How many "hookless" people would u say Yale accepts?

Colleges & Universities Yale University
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<p>as I was at a party tonight at which I received many of the typical “how did you turn down Yale” and “how did you get into Yale” requisites, I felt like responding publicly to them all.</p>

<p>I love Yale. It’s an AWESOME school. If I weren’t at UNC, I would be at Yale or Dartmouth. They both are great schools with great student bodies and campus lives. And, to be honest, I would probably have chosen Yale over Dartmouth. Every few days, I get this little tinge of regret for choosing UNC over Yale.</p>

<p>The reason–I chose UNC even though I got an almost full ride to Yale.</p>

<p>I was worried about going to a “rich kids’” school. I was worried about going to a school where everyone was so smart. And I was worried about going to a school where I was in the bottom 25% (although I realize–later–that I am not near the bottom 25%.). I could have gone to Williams–with a full ride for both undergrad and grad school–but I chose UNC.</p>

<p>Why?</p>

<p>I don’t know. And I don’t think I’ll ever know. I love ALL the schools to which I applied. I would be happy at any of them. But God so has it that I can only attend one. and I chose UNC. I don’t know why–I don’t think I’ll ever know–but I do know that one day I will be happy for my decision. I met a fellow Morehead the other night. We had this connection–this distinction–before even I had really begun the program. I probably would have had the same connection with a yale alum. Would I have? Idk. I LOVED Yale. I LOVED dartmouth. And I can’t believe I turned them down. I just hope I get the chance to go to them for grad school… They are such AWESOME places. We’ll see in four years :)</p>

<p>Until then, If you have questions choosing between an Ivy and a state school–contact me. I’ve been through it all. :)</p>

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<p>I hope that post made sense. I’ve been celebrating a bit too hard lately… :)</p>

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<p>@ T26E4:</p>

<p>Thanks for replying! Your explanation does make sense, but I was wondering: </p>

<p>For me, my school and my surrounding town/region is part of a very rich suburb and the majority of people are extremely wealthy. However, there are those select few (like me) whose families are more lower/middle class. In this case, would colleges be unable to see my personal economic situation? I mean, my school is fairly competitive (low dropout, high college attendance, etc) in an affluent area but I’m not one of its typical rich students… Thanks!!</p>

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<p>Ephemeral2, the reasons you chose to not go to yale are some reasons why i did. To have the opportunity to go to a " rich kids school" as a low income student is something I am very thankful for. Also, going to a place with such brilliant students and people who are very down to earth( alot of em anyway) is also exciting. But I am happy that there are still people out there who make their own choices and not just pick the " better" school.</p>

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<p>Pastel-
I read that post, and I can’t say that I’m overly impressed by the piano awards that the poster presented. Coming from New Jersey, performing at Carnegie / Kimmel / Lincoln Center really isn’t as big of a deal as many people think it is. There are literally a dozen local auditions and competitions that culminate in a recital at major concert venues. I’m not saying that asinine isn’t talented but I just don’t think that according to that one post, piano is what got him in (a supplement may have been more convincing. Also, reading through the rest of his post, it seems that he was pretty well rounded </p>

<p>I do however know of a couple of Yale-acceptees who probably did get in mostly on musical merit. These are applicants with international and well-known national awards who may have been the top of their pre-college programs. They are much harder to come by than your typical musically strong applicant like me. Unfortunately, of the few amazing musical talents I know of, all have decided to attend elsewhere, including Harvard/NEC, Princeton, and Columbia/Julliard. </p>

<p>That being said, I believe that music can be a significant hook to one’s application, but it just isn’t as prevalent as athletics is. You have to be really really talented at music to have such a “hook”, otherwise, like varsity athletics, it simply shows dedication and a level of talent.</p>

<p>I chose Yale over similar-caliber schools because of the openness that I found on campus. Unlike some other schools, there doesn’t seem to be much of a distinction between high-income and low-income and it doesn’t seem to be as big of a deal to people which area or high school you come from. Compared to the list of top-25 schools, most of which are considered “rich kids schools”, Yale is incredibly open-minded and integrated.</p>

