SAT I (breakdown): 2300 - 740/760/800 Critical Reading/Writing/Math
ACT: 35
SAT Subject Tests: 800 - Math II, 790 - Chemistry, 750 - US History, 730 - Spanish w/o listening
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.99 (A+ counts as 4.3)
Weighted GPA: 4.17 (AP classes receive 1.15 multiplier)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):4/~95
AP (place score in parenthesis): Calculus BC (5) as Sophomore, US History (5), Chemistry (5), Spanish Language (5), English Language (5) as Junior
Senior Year Course Load: AP English, AP Physics C, AP Spanish VI (Literature), AP Statistics, Concert and Jazz Band, Linear Algebra
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Finalist, Intel ISEF Finalist (i.e., I went but did not win) as a Sophormore
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Math Team Captain, 3-year ARML participant, Spanish Honor Society, Soccer, Baseball/Track
Job/Work Experience: Worked at a local community center before Sophomore year; worked at my uncle's investment firm before Senior year
Volunteer/Community service: Habitat for Humanity Blitz Week before Senior year, mission trip to Calais, Maine before Junior year
Essays (subjects and personal opinions):
Common App Main Essay: About the ambiguity of languages and my preference for math. I thought it was very good.
EC Short Answer: No idea.
Why Yale?: Pefunctory
Short Takes: Fine?
Additional Essay: About my Rubik's Cube. Not very good, probably why I got rejected. I rewrote the essay the night before the deadline.
Teacher Recommendation 1: Didn't read, from my AP US History teacher
Teacher Recommendation 2: Didn't read, from my math teacher who I've had for 3 1/2, now 4, years
Counselor Rec: Didn't read
Interview: I thought it went well. I didn't check my email for over three weeks, so that may have not reflected kindly on myself.
Other
State: WI
School Type: Small Private
Ethnicity: 1/2 Hispanic
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: $250,000+
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): 1/2 Hispanic
Reflection
Strengths: Very strong math student, took BC as a Sophomore, then Multi-Variable as a Junior and Linear as a Senior, all at my school.
Weaknesses: My essay was rewritten the night of the deadline and was not very good.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: My essay.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: Madison, Northwestern, UChicago, Duke, Swarthmore, Colubmia, Stanford - Waitlisted: Harvard, Princeton - Rejected: MIT
AP (place score in parenthesis): 4 on Biology, Just took Calculus AB, Statistics, English Lit, and Psychology.
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: Spanish III, AP English Lit, AP Statistics, AP Psychology, Calculus AB
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Robert C. Byrd Scholarship, Marines Academic Scholarship
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Varsity Soccer 10-12 (captain), Club Soccer 9-12, Drawing & Painting, NHS, Student Council, Diversity Club/GSA, Bass Guitar, Drama Club 12 (Just Another High School Play & Grease)
Summer Activities: Mostly training for soccer and visiting relatives.
Essays (subjects and personal opinions):
Common App Main Essay: My common app essay was about a near-death experience while driving and how it affected my outlook on life. I thought it was pretty excellent, I had a lot of smart people editing it.
EC Short Answer: I wrote about my love for art, especially creating stencils (similar to the graffiti artist Banksy).
Why Yale?: I talked about Blue Booking as well as the excellent research opportunities available at Yale.
Short Takes: They were all pretty standard, I barely remember them anymore.
Additional Essay: I wrote about my support of gay rights in addition to my belief that diversity can only occur if everyone is open to the idea. It was pretty well revised and I think it was excellent.
Teacher Recommendation 1: Didn't see, probably pretty standard (From my AP Biology teacher).
Teacher Recommendation 2: Didn't see. I'm not too sure what it was like. My Calculus teacher who is extremely old and slightly crazy wrote it, so I'm not sure how well written it was.
Counselor Rec: Didn't see. My counselor was involved in GSA with me and we get along very well, so I expect it was good.
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: N/A
Other
State (if domestic applicant): Michigan
Country (if international applicant): United States
School Type: Small Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: < $60,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation college.
Reflection
Strengths: I think my essays were definitely a strength as well as my test scores.
Weaknesses: I haven't done much that stands out in an application pool such as this.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I have absolutely no idea, but this is probably the best school anyone from my town has ever gone to. I did, however, visit Yale's campus and talk to an admissions officer for a bit after I was waitlisted. I then sent a letter restating my interest and updating them on a few awards as well as my new-found love for theater. The trip and the letter couldn't have hurt and might have had some effect on my selection off of the waitlist. This is really an amazing opportunity for me.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted to Northwestern, University of Michigan; Waitlisted at Brown; Rejected from Harvard.
General Comments: I am in shock, but I can't wait to be a bulldog!
