[Female URM Athlete First Gen] Yale RD 2009

Junie · June 7, 2009, 6:05pm

I’m contemplating applying to Yale RD this fall. What are my chances of being admitted?

----neatly organized for your reading ease =D----
Strengths: SAT Scores, Classes, Hooks, ECs, Essays (I am a persuasive essay writer)
Weaknesses: (possibly) Class Rank, GPA

GENERAL

Graduation date: June 2010 (coll. class of 2014)
Demographics: Female, African-American
High School: Public, few HYPSM, middle class suburban
State: New Jersey
Will apply for financial aid: Yes

----neatly organized for your reading ease =D----

ACADEMICS

Class Rank: It hasn’t been released yet, but I’m sure I’m in the

top 15~20% out of 500 kids.

GPA:

unweighted
-w/o frosh year: 3.75
w/ frosh year: 3.78

weighted
w/ frosh year: 3.9ish

Scores

-SAT I:
Jan 2009 (CR-M-W) 730-660-630 (2020 total)
May 2009 (CR-M-W) 800-660-640 (2100 total)

-AP Tests: APUSH (Probably a 3)
[Next year, May 2010, I’m taking: AP Bio, AP Calc AB]

-SAT Subject Tests: Math II, US History, Latin (All taking in

June & October 09)

Courses Taken

-Sciences: Honors Biology - Honors Chem - Geophys CP -

Honors Physics - AP Biology

-History: World History CP - US History CP - APUSH -

Replaced Hist. w/ an extra elective senior year.

-English: Honors English I-III, AP Lang & Comp

-Math: Honors Geometry - Honors Algebra II - Honors Math

Analysis - AP Calc AB

-Language: Latin 4 years (Isn’t that unqiue?)

-Electives: Web Page Design/Drawing - (I took an extra

science course in Sophomore Year) - SAT Prep/Basic Foods -

Baking/Public Speaking/String Orchestra II

Senior Year Course Load: AP Biology, AP Lang & Comp, AP

Calculus AB, String Orchestra II, Latin IV

----neatly organized for your reading ease =D----

EXTRACURRICULARS

-Bolded ones are the ones I spent the most time on.

Volleyball 9-12 (Club 9-12, JV 10-11, V 12) (I plan to try out for

Stanfords Vball Team Div 1)

NHS 11-12

Latin Honors Society 10-12

Red Cross Club 10-12

Viola 10-12 (self taught?)

Johnson & Johnson Technology Awareness Program 10

(sophomores only, for outstanding science students, offered

by the local Johnson&Johnson branch)

Recreational Level Lacrosse 9-10, Science Honors Society

11-12, Student Council 11-12, Class Cabinet 9-12, Travel

Club x 11-12, Biology Team 12, Physics Team 11, Interact 11

-Leadership positions:

Peer Mentoring 11-12

Red Cross Club Vice President 12

Latin Honors Society President or VP 12

A community program for african american teens 9-12 (we

dont know a name for it yet.) (non-school affilated)

-Volunteering:

Library Volunteering x 40 hours

Helping autistic kids x 40 hours

Total: 80 Hours

-Honors and Awards:

Paul Robeson Award in Renaissance 2008 (Prestigious

award in my community which commends African-Americans

for achievement in arts, academics, sports, and community

service)

Maxima Cum Laude in 2007 National Latin Exam (Like

National Merit Scholar on PSAT, for Latin)

Magna Cum Laude in 2009 National Latin Exam (Like

National Merit Recognition on PSAT, for latin)

----neatly organized for your reading ease =D----

MISC (other things on college app.)

Intended Major: Classics
Intended Minor: Biology, or something.

“HOOKS”
*URM
*first-generation immigrant
*i should be Class of 2011, cuz i turned 16 in december (if this

counts for anything)

Other countries: Born in London, England; lived there for 6.5
years total. Lived in Garoua, Cameroon for 6 mo. Lived in
Bamenda, Cameroon for 3 mo.

Languages I speak (S) read (R) write (W) besides English
Latin RW
Conversational Chinese S

applicannot · June 7, 2009, 8:15pm

Hmm. Your SAT scores are not a strength, as you listed them. Your best score is a 2100. Yale’s middle fifty percent is 2100-2380. That puts you in the bottom 25% of Yale’s accepted students.

Are you a US Citizen? Having to apply internationally would not help your application.

qialah · June 7, 2009, 8:22pm

I think a first generation Chinese speaking African American volleyball player and violist has a pretty darn good chance of at least making the ad coms sit up and take notice. Good luck.

AdmissionsAddict · June 7, 2009, 8:47pm

If you are a recruited athlete, then your chances go up considerably. Definitely apply in any event. Your class rank is going to be your problem. Top 15%-20% in a typical middle class suburban high school is well below what a realistic hookless applicant would have. I’m pretty certain your URM status doesn not overcome your class rank. I have much less of a handle for how first generation status affects admissions outcomes. If you are a recruited athlete (I’m guessing no since you weren’t varsity until senior year), that would be your real edge. Transcript is the very first thing admissions officers look at and this is the weakness in your profile (not that it’s truly weak, just weak for the Yale applicant pool).

ThePerson1 · June 9, 2009, 5:37am

no offense, but this flouting of ur URM and “hooks” is a bit distasteful, thinking that it will just automatically overcome ur other weak areas.

applicannot · June 9, 2009, 9:32am

URM status is like a +1. It can help you, but only if you’re extremely competitive. What I’ve found in my thread and in other threads is that the people on CC put a LOT of stock in URM status. I’m not convinced it’s such a big deal, and even if it is, it’s something to be weary of. I think that URM status might give you some leeway with your SAT scores (it’s just statistically fact that URMs score considerably lower than ORMs or white students, unfortunately), but nothing else. That said, there are definitely a lot of competitive URMs out there.

AdmissionsAddict · June 9, 2009, 12:39pm

I don’t think OP is flaunting anything. I think she is giving key facts that help analyze her chances realistically and I don’t sense any entitlement in her post.

fiona_1 · June 9, 2009, 12:59pm

Am I a horrible person? When I read Female URM Athlete First Gen I was like… “Oh unless she killed OJ Simpson she’ll get in.”

entomom · June 9, 2009, 1:37pm

I agree with you. I’d even take it a step further to say that a URM will likely only get leeway with their SAT scores if they are low income, disadvantaged or attend an underserved HS, you get the picture. Middle class URMs from the suburbs or private HSs will be expected to have test scores and gpas similar to their nonURM cohort.

Ha fiona, yes she hit most of the admissions high points. Only better might have been: Male NA Low Income Recruited Athlete First Gen.

applicannot · June 9, 2009, 8:23pm

Add competitive to that list and that kid’s going anywhere he wants (and for good reasons!).

entomom · June 9, 2009, 8:29pm

^^^True!

10 char

Junie · June 12, 2009, 9:25pm

Thanks all.

i am low income (1 parent is a nurse, the other is jobless). but i have no other comment for the URM/hook argument.

Hunt · June 12, 2009, 10:12pm

You will be very competitive for highly selective schools. You may not get into Yale, or to any one specific selective school, but as long as you create a good list and apply to enough of them, you are going to do extremely well.

[Female URM Athlete First Gen] Yale RD 2009

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