Self-explanatory: desperate bad academics Asian for the league What are my chances?
Profile
Country: South Korea
Female
Not first generation, but low income
Korean and English, self-learnt Japanese and Tagalog
School Type: Private (on partial merit aid), small
Aid: Seeking
Major: Global Affairs
Stats
GPA: 4.0 (unweighted)
Rank: School doesn’t do rank
SAT: 1470 (760 EBRW, 710 Math), retaking in December but probably not improving by a lot
IELTS: 8.0 overall
IB Courses: 3 HL 3 SL but grades not reported, only reported national curriculum
Honors
First place in a semi-prestigious global youth leadership competition
Finalist in international youth policy award focused on public service
Regional and national debate/public speaking awards (listed 4)
Recipient of school’s Academic Excellence Award (4x)
National Creative Writing Competition - Top 5
Activities
Organized 10+ international civic-focused forums for a big-name youth organization, working with national and international groups to secure resources. Helped develop initiatives that promote youth engagement and advocacy on social issues. Recognition from IGOs** and raised 60K USD in funds including competitive international grants.
Founded a global youth network that connects students from ~50 countries for workshops, cultural discussions, and debate events. The network was recognized by 3 IGOs* for fostering meaningful cross-cultural exchanges.
Conducted research on international governance through an international program with a full ride fellowship with a T20 professor, published and presenting at 3 conferences. Also served as an alumni officer, supporting admissions by assisting with application reviews and mentoring new participants.
Elected youth representative for my province (~2M population), where I organized public events on youth rights, conducted research on student perspectives, and presented findings to government officials to support policy initiatives.
Started a skills development initiative for young women in Asia (incl. West), offering workshops and speaker events that connect participants with leaders in various fields to help build confidence and career skills. Recognized by multiple big name MNCs.***
Led my school’s international relations club, organizing discussions on global topics and leading our school’s first foreign exchange programs [sent 4 cohorts (~30 kids) to LatAm, Europe, and the US] to facilitate cultural understanding and international collaboration.
Interned with my city’s foreign relations department, contributing to cultural exchange projects, handling community outreach, and grant writing for programs supporting cultural connections.
Volunteered as a language tutor online, guiding students to conversational proficiency in Japanese and Tagalog through interactive weekly lessons.
Co-led a small-scale international media literacy project to combat misinformation, designing resources with my team and sharing our work at a global event to raise awareness.
Selected for a national leadership academy in diplomacy, where I later supported program selections as a peer mentor based on my experience and performance.
Essays
Personal Statement: My personal statement reflects on my experience volunteering in a crisis zone, which became a defining moment in my journey. Being immersed in such intense circumstances showed me the resilience of those enduring hardship and revealed the limitations of traditional aid. This experience inspired me to pursue a path in humanitarian policy, where I could work toward systemic change to help improve aid accessibility and impact for communities in crisis.
Supplements: I discussed my commitment to cultural exchange, especially through my studies of Japanese and Tagalog, which helped me connect with Eastern philosophies and traditions. I also highlighted my goal of building understanding across cultures, bridging divides through language and diplomacy.
Letters of Recommendation
Research Mentor (9/10): My research mentor (T20 as aforementioned) praised my work on international governance, noting my dedication to examining political and cultural dynamics with insight and depth. He described me as one of his most engaged students he’s ever had (including undergraduates and graduate students), with a strong ability to analyze complex global issues and present solutions. He also mentioned my role as an alumni officer, where I supported new scholars by assisting with admissions and mentorship. (I got to see this letter)
Math Teacher (8.5/10): My math teacher highlighted my intellectual growth and problem-solving skills, describing my success in competitions and my ability to think across disciplines.
Social Sciences Teacher (8.5/10): Emphasized my leadership within the school community, and my commitment to international issues and describing me as a positive role model among my peers.
Counselor (9/10): My counselor praised my initiative in promoting inclusivity, mental health, and cultural exchange, saying my values align well with Yale’s mission. (I got to peek at this one because we had to externally submit it, had problems with Common App) Basically, it’s also highlighted how good of a fit I am for Yale.
Additional Information
Expanded on some of my ECs (hosted a current PM/President for a speech at one of the forums I organized, etc.) and gave context about why I fumbled the SAT.
The weak part of your application is going to be the SAT score. Rather than explain why you “fumbled” the SAT, try to get and do intensive SAT math prep to bring that score up. As it is, your math score of 710 is not bad enough that you should be using essay space to explain it. Do your absolute best to bring it up, and then just submit it.
