Unweighted GPA: 3.8 / 11 AP courses complete by graduation
ACT: 35
SAT Biology M: 780
SAT Math I: 800
SAT Math II: 800
Extracurriculars
Marching Band: 4 Years (Section leader 2 years)
Jazz Band: 4 Years (Section leader 3 years)
Wind Ensemble: 4 Years (Section leader 3 years)
All State Band: 2 Years
Local Honor Band: 3 Years
Local All Star Band: 3 Years
National Honor Society: 2 Years (Historian 1 year)
Piano (Self Taught): 10 Years
Advanced Men’s Choir: 1 Year
Varsity Swimming: 1 Year
Boy Scouts of America: 10 Years (Eagle Scout, Historian: 2 years, Program manager: 2 years, VP Admin: 1 Year)
Book Club: Co-founder and Co-president
I have been employed for a year and will be for the next year
Volunteering / Research / Hooks
Tutoring: 100+ hours since sophomore year
Hospital: 100+ hours since junior year
Rake Up the City Fall project: 12+ hours raking leaves with the Spirit Club
Organized a blood drive with help from the American Red Cross
I have kept a research journal regarding my findings tutoring elementary and middle school students and how different teaching styles affect learning. I want to go into Psychology and plan to explain this in my essays, which I have already started.
I will be a first generation college student and am from an underrepresented area of the USA
Thank you for your help!!! I promise to chance you guys back!!! I just want to know if I have any chance at Yale or a similar school.
Probably a good shot at Yale. Others you may want to consider are schools that have huge bands for the football teams, Stanford, Notre Dame, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Boston College, Berkeley, USC, UCLA…
There are no good shots at Yale, rather it is more of a question on whether you are a legitimate candidate–and you meet that threshold. That said, the bigger question and place where you need to expend energies is why Yale? What about this university, and you should be granular in answering this question, compels you to make application. Successful applicants (my daughter is a rising soph and I formerly held an appointment at the university) will provide a lucid answer on what they would add to this community, and how they would contribute. Do your homework…
What instrument do you primarily play? It would really help if its something more obscure like a basson or an english horn, but seeing marching band and jazz band makes me think its not. Congrats on the all-state band that’s great! I would definitely audition for the orchestra (band if you play sax) at Yale as it might give you some pull in the admissions process, although I have no idea how this would work. Be sure to mention it in your college app essay. Also mention the volunteer work and eagle scout because those are two really great accomplishments.
The idea of sharing your research is great, but there is a lot more to research than just the observations. You must make sense of your observations through data. Even in his most famous yet controversial experiment, Stanley Milgram, a psychology professor at Yale, used mathematical evidence to prove his “Obidience to Authority” hypothesis. I highly suggest that you share your research with a professional psychology researcher who can guide you through writing and even publishing your work. Without that, you will lack validity and admissions at Yale will likely recognize it. Other than that, you have as good of a chance at Yale as anyone.