I ended up matriculating to the Brown-RISD dual degree program, but with the thought that stats might help future Yale prospies, here ya go.
Decision: Accepted
White
Female
SAT I superscore: Math (800) Writing (790) Reading (740)
SAT II: Lit (740) Bio (790)
GPA: 95%
AP Physics B (4) AP American (5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Bio, AP English, AP Art (2 portfolios submitted: Drawing and Painting and 2D) Chinese 5, Creative Writing, American Film, Sociology (At a local college)
Major Awards: Suzi Oppenheimer Community Service Award, Bryn Marr book award, National Women's Association book award, national honor society, exemplary illustration student, several school-wide art contests
Extracurriculars: Head editor of school's lit magazine, contributor to newspaper
Founder and current board member/webmaster for community service club to africa
Jobs: Intern at a local art gallery, run personal art/logo commission business,
Run prominant art blog and founded self published art magazine (head editor, layout, etc.)
Community service camp counselor over the summer
Other nonsense: Piano, loads of babysitting, letterpress printing in my basement, generally wrote crazy essays.
SAT Subject Tests: 710 Lit, 720 US History, 670 Bio
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.84
Weighted GPA: 4.1
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): Bio (5), US History (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Spanish, Honors PreCal, Honors Physics, History of Science, Film and Video III
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Scholastic Art & Writing Awards Gold Medal for Art Portfolio, Multiple awards for filmmaking
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Senior Editor of Yearbook, Head Layout of School Newspaper, Cultural Awareness Secretary, Admissions Team, Film & Photography, Piano
Job/Work Experience: Math tutor
Volunteer/Community service: Church mission trips, Working at a local elementary school
Summer Activities: Built a personal website, took two college level courses at USC, and one intensive language course at the U of Chicago.
Essays (subjects and personal opinions): Good
Common App Main Essay: Great
EC Short Answer: Great
Why Yale?: It was my number one choice by far b/c of the residential college system and focus on undergraduates
Short Takes: Talked about my interest in cheeseburgers, films, and Christianity
Teacher Recommendation 1: Don't Know
Teacher Recommendation 2: Don't Know
Counselor Rec: Don't Know
Additional Rec: One from a Yale Alum
Interview: Four interviews, in one I choked on a piece of chicken for like 30 minutes
Other
State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant): USA
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: I don't need aid
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): N/A
Reflection
Strengths: My passion for filmmaking, the fact that Yale was my top choice
Weaknesses: My chicken interview incident
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Because from day one I told myself "I'm going to get into Yale", and I did.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: Columbia, U of Chicago, Berkeley, USC, UCLA, UCSB, UCSD, UC Davis. Waitlisted: Brown
General Comments: Yale was my goal from day one, and I'm thrilled!
Last edited by boomer123; 06-21-2011 at 02:53 AM.
Reason: added info
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2230 (780CR/710M/740W)
ACT: 34
SAT Subject Tests: 800 Bio, 780 World History, 710 Math
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.61
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 1%
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 4
Senior Year Course Load: Hard
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): None
Subjective:
Extracurriculars: Academic team, varsity sport, various school clubs, school production, honor societies, leadership positions in most of these
Job/Work Experience: Interned at a research center
Volunteer/Community service: 250 hours in various community projects
Summer Activities: Leadership camp, travel
Essays (subjects and personal opinions):
Common App Main Essay: Excellent - dramatic about a life threatening event
EC Short Answer: Talked about my passion for research
Why Yale?: Talked about Yale's outstanding music and language programs and how they coincide with my interests
Short Takes: Fun and thoughtful, all tied into my interests
Additional Essay: Excellent - Whimsical, fun, and off the wall
Teacher Recommendation 1: Outstanding - she wrote, "If you only take one student from our school, let it be XXXX; in my 25 years of teaching, she is the most talented student I've had"
Teacher Recommendation 2: Excellent - Similar to the first one
Counselor Rec: Excellent but somewhat bland
Additional Rec: Excellent
Interview: Went well but the interviewer was totally neutral, so I had no idea where I stood
Other
State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant): US
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: 1/4 Hispanic
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Very high
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Nada
Reflection
Strengths: GPA, AP Scores, Lots of AP courses, recommendations,
Weaknesses: SAT Math scores were only good, not outstanding
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I'm an extremely hard worker and very well-rounded; My essays were really good and my additional essay really showed them who I am.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Accepted: Stanford, Dartmouth (Likely), Vanderbilt, Cornell (Likely), Duke (Likely), Johns Hopkins, Georgetown, Washington U, Berkeley, Emory, UCLA, and several more. Waitlisted: Harvard, UPenn Rejected: Princeton, Brown
General Comments: Thrilled out of my mind to be admitted to Yale! A dream come true!
