<p>I've lurked on this board for a few months, but have been too intimidated to post; I figure now that my Yale app is out, there's no harm in asking...</p>
<p>What are my chances?</p>
<p>White female from very competetive and well-known private highschool (ranked #1 in the country for getting kids into the Ivies). Grew up in NYC but lived in Hong Kong for two years.</p>
<p>I have taken Chinese (Mandarin) for 6 years and will take the SATII with listening this Saturday. I started Japanese as a sophomore but have done summer exchange with the same family in ***uoka-ken every year since I was in 8th grade. Last year I began taking Korean with a tutor at Columbia, and while I'm certainly not proficent in the language, I could hold my own in a conversation with a native speaker... provided they were under the age of 4. I'm working on it!</p>
<p>I have played on the varsity volleyball team since junior year (I would have started earlier were it not for a pretty serious health problem) and became captain this year. My team was league champion and went to states... the season just ended yesterday :(</p>
<p>I have always been very interested in art and design, and had internships in freshman, sophomore, and junior years. As a freshman I worked 3 days a week at a design firm, and had one of my drawings produced as a Tshirt that was sold internationally. Sophomore year I interned with a New York Times design editor, and junior year I became a contributor at TeenVogue magazine (if you have ever bought a copy of this magazine, you have probably seen my picture... but for fear of revealing how stupid I sound when quoted, I'm most definitely not saying any more on that subject!).</p>
<p>My school doesn't give grades or offer AP courses, but I work hard and would imagine that I'm in the top 5% of my (albeit small) class. </p>
<p>SAT: 1520 (760/760)
SATII: Writing 790, Lit 800, Chinese... who knows! Hopefully above 500, which would be very good for a Caucasian.
AP: Lit 5... my school doesn't offer AP courses so I only took the Lit to see how I'd do.</p>
<p>I'm not a legacy at Yale, but I have a family friend who is very well established - there's a library named after his family and a grant foundation which he heads. He volunteered to write me a reccommendation (he only writes two a year so as not to diminish whatever influence he has), so hopefully that should help.</p>
<p>My academic reccommendations are pretty straight-forward. One from my English teacher & independant study advisor of two years, and one from my history teacher, a Yale alum and the coolest guy I know. </p>
<p>Chances? Half the time I feel like a great applicant, and the other half I wonder why I didn't spend the $75 on something practical.</p>