incomplete=deferral?

Colleges & Universities Yale University
1

<p>so, i applied EA to yale. i didn’t check my eli account until last weekend & found that they had only received one of my recommendations (out of four–two teachers, my counselor and the faculty advisor for the school paper, of which i’m the editor-in-chief). on the commonapp, it says they downloaded all of them, so it’s some issue on their end, not my school’s.</p>

<p>now, i know this sounds really cocky and illogical, but i completely expected to get in. i attend a highly competitive private school in PA, have a 3.8 GPA, 2280 on SATs, national merit scholar. i’ve attended the iowa young writers studio (an extremely selective & elite high school creative writing program) and won multiple awards for my writing. i’m the editor-in-chief of my school paper and spend ~20 hrs/wk working on it; this fall, i organized a journalism conference at my school, with speakers from slate.com, NPR, and the nytimes; last summer i had a paid internship at a local newspaper. i also am the student coordinator for my school’s coffeehouse & a leader in my church youth group, as well as the layout editor for the school literary magazine. i’ve taken art classes in school & at an academy in PA, and i submitted an excellent art supplement. my essays were great. i have a huge presence on my school’s campus; i’m very close with my teachers and my recommendations were fantastic. my counselor, who’s been doing this for over twenty years, was sure i’d get in. but i was deferred.</p>

<p>so, i know this is going to **** a lot of people off because i’m overestimating my chances or whatever. i understand that admissions are arbitrary, you have to be superhuman, blah blah blah–but two guys from my school who have many fewer EC’s/accomplishments than i got in. so, assuming for a moment that i’m completely qualified, would the missing recommendations have deemed my application “incomplete” & caused my deferral? like would that have hurt my app that much? or would i have received some sort of notification if it were incomplete?</p>

2

<p>You would have been notified by Yale if your application was incomplete. You were very fortunate that they did not deny you for an incomplete application. I don’t know if there office has closed for the holidays, but try to call them tomake sure your application is complete.</p>

<p>P.S. Don’t get overconfident. Thousands of people apply to Yale, so there are many people with the same exact stats as you. Admissions is a crapshoot, so be very weary when it comes to thinking that your acceptance is in the bag.</p>

3

<p>@ morsel - I understand that you are an exceptional student, and I also understand that you already know it takes a lot more than exceptionality to be accepted to Yale. Nonetheless, I don’t think you really understand how competative Yale admissions are. If you did, you would not have posted that you were sure you’d get in. Period.</p>

<p>Yale received about 4300 SCEA apps. I’m willing to bet that at least 70 percent of them had stats comparable to yours, and that 90 percent of SCEA applicants would have been able to cope at Yale just fine. Unfortunately, Yale simply doesn’t have enough room for all the qualified applicants. In order to get accepted, you need to do something to truly impress the adcoms - otherwise, you’re just another talented student - and as I’ve said, there are too many talented students. </p>

<p>If you still believe that you should have gotten in, take a look [url=&lt;a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/1253634-official-yale-class-2016-scea-results-thread.html]here[/url”&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/1253634-official-yale-class-2016-scea-results-thread.html]here[/url</a>]. Just from the first few pages, I count several deferrals of students with 2400s on the SATs and ECs just as impressive as yours. There are deferrees, and even rejectees, who have won numerous international competitions, who are published authors, who have spoken at Ted conferences, and who already own large businesses. There simply isn’t room for everyone.</p>

<p>You also need to note that Yale isn’t necessarily searching for the most qualified applicants. Yale is building a class. If the adcoms decide that their class needs a juggler or a trombone player, then a juggler or trombone player whom you consider to be less qualified will get in over you. </p>

<p>It is, of course, possible that you didn’t get in because your app was incomplete, but based on your attitude, I doubt that was the problem. Your notion of entitlement reeks of pretentiousness, and that pretentiousness may have shone through in your essays or interview. </p>

<p>Whatever the reason for your deferral, don’t think that it in any way makes you any less special. Based solely on your stats and ECs, you probably have good chances at other top tier colleges, and you’ll surely end up somewhere that’s right for you. Indeed, you may still have good chances of being admitted to Yale RD. But please don’t feel that because you’re an exceptional student, you’re entitled to a Yale acceptance. </p>

<p>I wish you the best of luck in the remainder of the admissions cycle.</p>

4

<p>omg yeah i totes wouldve gotten in if i werent so pompous :wink: thanx guise</p>

5

<p>I’m surprised that you did not check your Eli account earlier; I mean it is very impt once they give you an account that you keep checking it until you know your application is complete. Nowadays, with all this technology, when rec letters and transcripts etc are being downloaded, things can still go wrong with transmission. So please morsel check your accounts often until they show that they are complete. I am sure you will get into a great school…you have awesome and very impressive stats!!!</p>