<p>How important are certain connections with admission officers when it comes to acceptances?</p>
<p>Can you define what type of connections you’re talking about a little more? Connections could be referring to all sorts of things.</p>
<p>My country has a scholarship program that sends the top 10 students on full scholarships. I am a candidate for the program and when i told the program representatives that I will apply to Yale they told me that they have “VERY strong connections with the admissions officers at Yale.”</p>
<p>where are u from?</p>
<p>I’m only guessing: rather than any tangible connections, what is probably the case is that your country’s top few candidates have been offered admissions due to their individual ability rather than some understanding that each year X number would receive Yale admissions.</p>
<p>I interviewed a young woman who had rec’d one of her country’s “presidential” scholarships which allowed her to have full scholarhip at an American university. She was attending a prestigious day school for one year’s post HS work. She was allowed only to apply to the top ranked schools. While an able person, she was not admitted to Y which didn’t surprise me.</p>
<p>Overall, I’d say that individuals matter more than some quota. It wouldn’t surprise me if any year there are multiple admits and a few years there are no admits.</p>
<p>I suspect T26 is correct. The only other way I can see it playing out is if these program representatives have been around for a very long time and that when they recommend someone strongly, Yale listens based on their track record of recommending top candidates. This wouldn’t get you in, but it might get your application reviewed a little more seriously. If the program representatives change frequently, then they wouldn’t have built up this relationship with the admissions office.</p>