Yep! I do @renaissancedad . I lived with a foster family until I was 13. I’m still very close with them. I went back with my biological mom at 13 when she was doing better. So I have a very eclectic family.
^ I agree. It is very thought provoking especially if he/she also got an YES-W which is not common unless they have highly educated parents supporting them through the research endeavors.
@fretfulmother - I tell D to ignore the invitations to for an alum interview but she takes them seriously and so we are stuck with driving and waiting - kills a lot of available time for parental units.
@T26E4 - Interesting that they are accepting students without glowing recommendations. So what difference would it make if you said the student did not respond to your interview email?
@texaspg wow, wouldn’t have expected such a comment from a super moderator. No, my mom is not what you would consider highly educated. But she is highly intelligent. And would do anything for me and my brother.
@texaspg I’m honestly stunned by your comment. My mom is very supportive. Just because someone does not speak English and is an immigrant does not mean they are uneducated, unintelligent, or unsupportive!
@mediapr - I don’t mean anything bad against your parent and I posted it before I saw your explanation on why you have an eclectic family.
Not knowing your circumstances, I can tell you that as someone who lives 5 miles from biggest medical center in the world, and knowing at least 50 doctors and researchers who work there personally, I found it hard for either of my kids to be given an opportunity to do any research. it takes a lot of effort, contacts and perseverence and in most cases those who do get to it are able to because they have family contacts. You can poll people on their backgrounds when you visit Y and see how many meet your personal background or how they got to do their research.
This is not denigrating your personal achievements in anyway. Best of luck.
Perhaps it would be best to stay on topic and keep the discussion about YES-W invitations and not about @mediapr. I can confirm what @T26E4 said that some interviewers are told to expedite interviews because the candidate is being considered for a likely letter. This means to me that if they have this extra piece of information about the candidate, they would take it into consideration. AO’s are humans just like the rest of us and are given the job of having to make very difficult decisions. As such, they are subject to confirmation bias and all the other heuristics that apply, If they are strongly considering a candidate, I’m sure a glowing recommendation could help put the applicant over the top.
I also know that process is not as well-organized as it could be and decisions are sometimes made before the interviewer has had a chance to meet with the candidate. In these cases, the interview is really somewhat moot. Nevertheless, some AOs tell the applicant to go ahead and have the interview anyway. Perhaps because it will serve as an extra amount of PR for the school in wooing the candidate to choose Yale or perhaps the AO would really like to know what type of person the applicant is that they went to bat for. I know if I were in their shoes I would like to know. One thing to keep in mind is that the candidate has only received a likely letter which is not a binding offer of admission. I don’t know if colleges have ever backed out of sending a formal acceptance because they found out the candidate is a total jerk but I would hope they have the gumption to do so.
Are people still receiving the yes call this week ??
@texaspg is completely correct. If one surveys Intel, Siemens winners and RSI scholars, one will find it is extremely rare those kids do not have parents/close relatives in the science/research field. @mediapr, you said you won Intel and got in RSI, you probably know this by heart.
@love2cheeses hi I remember you from last year! I did not “win Intel”… I attended ISEF. I also did not attend RSI due to a family issue and had to go back to Florida where my mom was (this was awful I worked so hard for that opportunity… But they did fill my spot from the wait list). Did your son go? I’m sure it was an incredible opportunity. I worked the summer instead.
Now can we please stay on topic as @falcon1 has said? This forum is about YES. Not about my unimpressive pedigree. Please. You all seem great and I was excited about connecting with more people who were going to attend. But It’s making me really uncomfortable. Thanks.
@mediapr totally agree that we need to focus on YES-W. One last note though (because I like truth to be told), there was no one forgo their slot at RSI 2015 and no one got off from wait list, there was a kid left RSI early due to health issue)
Now, let the YES-W discussion continue.
@love2cheeses Ok if you say so. You got me. So truth be told as you say, There were actually two taken off the waitlist. They ended up with 51 instead of 50 because of what happened. But that didn’t happen.
A more productive question… Did anyone make the travel arrangements yet? The shuttle from the airport is telling me there is a charge. I thought it is supposed to be included. Am I doing it wrong?
All of that (the travel $ information) is clearly laid out in the mailing and website. Good luck!
ETA: read the section on “flight” even if you’re coming in by train, to get all the local info.
@fretfulmother Did you try to register? Or did your S/D. Actually if you access the shuttle registration through the link on the website portal (you indicate above that it is “clearly laid out” there, it does not pre-populate the form with the billing info for YES-W and asks for payment info to be provided.
I contacted the coordinator and they confirmed it is a glitch. They are trying to get it corrected, but in the meantime, the form has to be accessed through the URL provided in the YES letter, NOT from the website link, if you want YES-W to pay for the shuttle.
I hope this information is helpful to those who are registering.
@mediapr - yes, my S registered. He did type in the URL from the letter, so perhaps he avoided seeing any issues.
Is Yale still sending out likely letters or are they done?
@love2cheeses - as you know, CC is anonymous forum and we accept whatever people say at face value. At some point it catches up with them and then they usually disappear.
Good news… The link is fixed for the shuttle company from the airport through the portal link… It populates with the payment info for YES now. 
Is Yale still mailing out letters or is has it finished sending out everything?
@luciagrande apparently some more students were contacted yesterday.
@luciagrande I’ve said before that no rational person should be pining away for a Likely Letter. They are rarer than actual admittance to Yale. By all means, celebrate if you get one – but beyond that, put it out of your mind. Far out of your mind.