Does anyone Just Smart, without anything special, ever get in?

renaissancedad
Wed, 09 Dec 2015 11:41:56 +0000

Of course you have a chance, and there are lots of examples of superb essays making up for slightly weaker ECs and awards. Here’s one example:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/admissions-hindsight-lessons-learned/1781185-my-journey-to-stanford-for-those-who-feel-inadequate-p1.html

Your academics obviously qualify you for Yale and its peers. There are thousands (even tens of thousands) of qualified applicants, so there is never any guarantee, and you should have a range of schools on your list, but there is no need to disqualify yourself by not applying to your top reaches. Pour your heart into your application and present a coherent and compelling narrative about who you are as a person. If writing is your true passion, let that shine through.

Here’s a list from the Harvard website about what they look for - which will be similar for peer schools like Yale:

https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/application-process/what-we-look

Think about this kind of list and how it applies to you. If you are a relatively late bloomer in terms of finding your passion, you want to show that you have “reserve power to do more”. You don’t want to present yourself as someone who has missed out on taking advantage of available opportunities, but as someone who will blossom and thrive in the rich soil that top universities provide. Don’t sell yourself short. Market yourself. No one else will.

You may also want to take a look at this: