<p>i applied early (strong scores, perfect grades, strong essays, excellent recs, very dedicated to a few extracurriculars and less so to others) and was deferred. i’ve heard from a few somewhat unreliable sources that yale tends to pick up EA legacy applicants in the regular decision pool… does anyone else know anything about this?</p>
<p>thanks!</p>
<p>usually the ea round is reserved for the sure admits, which includes urms, legacies, athletes and the best of the ‘regular’ kids, so if you’re 5 gen and you were deferred, things may not be looking so bright, but you never know. you sound like a good applicant to me, i would let you into my college!</p>
<p>Kara, my friend’s husband is a UVA grad whose son fits your description except for the perfect grades. The young man was deferred. His father called the school and was able to get more information than usual out of admissions as to why he was deferred and what needs to be done for an admittance. In his case, the grades were the issue. The boy goes to a rigorous prep school where the curve is steep and none of the classes are designated as AP even though he had taken AP exams and done well. Now HPY accepts kids with those grades without a murmur as the school has a track record with them. But UVA is a different story, since not that many kids from this school apply there, and many who do are special interest types (such as athletes). The Mid Year report for him is going to be a key issue, along with the GC having a talk wih the adcoms about the school profile and where this young man truly is, grade wise. </p>
<p>I don’t know anything about Yale legacy applicants, other than most of them from our school tend to get in. I saw stats showing that the deferred pool for Yale last year did better in admissions than the RD kids, and about the same as those outright accepted EA, so you still have a relatively (for Yale) good shot if things are done the same way. Good luck.</p>
<p>i’ve heard from a few somewhat unreliable sources that yale tends to pick up EA legacy applicants in the regular decision pool…</p>
<p>I’ve heard the same thing, but it’s hard to find truly reliable sources. The theory, which makes a certain amount of sense, is that legacies are more likely than other candidates to enroll, so adcoms don’t feel any particular urgency to admit them EA.</p>
<p>Who knows what they’re really thinking? My daughter, with a double legacy (both parents) was deferred last year and admitted RD. But in another Yale family we know (mother from Yale College, father from Yale Law, and sibling a current sophomore), the son, who had similar stats to my daughter, was deferred and then rejected.</p>
<p>After your deferral, Yale probably sent your at least one of your relatives a letter saying that you’d get extra consideration in the RD round (something like that–we didn’t exactly treasure the letter). For what it’s worth, I believe that’s true.</p>
<p>Is there any reason that they might think you’d rather go elsewhere? It might be appropriate to send a letter with your midyear report expressing your desire to attend if admitted. It can’t hurt. Your HS counselor should also be able to find something out for you.</p>
<p>yeah, chances are that there was something they spotted and didn’t like in your application (sorry…). i know a handful of legacies who were admitted EA this year, including myself. i’m afraid that instinct makes me inclined to agree with filmxo, and say that i don’t know how high chances are.
also, about double legacies: as my college counselor (she’s amazing, i really lucked out) told me, legacies from the grad schools, like the school of law, don’t count for applying to the undergrad program.</p>
<p>well, my college counselor said that when she called our regional officer, she told her that i was “an extremely strong applicant” and that there was nothing in particular wrong with my application–they just wanted to see me in the context of the RD pool.</p>
<p>so yeah. i don’t have any idea what that really means, but i know a lot of people who’ve been told at the very least that there was something the committee didn’t like, so it seems that’s not my problem. </p>
<p>and i don’t know what the comment about double legacies was in reference to, or if it was just random or what. but to clarify: all of my legacy is undergrad (there are some people in there who attended grad school at yale as well, and even one guy who was a physics professor for about 40 years), and they’re all on my dad’s side–father, his father, his father, and his father.</p>
<p>my school has a bad track record with yale, as do pretty much all of the other schools from around here (the bay area). so, like10thousand, it’s my impression that more east coasters are admitted in general, and maybe that explains why you know so many legacies who were admitted? i don’t know. but yeah, i know many really really qualified people who applied EA and only one got in.</p>
<p>oh. haha. i see what the double legacy comment was in reference to.</p>
<p>kara17 I don’t think it’s the east coasters thing. I’ve wondered long and hard why my s was deferred also. He’s a very bright and talented kid and he has a grandfather, great grandfather and great uncle who all graduated from Yale. At our east coast hs, an excellent public school, there were 6 kids who applied to Yale ea this fall. One was rejected outright and 5 were deferred. None got in. Out of those 5 deferees I know that at least 4 at this point are legacies.<br>
I would love to speculate and to find some sort of rule that the adcoms go by but at this point I can find none. Yale must have its own formula for which students are going go be successful and bring prestige to the University but I honestly don’t think any of us has the key to what that is.</p>
<p>I guess I’m the one who used the term double legacy, because both of my daughter’s parents–i.e., my husband and I–graduated from Yale College. Is that usage incorrect? (One of us also has a master’s from Yale, but I didn’t think that counted for admissions there.)</p>
<p>nono you’re correct. i forgot you’d said that when i replied. my bad.</p>
<p>hmm. My friend is also a 5th gen legacy and also from the bay area and she got in EA.</p>
<p>
The problem is inbreeding. Are you, by chance, from Kentucky?</p>
<p>hahaha.</p>
<p>no, not kentucky. the bay area.</p>
<p>It is tremendously hard to get into Yale EA (harder than Harvard EA or Princeton ED, for instance) but Yale does tend to look more favorably on EA applicants in the regular cycle. Yale applications were slightly down overall, so relax, you might be just fine.</p>
<p>Good luck!!</p>
<p>the other number-cruching posts about chances of RD seemed to indicate that schools do accept more students from EA/ED deferred pool</p>
<p>Kara17,
Absolutely do not give up faith…definitely let them know this remains your number 1 choice…I believe that you will fare well in the RD round…especially since nothing was identified as an obstacle to admission by the regional rep to your HS counselor… if you have what it takes to do the work, then a 5th generation legacy is a rare and special thing. Especially from the west coast…who knows why some legacies get in EA round and some have to wait…the end result is just as sweet. </p>
<p>In the meantime, fall in love with a few other schools in your application pile…distractions are a great way to make February and March pass quickly…before you know it, you will be logging on April 1st…so, visit a few other schools, read some great books set in the locations of the other schools etc, and build a mental image of the alternate life you could have once the letters are received… make it fun… it is such a brief period of time when such a big part of your fate is so up in the air… and out of your hands.</p>
<p>just to let you know, i go to a very prestigious hs where 6 kids applied early. 5 were deferred, one rejected. one was president of princeton model congress and editor of the school newspaper. another fences crazily and is a brilliant student. these two and two others are legacies. i’ve gotta say, yale’s pretty wacked about the EA kids. it seems to be minorities and people who have can fill niches they feel are gaping. i feel confident you’ll get in rd.</p>
<p>People are quick to disparage legacy admissions these days, but I think that a 5th generation legacy is a very special thing that Yale would be downright stupid to sever.</p>
<p>Call me politically incorrect.</p>
<p>kara - what i have heard is that they sometimes like to hold off strong legacies til RD. having an abnormally high legacy admit rate early is not a forte. legacy is also usually only needed for those that are borderline or not especially strong candidates. they probably assumed you would still be strong enough to play in the RD round, thus helping themselves out with the legacy acceptance rate for EA. ive heard this from a few sources, not anything officially confirmed tho.</p>