Deferred!!!

Colleges & Universities Yale University
41

<p>emilyequalsfun, that sounds totally like how things almost played out for me. I go to an extremely competitive public school and I’m at the top of my class (head of around 4 clubs & member of 7 others, on 3 or so leadership boards within the school, only two A-s on my entire report card, girl scout since kindergarten)… and I got deferred. My friend, who’s right up there with me (minus the mass extracurrics and plus higher SAT scores and a daily job babysitting a kid with autism) also got deferred. For a long time, we were really worried about this one girl much less qualified than us, and whom we’d heard got a “likely” letter for rowing–which, apparently, wasn’t the case since she got deferred too. I know I would’ve been so upset if she’d gotten in over my friend and I, though.</p>

<p>And bluetissues, if it’s any encouragement, my guidance counselor insisted that Harvard takes only one kid from my school (a very small school–130 kids in my class) every year, and said that they just might take two this year since our class is so ridiculously competitive… and THREE got in early. There are at least two others as qualified as the three that got in applying regular, too… don’t know if there’s any chance left for four or five to get in, but the fact that three got in is pretty amazing. And, on a non-Ivy note, out of the same class of 130, SIX PEOPLE got into Trinity early–when everyone had said that only two or so of the early applicants would get in.</p>

<p>Then again, my counselor was right about Yale–no one’s gotten in from my school in five years (six if none of us get in in April, I suppose), yet everyone who “deserved” to get in but didn’t ended up at some other Ivy. Guess I shouldn’t’ve thought I could change things this year. >__<</p>

42

<p>Wait, how many of you have multiple people applying to ivies? Me, and possibly one other girl are the only ones who are applying this year at my school, pop. 3000. I think I was the first ever in school history to apply to Yale, and will be also for Dartmouth (one person a couple years ago applied to Harvard and Princeton). The other girl wants to apply to Dartmouth, but probably won’t because she still hasn’t taken the SAT’s.</p>

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<p>population of my school=3000, at least 10 applying to various ivies, and double the amount if you include top LAC’s</p>

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<p>elihopeful07, what’s interesting is i go to a pretty prestigious school…this year i think we got 6 out of 7 into stanford early…we usually get 7 in early to princeton (i go to a school with about 90 people) but yale has been particularly hard on us the past few years. Here was our breakdown for Yale:</p>

<p>9 people applied

  1. Number one english student in our grade - deferred
  2. valedictorian/ music protege - deferred
  3. athlete/ pianist/ cum laude (just overall well- rounded) - deferred
  4. editor in chief of school newspaper/ model un + other ecs/ ranked number 2 in our school - deferred
  5. AMAZING artist/ tennis/ ranked 3 in our school - deferred
    can’t think of 2 people
  6. pianist/ african american - accepted
  7. no ecs except sports (not that good)/ african american - accepted</p>
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<p>whoareyew–wow that would REALLY p*iss me off.</p>

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<p>My school has about 1600 people… at least 50 people applying to Ivies or schools of similar standing (Stanford, MIT, etc), probably way more, like 75-100. It’s an unusual school, though… known as pretty much the best public school in the state, we had like 20 NMSF this year. It’s a really supportive environment, though.</p>

<p>I heard a rumor from someone at my school that about five or six years ago, one of our guidance counselor’s called up Stanford and said “Look, you haven’t let anyone from my school in, and we sent kids tons of kids to the finest Universities in the country. If you keep on rejecting everyone, I’m going to tell kids not to bother to apply,” and since then, at least five people have gotten in every year. I’m not sure if the story has any truth to it, but I do know that Stanford loves us these days.</p>

<p>I wonder what would happen if you counselor (erhswimming) did something like that?</p>

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<p>haha yeah I KNOWWW</p>

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<p>Only around 500 people at my school (130-ish in my graduating class), and I’d say about… 25 or so will apply to at least one Ivy? Definitely a bit overwhelming for a public school, but we’ve got a very smart class. I’m just glad that the three people who are my biggest competition in the class got in early at Harvard, so I don’t have to worry about them in the RD round… even if them getting in makes my chance at Harvard (now that Yale doesn’t seem to be working out) particularly good.</p>

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<p>wow bluetissues… I kind of want to tell my gc to do that. everyone who applied to yale from my school got rejected last yr (idk if they applied early and were deferred first or whatever) and everyone got deffered this year. i was sure at least one of us (prolly not me lol) would’ve gotten in. Everyone’s shocked. ugh i feel ur pain</p>

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<p>we only have 55 in my graduating class so when i say we are close, i mean it. It is so frustrating that almost all of my friends who applied early got in. One friend got in to UPenn and another into Princeton. And these two are in my math class (made up of four people) so i know that when i go back it will be very hard to hold my head up until April when i get some fabulous news from somewhere (i hope). It is also rather unsettling that even the people who got into UMass have something, while i am sitting on a deferal. Although UMass is no Yale, at least they know they have somewhere to go if everything else fails.<br>
It also doesnt help that of the two other people who applied to yale early one of them got in like a month ago (yes before REA apps were even due) as a recruted athlete. the other one i have yet to hear about because we are on winter break. It only makes me more nervous that Yale has historically taken only like a max of 4 people from my shcool, and with one already deff in and more applying RD chances for me just keep going down.
:(</p>

51

<p>CAC, I know exactly how you feel. It seems like everyone in my class got in early–six at Trinity, three at Harvard, two at Bates, two at Colby, one Tufts, 2 BC, 1 Midd… the list goes on and on. Sadly, it seems that the only people deferred were the three of us that applied to Yale and two people who applied to Midd. I mean, yes, I’m really upset about how Yale seems to have worked out for me, but considering the fact that I knew how steep my chances were coming from a wealthy suburban MA public school, I can’t say I’m completely crushed by the results so far. More than anything, though, I just wish I KNEW and didn’t have to wait for forever.</p>

