<p>hmm. If it's true that Yale is picky about other colleges, that may be a problem for me as a prospective class of 2010 yalie.</p>
<p>I've taken 6 or so advanced math classes at Stanford.
I've also earned credit at Stanford, but it's not my concern to try an transfer this credit to Yale. </p>
<p>I am really enamored with everything about Yale, and I hope to become a math student there.</p>
<p>Do you think it might affect me that I show so much interest in Stanford? (I live nearby, so it's convenient to attend...) Also, I am NOT interested in pressing it upon Yale to accept any credit for what I've done, I'm just concerned it if it might affect my admission to Yale.</p>
<p>Don't worry, Masamune: Yale doesn't frown at all on applicants doing college-level work--many, many accepted candidates have done so. It's just that, if you're entering as a freshman, they don't count any college credits earned before that time toward the graduation requirements (though such work may qualify you for placement in more advanced courses) :).</p>
<p>if anything, it will help your admission to yale. If yale is indeed your first choice, you can solidify your position by applying there early. That will indicate your preference and desire to matriculate to the Admissions committee.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>My thoughts exactly crimsonbulldog. I was thinking it might look odd with all this stanford-love going on in my application. </p>
<p>I might try to express my love for Yale by not applying EA but I might try to contact the alumni association in the Bay Area and see if I can get an alumni interested in math/science to write me a rec.</p>
<p>Just something that may appeal to others who are waging a campaign to get into Yale like me</p>
<p>Masamune--I don't think your Stanford coursework will look odd at all, since you're in the area and it's obviously an outstanding place to study. But I'm not crazy about the idea of trying to get an alum to write a recommendation: I believe adcoms would much rather hear from a teacher who really knows your work--even a Stanford teacher.</p>
<p>*** masamune - I've been in your position, as a bay area student who took courses at Stanford before applying to Yale. While the Stanford coursework will definitely strengthen your application in terms of "yes, this student is very strong academically and we'd love to have him/her," living in the bay area may weaken your application in the sense of "this student is probably going to decide to go to Stanford anyway, so why should we bother accepting him/her?"</p>
<p>To that end, if Yale is your first-choice school, I'd make it VERY clear to the admissions office that if accepted to both schools you would choose Yale over Stanford. You can do this by applying EA to Yale, and, since most interviewers ask where else you're applying, you can make this clear to your interviewer too.</p>
<p>I went to one of the Palo Alto high schools, and the Yale admit rate from my graduating class was about 2%, which my mother (who is an alumni interviewer in the Bay Area) credits mostly to the fact that Yale is wary of taking students that they see as destined for stanford anyway because it will reduce Yale's yield. I honestly think one of the only reasons I got in when most of the other students from my school didn't (these are all students who, after being rejected from Yale, went on to matriculate at Princeton, Harvard, Brown, and Stanford, so it's not like they weren't extremely qualified applicants) is that directly I told my interviewer that of all the schools I'd applied to, Stanford was my absolute last choice...</p>
<p>This "oh, this kid's going to go to Stanford anyway so why bother accepting them" bias may not actually exist, but it's something you should definitely consider...</p>
<p>^^ i can agree with the above as an applicant with a considerable amount of connections to princeton (including a professor rec) who got into princeton and was rejected by harvard, yale, stanford, and MIT. unfortunately princeton was my second choice to stanford and stanford's app didnt allow ample room for me to express my love for the place. :/ but i cannot rule out the fact that maybe the other schools would have rejected me regardless of the princeton connections and princeton may have only accepted me because of those connections. (got into penn and columbia regardless).</p>
<p>so masamune, i agree with whatever was said above about making it clear to yale that they are your first choice. i didnt do that well enough with stanford and it doesnt help that stanford does not interview.</p>
<p>but i just got back from princeton's april hosting :D and i am really loving the school. its AMAZING.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot. In my previous post i meant to say that I am planning to apply EA. I don't know what got into me! haha.</p>