn’t test well and in the past would not apply being off the average score ranges - now they are comfortable throwing their name into the hat - without test scores.
This will only make the already hard job of the AOs even harder and also indirectly stress all the applicants and parents who see this daunting number of applicants.
Also the fact that Yale is a great school , with a very active admissions office means they are attracting not only volume but quality.
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Agree with the other comments, unless the level of talent is near professional, it will not make a difference. It is better to focus the app on qualities where the applicant truly excels.
While legacies make up typically 12%± of the class (so about 200 per class - Class of 2026, 12% * 1557 = 187; Class of 2025’s 14% was COVID affected as a high proportion of legacy admits took a gap year), I would not assume that they all get admitted REA. I believe there are more legacy applicants in the REA round than RD, but many, many get deferred (and ultimately rejected). Yale, unlike some of the other Ivies, does not give a higher or only bump REA vs RD.
For those second guessing using the REA card for Yale (vs ED somewhere else), I don’t think you made a “tactical” mistake unless the ED school was within a hair’s breadth of being your kid’s number 1. I don’t think their chances are any worse REA than RD. The outcomes are: accepted (pop the cork); deferred (still have a shot, know app is competitive, can go for ED2 somewhere else; rejected (rethink your list of reaches, maybe the essays had some serious flaws, go for ED2).
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Thank you!
There are hooked applicants in the RD pool too – it isn’t like all of them apply REA/SCEA.
Even if we assume 300 of the early admits were supremely hooked (donor/athlete), that still yields an admit rate of 500/7000 (remaining admits/apps) = 7.14% for the early round for the '21-'22 class.
Last year, a total of 1969 students were admitted out of 47240 applications (all rounds). Removing the early numbers means that in the RD round, about 1169 were accepted out of 39940 applications. That is an RD admit rate of 2.93%.
So the average applicant is at least twice as likely to be admitted in the early round (7.14%) as they are in the regular round (2.93% – and we removed no hooked applicants from that number… the unhooked likelihood probably is closer to 2%).
Is a 7% chance better than a 2% chance? I mean… technically, it’s 3.5 times as good. Still not a slam dunk. hehe
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Thanks! Now the wait. Has anyone on this thread got emails/calls for interviews (or know someone who did)? I heard the interviewers have to submit their reports no later than December 1st, which is only 3 weeks away.
It is too overwhelming - those numbers are so big! It’s incredible they are somehow able to sort through that many applications. My son refuses to let me discuss.
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@BKSquared when interviewers receive access to the portal - do they get a list of potential applicants and they can decde who to contact and in whatever order or is there a sense of priority? Thanks!
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The AO gives the regional alumni coordinator the list of names of interviewees for that region. The coordinator then assigns the interviews to the volunteers in the region. Basic info, name, high school, contact, and indicated areas of interest are the only thing we receive. No grades, test scores or EC list. The portal has the form we fill out with ratings and qualitative assessment. The portal also contains how to interview and what they are looking for in the report.
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@BKSquared is Dec 1st the deadline for the interview reports?
Nov 30 for interviews assigned before Nov 20. Dec 8 for interviews assigned later.
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Thanks so much!
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You are so kind to share your insights to us nervous parents.
Do you know if they give the kids the questions ahead of time? Someone mentioned “preparing”.