This isn’t so much a chance thread, but, I guess, a “fit” thread. I have strong academic chops, but I’m also not exactly the most social person (I’ve had some anxiety and depression issues). I’m not the person who’s going to join the dance team and choir, and lead clubs, and be super active in the community. (maybe not everyone’s like that, but it sure seems like it when I read the CC threads)
I want to go to Yale because I want to learn from the best. That’s what I care about. But Yale says on their website that what they’re looking for is “Who is likely to make the most of Yale’s resources?” and “Who will contribute most significantly to the Yale community?”
Basically and more broadly, what kind of person should go to Yale? Does the school just want future movers and shakers? How about someone who just really likes to think?
They want people who have shown they are people of influence – whether in their own communities (as you define that) or in academia. Simply the desire to absorb from others without a track record of contributing to those around you – would place you far back in the line of viable applicants. You don’t need to be a social butterfly – but Yale is searching for applicants who have bettered others by their influence. In other posts, you mention achievement in sports alongside your academics. This is one way to influence others.
You’re correct that Yale is a hub for great learning. But it’s also an extremely diverse and dynamic community – and Yale rightfully hopes to choose those that will utilize all facets.
Thirty years ago, Bart Giamatti, then-President of Yale, wrote the following:
I think that’s largely still true today. The happiest - if not always the most successful by various measures - people at Yale, in my experience, are those who find their niches in groups like those listed above.
Full marks for recognizing that fit is a two-way street! Based just on your description of yourself, I would have put Yale and Dartmouth last of the old elite unis for you
What is it about Yale that makes you feel that it- and only it- is where “the best” are?
Some of “the best” professors in any given field may be at Yale- but I guarantee you they aren’t all there. Some of the “the best” students (however you define that) may well be at Yale- but again, I guarantee you they aren’t all there.
If you are somebody who just really likes to think what about Columbia or UChicago? Brown or Vassar (which turned Yale down when Yale asked to merge with it)?
You fit Yale if you have something special to offer. A lot of special qualities have to do with the ability to share with and to lead your peers. But not all the special qualities have to be like that. For example, if you have unusual intellectual capacity such that you have already generated intellectual impacts and are expected to continue to do so, I think Yale will find you interesting. In contrast, if you simply want to learn from the best whereas do not seem to be willing or able to produce intellectual impacts on the Yale or the outer community, you probably do not fit Yale.
I think you will find many universities fit you. You appear to be a very nice and gentle person. You are simply asking for a quite and leave-you-alone space for your learning. Most universities will surely be able to provide such environment. In terms of your desire to learn from the best, there are many and many dozens of US universities will give you top notch world-class education. I think that is one of the last things you need to worry about since you posted your question in CC’s Yale section. A final suggestion: Open your eyes and mind when you go to your university. Your learning and social environment at a good university (students are highly screened) will be vastly different, particularly if you are attending a public high school (students are not screened). If you open your heart, you will be so surprised that you can be a much better and stronger version of yourself. This is from my own experience 30 years ago (albeit in a different country) and from my S’s experience at Yale.
I copied and pasted this from a cc thread a few years ago. I think it is pertinent to this thread (my daughter has confirmed that this is extremely accurate, and that many blossom immediately once they are in the Yale environment):
@Faulkner1897: your D’s description is spot on, at least for my S. Furthermore, I noticed that it took only 2 weeks or less for S to blossom when I visited him the first time after the move-in day. At that time, he told me that he had slightly more than 100 friends at Yale already. I recalled when he was in our local public high school, he had some friends, but not too many. He was then a happy geek with a relatively low level of social skills.
Even though the article that @gibby linked is from 2012, it seems intuitively right to me, and in line with my experience.
If I may begin by summarizing it, the most elite colleges (at least those that responded to the author’s survey) systematically build their classes based on “academic merit” and “institutional fit”. About three-quarters do a first screen of applicants based on “academic merit” (grades, rigor of high school courses, test scores, etc.). The others initially screen for “institutional fit”, which means, among other things, underrepresented minority status, exceptional talent, recruited athlete, likelihood of enrolling and fundraising potential (essentially, most of what are traditionally described as “hooks”). “Exceptional talent” means what it says, with the critical distinction that it’s a talent that that particular college needs, that year (of course, other colleges may need it as well). Then, the colleges that first screened for “academic merit” do a further screen for “institutional fit”, and vice versa.
What this says to me is that unless you’re objectively a genius (one type of “exceptional talent”) - as opposed to “just” a top 1-2 percenter nationwide - academics don’t matter all that much so long as you make it through the “academic merit” screen. In other words, if you’re really smart but not a true genius, it probably doesn’t matter if you had a 3.8 or a 4.0 GPA, or got a 2250 or 2400 on the SAT – you checked the box on academic merit, and now it’s all the other stuff - the “institutional fit” - that will determine your outcome.
This is what many people don’t understand about this process, it seems to me. Without having seen the application of any kid (unless it’s their own - and even then they’re not seeing the recommendations or interview reports), or fully understanding the perceived needs of any particular college, they complain about the injustice of one kid with a 3.9 and 2350 not getting in, when another kid they know to be a wealthy legacy or an underrepresented minority with 3.8 and 2300 did. They don’t understand that what really happened is that both of these kids checked the academic box but neither of them had the genius hook, so it came down to everything else and the second kid had a package that the college viewed as a superior “institutional fit”.
You sound a lot like my D was in high school. Nerdy, with a small group of friends and terrified of going away and leaving the friends she had known since Kindergarten. When she went to Yale, she ate alone for the first few weeks cause it was too “awkward” to eat in the dining hall with strangers (no experience with cafeterias since her school had none and she was an only child). She hated parties and never, ever danced. However, she is now on a dance team and is their president. That is so far out of her high school comfort zone that even her best friends are still astounded. She also is really involved in and has leadership roles in a few other organizations on campus I won’t specifically name because being too specific makes it really easy to identify her - which she hates. But, true to herself, you are more likely to find her in her room watching Netflix on a Friday night than partying and drinking. Long and short of it, Yale is a “fit” for most everyone that is accepted since there is no “right or wrong” type of Yale student. The only thing the whole student body has in common is a love of learning and the desire to be around like minded folk. If admitted, you will find your space (or make it if its not already there). Good luck.