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<p>Ephemeral:
How fortunate you are to have the choice of the Morehead or Yale…congrats. A couple of you in this thread noted you submitted ACT and SAT scores. When you do this, is one of them used over the other, so are both considered, or the best score? What is the advantage of submitting both? I have an 800 SAT math section score, but a low CR score, so I am taking the ACT in June hoping to score better on that reading section. In this case do you advise submitting both??
Thanks!</p>

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<p>I’m white, my parents have an MBA and Ph.D, and am not poor to enough to be disadvantaged (although I did get extremely good financial aid), I had no stellar ECs nor awards, and I got in. I did apply for engineering and wrote my supplemental essay about it, so that might have helped, but besides that, I had absolutely nothing that made me appear special in any way. Yale wants to accept ostensibly “hookless people”, because they don’t want to have everyone in a class special; that is, they want some of the class to be normal people that are smart, as they contribute just as much as those with an underrepresented ethnicity, musical talent, or athletic ability.</p>

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<p>Tristan: I think the admissions officer can also tell your economic situation by what you reported as your parents’ occupation. I go to a private school, but I’m on FA at school so it’s not like my economic situation is evident.</p>

<p>But also, am I wrong in thinking that “need-blind” doesn’t mean that the admissions officer don’t see if you’re applying for FA? I thought that they did know, it’s just that they don’t hold that against you.</p>

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<p>Now I’m curious. To those people who got in apparently hookless, what did you guys write your essays on? Maybe they were the deciding factor?</p>

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<p>For your curiosity I am me: read this:
[Essays</a>, Admission Information, Undergraduate Admission, U.Va.](<a href=“http://www.virginia.edu/undergradadmission/writingtheessay.html]Essays”>http://www.virginia.edu/undergradadmission/writingtheessay.html)</p>

<p>The essay was probably a big contributing factor: but what people wrote isn’t as important as how people wrote. Hum drum subjects shine by good writers. Dramatic subjects are made boring by poor writers.</p>

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<p>I think i’m pretty hookless, and i got in early. Plenty of people at yale are pretty hookless by CC standards. But they did something to attract their admissions officer’s attention. </p>

<p>I’m a WM from westchester (so overrepresented at yale and all ivies), 2350 SAT, 97.5 unweighted average. Probably the most impressive things i did in HS were a huge commitment to Science Olympiad (four years, 3 state medals), and the Columbia Science Honors Program (very competitive, 14% admit rate). But i don’t think either of those are hooks by CC standards.</p>

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<p>I would say probably 2/3 of each class is “hookless”. I (WM from New England) had a 3.99 GPA, 2400 SAT, 790, 780, 760 (Math II, Bio, US Hist) SAT IIs. National Merit Scholar, State Math Meet champ, Varsity Soccer, Basketball, and Lacrosse, Latin Club, Math Team, Community Service. I was briefly a Yale Varsity Soccer Player, but as a walk-on, and I got in early as an essentially “hookless” applicant. This applies as well to the majority of my friends at Yale. Strong academics are the base of applications. Legacy, race, etc are not what people make them out to be.</p>

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<p>^ Your academic stats are incredible though! Congrats!</p>

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<p>re post #20 referring to post # 59 in a Yale admit thread. The applicant had a 6 on the AIME as a junior. In most years, that would put the applicant in the top 200 juniors nationwide on the AIME. Yale doesn’t attract as many of the top mathematicians as Harvard, MIT, and Princeton do. </p>

<p>I’m only making the point that it wasn’t just the kid’s ECs that got him into Yale.</p>

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<p>another hookless here</p>

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<p>i am definitely really hookless…actually yeah, i’d think the majority of yale’s class is “hookless” compared to what you’d expect. not too many people have cured cancer or traveled to africa and freed child soldiers…</p>

<p>then again, there are many people who have done really incredible things too. though people don’t have obvious hooks, upon a closer look, you realize people did at least one to two really significant things that tipped the scales in their favor. of course there are tons of kids who did really cool things and didn’t make it in. that’s just because the acceptance rate is so low and there are soooo many applicants…as you’ve probably heard over and over. luck has a lot to do with it i’m sure. </p>

<p>but anyway, i’ve taken to google-ing all the prospective yalies i met during bulldog days…ALL of my searches turn up at least something, from generic stuff like “national merit” and local awards won to really serious things like nonprofit organizations created by these kids to research papers they wrote to poetry they’ve published. </p>

<p>what most apparently “hookless” kids (middle-class asian/whites mostly with generic ECs) i met who got into HYPSM have in common is the following: 1) high gpa/top of their class, 2) 2200+ sat at least, 3) at least one significant EC accomplishment to speak of (raising X amount of dollars for a cause, organizing a fundraiser event, etc.), 4) interests in multiple, diverse subjects, (like the “renaissance engineers” mentioned on harvard’s website, for example, an interest in both english literature and engineering), 5) at least one significant trip to a foreign country, often writing their personal statement or another essay on this trip and how it affected them </p>

<p>i know that all sounds really generic by CC standards, but I feel that CC distorts our perception of reality. actually not too many kids have all that going for them at once as we might think based on the ppl on this site. </p>

<p>i personally have no idea why yale wanted me, but i’m really incredibly grateful that they did=) yale is most certainly a magical place, and part of me still can’t really believe that somehow, quite miraculously, i get to be a yalie!</p>

<p>good luck to applicants for 2014!!!</p>

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<p>I don’t think the 5th one is quite as important as the other four, because its much more dependent on socioeconomic stature than on the ability of the student. My admissions officer for Yale should not have known that I have been out of this country, and I still got in. The other four are correct to a great degree, though.</p>

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<p>Admit (under SCEA) for Class of 2013 here. I agree with amciw in that 5th reason listed by hannahmontana is not that important; I’ve never been anywhere outside of the United States (except for the Bahamas, which doesn’t really count), and I didn’t write my essay/personal statement about a trip (I wrote mine about how playing on my school’s varsity basketball team has affected my psychological/social development). </p>

<p>Anyway, I’m completely hookless (no connections, no legacy, white male, no athlete, from a region that produces a lot of Yalies, not international, etc), but I do fulfill the four “requirements” that hannahmontana posted. I had a 3.97 UW GPA (one B+ in Spanish in 9th Grade), with 8 AP classes (my school limits the amount of AP’s a student can take), a 2370 SAT, a musician who has created several big community service projects in the field of music education at the grassroots level, and I have interests in everything to music, drama, quizbowl, basketball, and community service. </p>

<p>I’m really thankful that Yale has accepted me and has given me a chance to change the world- I can’t wait to see the 2013 Yalies next year! </p>

<p>P.S. See the SCEA 2013 thread for a complete picture of my profile, if you guys so desire…</p>

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<p>lol yeah sorry, i guess number 5 is optional but it’s been a fairly common thread that i’ve seen personally among people i know who were accepted. maybe it was just coincidence though that i happened to meet a bunch of prefrosh during bdd who had traveled out of the country summer after junior year or shortly before. </p>

<p>i met a couple asian girls who started nonprofit organizations in india and traveled there over the summer to see the fruits of their labor. but some trips abroad were less significant but no less insightful. one mexican girl wrote her essay about mexican toilets. i wrote about a chinese village i visited and how it changed my perception of the world. i met one asian kid who traveled to cambodia and taught kids english and another asian kid who spent a couple weeks with monks in tibet. they all wrote their short essay or personal statement on these trips.</p>

<p>so that’s why i mentioned number 5 but i’m sure it depends on socioeconomic stature like amciw said. foreign travel is certainly not a prereq for admission and i most certainly didn’t mean to imply that.</p>

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<p>Haha not a problem at all- can’t wait to meet you (albeit unknowingly lol) next year!</p>