dannygood

Hi. I'm a student from a selective private college preparatory school in Florida which usually sends 3-4 kids to Yale a year (even though these kids are the cream of the crop. My school however doesn't rank). Here's the situation: I'm wondering what my chances are going EA to Yale to decide if its worth applying to. I'm not applying to any schools ED (because most of my schools are either matches/safeties and I'm expecting to compare aid packages) and the only school on my list currently that has EA is UNC. Here are my stats/schools I'm planning to apply to:

Bucknell
CMU
CWRU
Cooper
UF
GWU
Lafayette
Lehigh
UNC
Pitt
Rice
Rochester
WashU
Yale

Stats:
SAT 2120: 740 CR, 690 Math, 690 Writing. I retook this in June and will post my updated scores when they are release expecting Math and CR to go up.
SAT IIs: 750 Math II, 650 Physics. I'm retaking Math II in October and will take Bio/retake Physics
UW GPA 3.74
W GPA 4.6
Junior APs: Calc AB, Physics B, Euro
Senior APs: Calc BC, Biology, Gov Pol, Comp Sci A, English Lang, Stat (and an online Physics course at UT which is basically Physics C)

I changed schools after my sophomore year from a public school in CT to a private school in Florida. My grades during my junior year skyrocketed. Straight As in all my classes; A+s in my APs.

Extracurriculars:
Varsity Weightlifting 11th grade
Rowing team 10th and 12th grade (skipped a year last year to focus on weightlifting)
Key Club (11)
Newspaper (11)
Science Club (11) Finished 3rd in statewide competition
Spanish Honors Society
Beta Club (Senior year)
Volunteer weekly at the library
Planning on building a tesla coil with my friend this summer
At my old school was a board member/WHIP of the model congress (9-10)
Started a website with my friends; we write about sports

It was difficult for me to achieve leadership positions with switching schools and all. Like I was planning on running for president of my junior class but moving changed everything. I tried fervently to become active my junior year but its hard adjusting yourself to a new environment in the middle of high school.


So my ultimate question, is it even worth applying to Yale? Like what are my chances of admission? If I write a killer essay and have an awesome interview, do I have a shot at getting in? I'm white/don't have any kicks or anything? I'm planning on doing something with cognitive science and computer science. Thank you.

Kdog044

You have a chance but your UW GPA is your biggest negative so hopefully you can bring that up a bit. I wouldn't spend the money to retake the Math II as 750 is good enough (my son, a rising sophomore, had a 730 in Bio (M) and a 760 in Math II). The essays are super important but with sub 7% admission rates, there are no guarantees. Good luck!

applechip19

Hi dannygood. I think you have a shot at being admitted (your ECs and course selections are good). However, like Kdog044 has mentioned, your unweighted GPA is a bit low and with the competitive admission rates, there are no guarantees even if you writer a killer essay and have an awesome interview. Best of luck to you

CIEE83

Also -- EA doesn't appear to give the same kind of advantage in admissions that ED does at the schools that offer it. Yale says it only accepts EA applicants that it knows it would definitely accept from among the entire applicant pool. If you're a maybe, you'll be deferred. You may want to consider applying early action to a target school or safety, so that you can limit your total number of applications if accepted, and applying to Yale RD, if your application isn't super strong.