Chances for EA to Yale?

Colleges & Universities Yale University
1

<p>I will be EAing to Yale in the fall of 2009. I ask that you critique my application and note its strengths and weaknesses, especially its weaknesses, and offer suggestions on how to make myself more appealing as a candidate for Yale. Thanks!
• SAT I: 2320 CR: 800 M: 790 W: 730
I’m going to retake just to improve the writing.
• SAT II: Chemistry: 790 Math II: 790 U.S. History: 750
• GPA: UW: 4.0 W: 4.39
• Rank: 1 of 400ish
• AP (place score in parenthesis): Chemistry (5), U.S. History (4 or 5)
Scores aren’t out yet so I can only speculate.
• Senior Year Course Load: AP English Lit, AP Bio, AP Calc BC, AP Psychology, AP U.S. Government, Introduction to Hebrew Scriptures, Honors Spanish IV, Economics</p>

<p>In addition to those, I am taking AP Chinese outside school (self-study) and physics from a university during the school year since my school does not offer AP Physics. The reason for my few junior year APs is that my school doesn’t offer that many for juniors–albeit I am taking more APs than my peers. How bad will that hurt me as an applicant?</p>

<p>I have no major awards unless you consider PSAT Commended which I might omit since it won’t help me that much.</p>

<p>Minor awards include:
Tennessee Math Teachers’ Assessment (state math exam): Placed 8th in freshman year for geometry, second in the Rhodes University testing center for Pre-calculus (11th), and 9th in the region for Pre-calculus exam.
Top scorer in the American Chemical Society Competitive Examination (Top 20, they don’t give exact rank unless you’re in the top 3).</p>

<p>Knowledge Bowl team was the semifinalist in sophomore year in a competitive knowledge bowl tournament aired on the local news channel and in the Top 8 in junior year. Also we placed 2, 3, and 4 in several local school competitions. Should I omit these competition names in my application?</p>

<p>2nd place in school chess tournament (omit?)
• Extracurriculars: </p>

<p>National Honor Society (President), Knowledge Bowl (Captain), Piano for 11 years (sadly never tried any contests, but I am the church pianist for junior and senior year), Bridge Builders (a leadership program that involves bridging culture and economic differences), Volunteer for Special Olympics Bowling, Youth Leadership program graduate, lots of church activities (pianist, founder of an accountability group program, regular volunteering, etc).</p>

<p>In addition to these, I plan to co-found and co-lead a club that will distribute food to either the local food bank or the hope house.</p>

<p>I plan to omit things like Beta club and etc. I hope to craft an extracurricular list that seems to show things I’m passionate about— music, faith activities, and volunteering—while not sounding like a disorganized laundry list that muddles my interests.</p>

<p>• Job/Work Experience: Pianist for church (spend about four hours ever week, excluding the several hours I practice)
• Volunteer/Community service: Library (100+ hours), Prepare and serve food for a poor area every city with my church, Special Olympics Bowling
• Summer Activities: Governor School (sciences), Bridge Builder activities, NHS volunteering
• Essays: Still thinking. Will the admissions office frown upon my essay if I incorporate themes such as faith into my essay?
• State: TN
• School Type: large public
• Ethnicity: Chinese -_-
• Gender: male</p>

<p>Other schools I will apply to: Dartmouth, Princeton, Harvard, Stanford, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Duke, UT Knoxville, Rice,
and University of Virginia.</p>

<p>Right now it seems that my top three choices would be Cornell, Yale, and Princeton. </p>

<p>I think my weaknesses are relatively weak extracurriculars (or at least without national/state rankings), no major awards, and being Chinese. Strengths? Decent leadership maybe? I need to stand out somehow.</p>

<p>Thank you for taking the time in critiquing this. Your comments are warmly welcomed.</p>

2

<p>Oh, I forgot to add that I am going to an interview in July. How can I prepare for it? Any advice or experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!</p>

3

<p>Hey,
While I don’t pretend to be an expert on such things (being a high school student myself) I don’t think the admissions office would ever frown upon someone incorporating their faith into their essay; it’s something that renders you unique (compared a large slice of the teenaged demographic). Your academics are top-notch and they’ll definitely be wooed by your independent AP study. ECs are a weakness as you acknowledged; perhaps you should contact a respectable local college and see if there are any internship opportunities during the summer or school year that mesh with one of your interests?
As for your interview: When I went for my interview at Yale I wore a suit, as I’m sure you will. To prepare for my interview I anticipated questions I knew the interviewer would ask me and formulated coherent responses to them weeks before the interview (I even wrote them down). Most interviewees will put you at ease, from my experience at least, and they’ll understand if you’re a bit nervous. Be personable and alert.
Best of luck to you!</p>

4

<p>Thank you for your post geologistsrock. What type of questions did they ask? </p>

<p>I am currently at Governor School of Sciences (for college credit) so I can’t really do much this summer. I’m not sure how much time I’ll have during school since I’ve got physics and Chinese, Knowledge Bowl, and NHS. </p>

<p>Are there any other ECs I could perhaps do? Do you think that the club that I will start next year in which we distribute canned food will help a lot?</p>

