Ask a Yale Student (ie: me) - Page 4

chicagoboy12 · 02-11-2008, 11:57 AM

I have a friend in the situation. He asked me what I thought, and I said to ask our counselor. Most people, and 2 guidance counselors, agreed that it is a bad idea because it puts admissions and you in bad positions. They are not supposed to take sexuality into account (by law?). Admissions have said that they prefer you to not to mention if you are gay or straight because then they feel like there could be a lawsuit if you say "I was rejected for being gay."

But, if it were me, I would risk it and go with it!! I think admissions are so competitive that the gayness could be a good hook. I had a friend who wanted to lie and say he was gay to appear diverse, but I told him not to because it might offend the original and actually gay friend. Yeah- I have a lot of friends haha.

bmwdan13 · 02-11-2008, 05:39 PM

I sincerely doubt that homosexuality is a hook. Show them your character- and leave out the sexuality. Just my humble opinion, though. It's hard to say what they look for.

boho_girl · 02-11-2008, 05:41 PM

^^ but if that had a big impact on his life and his points of view, wouldn't it be important to show?

JohnC613 · 02-11-2008, 05:44 PM

if you can write a really good essay on it (which the topic dos have a lot of potential to write an awesome essay), then go for it. it isn't too controversial at all. Yale is known for its gay community
I agree that it won't really b e a hook tho

ep1th3t · 02-11-2008, 10:41 PM

What do people even consider as "a hook" anymore? Being born with three eyeballs or something? I'm just so confused on that. What qualifies something as "a hook"?

chicagoboy12 · 02-12-2008, 03:49 PM

I would say a hook is something that makes you more valuable to the college. Not like good scores and grades, but things that separate you and make the college want you more:
athletes (needed for sports obviously)
minorities (contribute to diversity)
famous (a college gets a well known teenager)

joyogunx · 02-14-2008, 07:03 PM

how are the dorms like, are they really as nice as the website/brochure make it to be?

frrrph · 02-14-2008, 07:31 PM

I love the dorms. There are some differences in quality between the residential colleges - Stiles and Morse versus Silliman - but frankly, I find even the S&M rooms nice. Their entryways look like a 70's run-down nightmare, but the rooms themselves are very big and have a gothic feel to them. If you end up in Silliman or Trumbull, say, the dorms are incredible.

Also, oh man, the facilities available - TV rooms, pottery rooms, music rooms, dance rooms, billiard and ping pong tables, gyms, just goodness all around. It makes you feel very very spoiled.

Are there any particular features of the dorms you were wondering about? The room size of doubles can be pretty sucky, and there are no elevators in some of the colleges (living on the fourth or fifth floor: not cool).

joyogunx · 02-15-2008, 07:16 PM

out of the twelve different colleges, which one is the best? Also, how do they pair you with your roommate?

frrrph · 02-15-2008, 10:25 PM

Depends on what you like. Smaller colleges are cosier, but Silliman is newly renovated and so has a little better facilities. You'd really have to come visit and stay in a dorm or two to figure out what college suits your taste. All in all, though, it really doesn't matter - pretty much everybody ends up adoring their own college anyway.

Hm, I can't really answer that, I came in as a transfer and was randomly assigned. They do have you fill out a questionnaire to match you up with someone compatible, though (although the main points they care about is whether your sleeping schedule will clash - don't want a heavy party-goer in the same room as an athlete that has to get up at 5AM).

jl08 · 02-17-2008, 02:53 PM

i have a question about admission. honestly, is a 35 reading, 35 english, 34 math, 31 science, but only 33 composite good enough to be considered competitive at yale? i know tests are only a small part of the equation, and the range for act is like 31-34. really though, without being from africa or having minority status or having written a book or done something completely extraordinary, is it at all competitive?

i was already deferred early admission. i'm just trying to prepare myself for facing groups of rejection letters.

JohnC613 · 02-17-2008, 05:02 PM

jl08 it is "within range." if you don't get in, it wasn't your score that kept you out.

Jules Winfield · 02-18-2008, 03:10 PM

To answer a question asked earlier, being gay is not a hook. A true hook is something that people can say "oh yeah - they're the applicant that was X". A pseudo hook is something that the university can use to help its counting stats.

true hooks: fame, extraordinary accomplishments on the national or international level, something one-of-a-kind.
pseudo hooks: race, socioeconomic factors, legacy status (all are counted by universities including Yale)

Yale doesn't census (or particularly care about) the sexuality of admitted students; therefore it is not a hook of any kind.

ep1th3t · 02-18-2008, 09:54 PM

I understand this, thank you.

A couple more questions:

Does it have any matter of importance if my 1st cousin attended Yale?

and, how is Yale's Undergraduate Piano Department? I know this may be hard to answer, so if you don't know, that's understandable.

highlander12 · 02-23-2008, 04:28 PM

Some funny questions/inquiries

Do any of the political science majors show traits that made our last two presidents (both alums) so infamous?

Do athletes recieve the cold shoulder from the student body? Or is it that they get too caught up in two-a-days to find much else to explore? Or is it inbetween the two extreme?

Dish on secret societies (esp. S&B) and Greek life? (my browser gave me the 'needs to close' error message twice while i typed this)

Finally: Brown has naked donut runs, SexPowerGod and Star****. Yale has...