Your ECs look very good. Be careful about your personal statement which reflects on your experience volunteering in a crisis zone (I missed where this is listed in your ECs). This could be skating on the edge of the ubiquitous “mission trip” of the last generation of applicants, where their parents paid several thousand dollars (which money could have fed the entire village for a year) to send Brittany to volunteer to do unskilled labor in a poor area of a third world country, so that Brittany would be able to write her college essay about how she now realizes that there are poor people in the world, and now she wants to dedicate her life to serving them. It is fine to write about this, but you’re going to have to be very careful about how it comes off.
Any of the highly selective schools are a long shot for you. I suggest that you apply to all of the schools that are need-blind for international students, which include some very fine small liberal arts colleges that you may never have heard of, but believe me, they are highly respected names in the US.
And adding to that need aware schools for international - like Franklin & Marshall and Washington & Lee - they meet need but may (or may not) use the amount of aid you need as a basis to reject you. There are others too that meet need for international.
What is your budget? I ask because you say low income but are paying (partial) for a private high school in Korea?
If you have $25K a year, you might find some public schools - not at the high ranking level - but if you truly want a US education…
This isn’t going to help…it will sound like giving an excuse…not a reason.
I agree. Retake if Yale will accept the later score for SCEA applicants.
And remember, if you don’t get accepted to Yale, you will never know the reason why. There are a HUGE number of well qualified applicants. As an international student, your acceptance %age is roughly half the total %age of accepted students. That’s single digits.
hi! thank you so much! it’s 100% nothing like a mission trip. i volunteer for the red cross and that’s how i got to volunteer for the crisis. i’m low income so i thought it would’ve been obvious but i tried to make sure that it doesn’t sound like it so hopefully not!
i’m retaking the SAT in december and will try to bring my score up but i’ve been experiencing the “senioritis” too so i don’t how how much i can improve the score
and thank you for the suggestions! i’ll be applying to other schools RD too (probably even if i get into Yale, for funsies) but i just wanted to see if my application is competitive enough for Yale
i heard that W&L went need-blind this year, would they still do that?
my budget is less than 25K USD unfortunatel. in 2023, my parents’ income was around 40K USD. i’m only able to pay for my school because of how dedicated my mother is for my education and she spent a lot of our family funds on my schooling
These circumstances are not excuses, but they did impact my performance,
and I plan to retake the SAT in December to make up for them.
this is how i explained my SAT situation in the additional information section. i hope they still take it into account my main reason was that i was caring for a family member during the time so i basically “slacked off” and didn’t spend any time on studying
and yes, thank you so much. i know all the odds are stacked against me, but do you think the AOs could still see my application as a qualified one despite my academic standing?
Why on earth would you spend a penny on applying to other schools for “funsies” if you were to be accepted early action to Yale? Other than their one private REA, my kid only submitted a few public school apps where if you didn’t submit by Nov 1st, you weren’t considered for merit money. Kid held off on submitting all other apps because they cost money - and then when they got into their REA school, they decided to go there, and didn’t bother with the rest of the apps, withdrew their other apps.
If you applied to Yale EA, a December SAT won’t be considered. If you get deferred, and bring your score way up, yes, you should let them know - it might make a difference for RD. But it definitely could make a difference for your other schools.
You cannot afford to have senioritis and not prep as hard as you can for the math on that upcoming SAT. Otherwise, why bother taking it? The only element that appears to be not up to snuff in your application is the SAT, so put all your efforts into that.
The Red Cross pays to send high school students, who obviously have limited time available due to school obligations, to travel abroad to do international relief work, rather than hire locals who are on the scene, know the culture, and don’t need an international plane ticket to get to the crisis site? Wow. Does not seem to be an effective use of funds.
This is why I am always looking at reported ECs with a jaundiced eye. Yours sound amazing, but of course you cannot identify them specifically for fear of doxxing yourself.
Washington and Lee is indeed added to the colleges that are need blind AND meet full need for international students! Starting with the class entering fall 2025…IIRC.
I agree with others that Yale is either a reach or a high reach, and that rejection is more likely than acceptance. However…
Do I have this right? Did you self-study to learn both Japanese and Tagalog in order to be able to volunteer in a foreign exchange, and you did this as a low-income student? Learning two foreign languages for this purpose is a major commitment and a major effort. You then were tutoring in both of these languages, which suggests that you actually did learn them reasonably well. To me this is impressive.