<p>Any suggestions in how to counterbalance some of my weaknesses?</p>

<p>I guess I have to make my essay really shine.</p>

5

<p>ap930: you’ve done all you can do. Congrats on the stellar academic performance – you have a great future ahead of you wherever you matriculate. You’re a viable candidate. Put your best foot fwd w/your essay. Remember: you aren’t trying to impress ANYONE but only to present a slice of yourself. Be open, be honest, be yourself – don’t spin or write what you think a reader is looking for – those are pretty obvious to spot.</p>

<p>For your teacher recs, try to make sure that they’ll include some specific anecdotes that really stood out to them in their relationship with you. Memorable anecdotes are much more useful than formulaic positive generalizations.</p>

<p>Your EC list is fine by the way. Don’t sweat that. You won’t be admitted or rejected based on that.</p>

<p>Best of luck to you and enjoy your Sr year.</p>

6

<p>Thank you for your encouragement. I hope your endeavors are met with success.</p>

7

<p>Would a higher SAT score (probably 2370+ superscored) help? Or will Yale look down on my taking it again after getting a good score.</p>

8

<p>Hey again AP930,
for my interview they asked me standard questions that can be easily anticipated (this wasn’t really a bona-fide college interview, it was an interview to get into a summer research position but there were many of the same questions between the two interviews). From what I recall they asked me to tell them a little bit about myself, grades/ECs, my interests, how I became interested in science, what I planned to do in the program if accepted, the sweaty-palms inducing “why do you think we should pick you?” My number one advice is to remain humble; I tried out for a summer research program at Cornell and the huge mistake I made was trying to stress my experience in the area and instead of coming off as experienced I just sounded pretty arrogant when I look back. Also, enthusiam helps alot as well. If you’re really excited about something Yale offers definitely mention it.
As for your already stellar SAT scores, I think its doubtful Yale would look down upon you for re-taking it, but I do think that the admissions commitee might be a little confused; I read in “A is For Admission” (oh goodness it’s probably so lame I own that book…) that you should take the SAT no more than three times, otherwise you appear too “test-centric.”
I think you’ll be fine without any additional ECs. “Depth not breadth”, amigo!
As long as you make it clear that you devoted a significant portion of time each week to all of your activities it won’t hurt you - your evident dedication will probably be favorable.</p>

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<p>I’m also bringing a resume with me for the interview. Is that a good idea? If so, what should I NOT put on my resume (I think I heard somewhere not to put your SAT/ACT scores because they may skew the interviewers perception of you).</p>

10

<p>Hey AP930, are you applying for Yale EA class of 2013? how did you get an interview so fast? did you already submit an application? how do you request for an interview? thanks!</p>

11

<p>You go to the online interview scheduler. Set up an account if you do not have one already, sign in and then sign up. Easy. It will only take a few minutes.</p>

12

<p>Interviews don’t matter that much. I know, I’m an Ivy interviewer.</p>

<p>You’re exceptional academically. The only thing you can is start that food bank, sound interesting in essays and in your interview, and hopw for the best. You might get into one of HYPS (I think you will), but you’ll get into Duke, Cornell, and Dartmouth.</p>

<p>Your chances:
Yale: 50%
Dartmouth:70%
Princeton: 50%
Harvard: 40%
Stanford: 50%
Cornell: 75%
Vanderbilt: In unless they do something shady like WL you because of yield
Duke: 75%
UT Knoxville: In with money
Rice: 80%
and University of Virginia: in</p>

13

<p>thanks! im still debating about the interview…i know they dont matter that much, and im scared it might bring me down more than push me up! :(<br>
btw, where is the interview scheduler? at yale’s website?</p>

14

<p>your academic stuff (scores, grades, etc.) well are pretty good even for yale’s high standards, although the lack of major awards may serve as a bit of a problem. i think if you write some good essays (incorporating faith may be a great idea) you should have a good shot.</p>

15

<p>Very strong test scores and grades. Don’t worry about retaking that SAT. </p>

<p>The biggest thing adcoms look for by far is passion in your activities. I see a little bit, but your activities are kinda unfocused. However, there’s nothing you can do about that now, thoug it will hurt. Is there anything interesting about you? Do you have a special unique hobby, special beliefs, interests? have you had meaningful experiences?</p>

<p>On your essays: Yes, if faith is part of you. However, i would revise what other people have been saying. Don’t show yourself. Show them your best parts w/o lying or pretending. Basically, don’t show them something about you that is bad. </p>

<p>I would say you’ll be alright if you have a good essay and recs, that really can convey other details about you.</p>

16

<p>I had the interview today. It was a simple conversation about my background, courses of interest, and extracurriculars and questions about them. I’ll give a more specific synopsis of it if any of you want to hear about it to anticipate your own.</p>

17

<p>Interview for Fall admission already?</p>

18

<p>On-campus interviews are available now. Alumni interviews don’t start until the fall. I think the absolute earliest I’ve conducted an EA interview was mid-October.</p>

19

<p>AP930 - Though I am sure that each interviewer is different, any details about your own experience, that you are willing to share, would be nice.</p>

20

<p>yah, i’d like to hear about the interview also!!</p>