<p>That, and the fact that I think my connections at Harvard and UPenn (Wharton) could’ve gotten me in early, if I’d applied at either of those schools. Prolly would’ve regretted not giving Yale a chance, though.</p>

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<p>yeah, i seriously feel like it has SO much to do with the relationship between your school and the college. the only people we’ve gotten into yale in the last 6 years are a ridiculous nationally ranked athlete and a really rich kid whose parents donated huge amounts of money. on the other hand, our top five or more are usually fed right into harvard. </p>

<p>i preferred yale and was dumb enough to think i could turn things around with my perfect scores and such (if i’d been realistic i would have realized every applicant and his brother has perfect scores, but whatever). but it’s pretty hard now, seeing all the kids who got into harvard and other ivies and are ranked below me… i really resent that they get to rest all year while i have to work my *** off. i feel like after all the hard work, sleepless nights, etc. of the past 3 years i’ve earned a few months of peace but no, because i wouldn’t be cooperative and apply to the college that likes our school! why do you think they have biases for/against certain high schools? it’s alll just politics and relationships, it sucks so much</p>

53

<p>Ahhh, buwinnifred, I’m in the same exact boat as you. Any chance you’re from MA?</p>

<p>And I only ask because my guidance counselor claims that MA public schools have a good relationship with Harvard, whereas Yale only tends to accept MA private school candidates (which is how it’s played out for the last six years–I have a friend that got into Yale this year, and he goes to private).</p>

54

<p>Competition at my school is actually the least of my worries. What worries me is the competition from other insane schools around the country. At my school we don’t have all those super shiny opportunities. I don’t think anyone at our school has ever even heard of TASP/Scholastic/etc.</p>

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<p>elihopeful-yeah ive never heard of any of those before. hahaha. theres about 3 super competitive kids at my school (including me) who are academically qualified for yale (w/ 2300+ SAT scores to prove our school isnt just bad)…but we havent had all those opportunities thrown at us.</p>

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<p>Question–does the admissions committee know which applications were deferred, or do they just throw them in with the rest of the regular decision applications? Probably a dumb question, but it merits asking just to see if the higher acceptance rate for deferrees is due to higher qualification or just to a demonstrated higher interest in Yale.</p>

57

<p>Guys, if you have a lot of spare time, go back to last year’s SCEA decision thread. Look up the post history of the deferred and rejected applicants. See where they got in RD and/or where they are now. A bunch are at Harvard, Brown, Duke, and Amherst. Others are at West Point, Princeton, Northwestern, WUSTL, Dartmouth, Williams, etc.</p>

<p>Do you know where Yale deferrees from your school went? At my school, they went to Columbia, Dartmouth, Northwestern (for journalism!), and Duke (full scholarship, research stipend, guaranteed summer at Oxford). You know what they say now? That they’re incredibly happy at the schools they’re at and couldn’t ask for more.</p>

<p>I feel the same way as you guys - Yale was our first choice and now we don’t know what to look forward to. But take yaleohten’s advice and coureur’s thread and realize how much is still available - including Yale. No, the admissions process isn’t fair to people expecting a pure meritocracy. But this is America, a country with some pretty shady yet ubiquitous politics. There’s nothing you can do about it. But think about how YOUR kids will be legacies at whatever great school you go to - hey, you might as well play the system, right?</p>

<p>Also, don’t let the 19.7% acceptance rate fool you. Recruited athletes seal their deals by applying early, and legacies who apply early just add to their advantage by telling Yale that it’s their first choice school (in addition to being statistically more likely to donate money, which is where the legacy advantage comes from). If you think about it, then, fewer than half of the admits were regular cases, so the acceptance rate isn’t much higher than the RD rate. Being deferred means nothing!</p>

<p>Finally, remember that Yale saw a 13% decrease in early applications this year. That means fewer students hold Yale as their first choice. Yeah, we’re scared that we won’t get in, but they’re scared that nobody wants to go there, that they won’t be able to fill their class, and that their yield, and thus their rank and perhaps their name, will fall. As long as the number of RD apps doesn’t shoot up significantly, they WILL admit more deferrees because we’re statistically more likely to go! In the end, it works out for them because they get kids who are not only qualified but also WANT to be there. That’s us! We didn’t get rejected because we’re qualified; we didn’t get accepted because our names didn’t get picked out of their sorting hat. The difference between a SCEA admit and an RD admit is trivial and not worth contemplating.</p>

<p>So, chins up! You’re qualified to go to Yale. Now just prove that you’re qualified to go to Harvard, Brown, Princeton, Duke, etc. You’ll get in somewhere, and this time next year you won’t care where you got in early or whatever. I know a girl at Princeton who got deferred from Yale and I never would have guessed it because of how much she loves her school. So, for now, finish those apps, then enjoy senior year.</p>

<p>(I don’t know why I said “you” throughout this post because I tell myself the same thing every day. But it works, I swear.)</p>

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<p>theoneo is the epitome of awesome!!!:):)</p>

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<p>Thanks for that, theoneo. What you said definitely makes sense, and while I was never particularly depressed/hung-up over being deferred, your logic so far as the decrease in apps go is comforting so far as hopes to eventually get in go. </p>

<p>And I guess if you think about it, the fact that there were fewer EA apps means that the huge rise to 64-ish percent in deferrals isn’t as massive as we all may think it is. Sure, significantly more people were deferred, but you can’t directly compare this year’s deferral rate with last year’s when there were more early applicants last year.</p>

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<p>And the award for most inspirational speech of the year goes to… theono!</p>