1470 SAT is not going to dazzle admissions staff at Yale. 710 math does not say “let’s go to MIT or Caltech to be a math major”. However, this is a solid score. It does say “she can handle the academics at Yale”. An unweighted 4.0 GPA (ie, all A’s) with an 8 on the IELTS says the same thing. 760 on the English part of the regular SAT test suggests that your English is better than most native English speakers.
And Yale is need blind for international students, and meets full need for international students.
I think that you have a chance for admissions to Yale. I hope that you get in and I wish you the best.
i’m really sorry if my comment was offensive! i have a fee common app fee waiver and received CSS fee waivers from a couple schools, and that’s why i said i would apply. i do believe that Yale is a great fit for me but if i do end up, for example, getting into Duke with a Robertson scholarship, i could choose Duke because of the specific program
i did not get paid by the red cross to volunteer! i’m not an employee of the ICRC neither am i a paid volunteer for them – the flights were (afaik) paid for by the government’s relief funds. i didn’t do anything crazy like rescuing people from armed conflicts or rubbles. i just helped with taking care of the children, low-risk first aid, and supplies (blankets, canned food, etc.)
the ECs sound a bit too vague, i agree, but thank you for your understanding.
hey! thank you so much for replying! i didn’t learn the languages specifically to be able to volunteer in a foreign exchange but i was able to do the cultural activities and foreign exchange due to my language skills! i always liked languages and i wanted to learn these specifically because they are close to home and i always felt connected to (east) asia outside of my own country! thank you so much either way for your kind words
i’m definitely not a math major and i’m not the brightest in math, i’ve been able to get my A’s for math through retakes and presentations :,)
again, thank you so much and i hope Yale thinks i’m a good fit too!
i actually want to follow a path in international relations/diplomacy so i do want to work for the consulates/embassy for a while in the US and possibly work for IGOs like UN so i don’t know if i want to return. either way, i think a college with the right networks and the “brand name” is important for my major to an extent, right? obviously, it’s not about being an ivy or a T10 so schools like CMC would also be amazing for me but i’d still want to continue my studies at a school that is reputable for IR on the east coast does this makes sense or should i be more open-minded about this?
The first step towards your eventual goal will be an internship while in college. The goal will be to have both a “quality” employer and a meaningful and content full role.
While many internships are available those most coveted that combine both of the aforementioned attributes tend to go disproportionately to kids from the highest profile schools.
You’d be surprised at how many from no name colleges work at NGOs, embassies, and think tanks. It’s a TON.
But those schools likely aren’t affordable.
But you can go deeper beyond the need blind which are likely reaches to the need aware - F&M, Dennison, Lafayette, etc that might bounce you on need but academically give you a better chance.
You can reach your goals from many schools - with prestige secondary.
Your goal should be an affordable entry. With your current list, that’s unlikely. So you need to expand that list. Still unlikely based on need but perhaps reasonable based on your academic profile.
As my daughter is voluntarily at an uncompetitive school, we at first studied this. Whether in government or at NGOs, high prestige is far from a requirement.
So Yale in particular provides all sorts of insight into what it looks for in applicants, and the process it uses to try to find them, in the form of the Yale Admissions Podcast:
I tend to think a good place to start in situations like yours is Episode 26, “Should I Even Apply?” As the summary states:
The highly selective admissions process can be daunting and feel discouraging, especially for students who fear that some aspect of their personal circumstances will put them at a disadvantage. Prospective students often ask “Given the very low rate of admission, should I even apply?” Hannah and Mark share insights on how to think realistically about the foundational criteria that make applications competitive and the wide range of personal situations and challenges that officers routinely consider during the contextual holistic review process.
So if you like, you could listen to (or read the transcript for) that podcast episode.
On the other hand, since you already applied SCEA presumably–do you really want to?
Like, I think despite the good intentions of the Yale admissions officers who do the podcast, some applicants actually find such episodes pretty stressful. Because as nice as they may be as human beings, the fact of the matter is their job is fairly described as rejecting the vast, vast majority of applicants they get, and selecting just the very few who really stand out to them as addressing various institutional priorities. And so any honest way of describing all that necessarily eventually conveys the point it is very, very hard to avoid being one of the rejected kids, despite your best efforts.
So personally, at this point I would suggest doing whatever you can to stop thinking about Yale. Which will be hard, but you can at least avoid things that would actually encourage you to think about it.
What are my chances?
my main reason was that i was caring for a family member during the time so i basically “slacked off” and didn’t spend any time on studying