<p>I’m convinced that this may have been a bigger factor for my deferral than I had thought. I haven’t seen a single Asian (I am Japanese) get in without NMSF, nor a single person from my school in previous years get in witout it. It seems like a tacit requirement. This sort of makes me lose hope on other RD colleges, since it’s something I can’t “improve upon.” So, commended Asians, what’s the word?</p>
<p>if your SAT score is over 2200 they probably don’t care whether you’re NMSF or not.</p>
<p>Hey don’t worry about it; i got into Harvard as a NM commended student</p>
<p>I know an Asian who didn’t get ANY National Merit recognition (not even Commended) who got into Harvard and Princeton. They did get rejected from Yale, though.</p>
<p>Nobody gets rejected because they didn’t get NMSF. Rather, most of the kids who aren’t able to get a score above the cutoff on the PSAT are probably not able to do a lot of the other things that impress Ivy League admissions officers.</p>
<p>… I know how you feel; I’m a NM Commended Student (though not Asian) and got deferred. When I took the test my Junior year, I wasn’t even thinking about Ivies, and I didn’t know that NM was such a big deal, and I just took the test for the heck of it. They don’t ever, ever mention it at my school when they give the test.</p>
<p>seriously? I am a current yalie, I was a commended student and I had no idea that anyone took those things seriously. well, clearly if you GOT one it was cool, but other than that I’ve never heard anything about them.</p>
<p>TKC - I know for a fact that there are non-NMSF asian students attending YALE. Do not loose heart; you still have a chance RD w/out the pressure of being expected to attend & you may have a slight edge over other RDs as Yale knows you really want to go there. </p>
<p>If being deferred makes you smarter about having a safety (in our family, we call those pretty sures), this is a good thing. If being deferred makes you more humble, your entire life will be better for it! If being deferred makes you work harder, you’re that much further ahead. I know kids attending YALE and they can’t imagine being anywhere else; and they have friends attending a whole host of different schools and they each feel the exact same way! There are many good schools! Most of the successful peeps I know, did not attend an elite college.</p>
<p>And by the way, no one knows or cares if you were accepted EA or RD! It’s YALE, if they could accept everyone who is qualified, they’d have 20,000 freshmen every year. Good luck to all of you! Things tend to work out for the best! I’m sure you’re sick of hearing this but it’s the truth. You are all to be commended for working hard & putting yourselves in a position just to have a shot!</p>