Mediocre freshman year grades...okay SAT score...SCEA?

azwethinkweiz
Tue, 02 Jun 2009 18:30:07 +0000

Hello…I was planning on applying to Yale SCEA and I had a few questions. But first, some quick stats…

HS Grad year: 2010
Location: suburban MA, very competitive high school
GPA: …not sure. see below
Class rank: 1st decile (our class only gives deciles; we don’t know how we place in them)
Class size: 270+
Race(s): Hispanic, White, Asian (not sure what to do about this…URM, neutral, and ORM? do they cancel each other out? i come from a very WASPy/asian school, one of two minorities in the 1st decile…would it be negative if I put asian as well as hispanic? [my name isn’t asian at all, so if i didn’t put it down it’s not like it would be obvious I was 'lying])
SAT score (CR/M/W) second time but single sitting: 600/760/740 (69 MC, 11 essay) total 2100
SAT IIs: French w/listening- 770, taking Lit and Spanish this Saturday
ECs: started organization that raised over $100,000 to build filters and wells in guatemala and rwanda, etc…worked in orphanages in guatemala and ecuador, taught english at boarding school in china, piano for 11 years, guitar+voice for 3 years, self-taught artist (pretty good)multilingual (english, french, spanish, taught self japanese), etc. other than that i have the rest of ‘your average ecs’ (newspaper and stuff)
Work experience: french/spanish tutor, logo design, summer camp counselor, etc.
Class workload: AP french sophomore year (only soph to take AP course), always took highest for.lang./english/history class available, regular math and history
APs: AP french language (5), will take AP Calc AB, AP bio, and AP spanish senior year
**Recs:/b fantastic, teachers asked me to write them, hahah. (can I submit a supplemental one from outside school?)
Passions: languages, art, music. I also plan on writing my essay on my melting pot…ness. I come from an extremely diverse background (don’t worry, I don’t plan on mentioning ‘URM’ that is too long to put for a ‘quick stat’ but trust me, it’s definitely…different).
Supplements: planning on submitting mini art portfolio, piano recordings (does it matter if they are original or covers?)
Hooks: URM

Okay, so here’s my problem…my freshman year i had a very difficult transition period (depression, hospitalization, eating disorder, deaths in family, etc.) and got B+s in three/six classes. I’ve gotten straight As since then, but my freshman year is really bringing down my cumulative GPA. Also, will my chances be lowered if I haven’t taken all honors? Our school only offers one AP class (officially) for juniors. Would the fact that I took one sophomore year help? I know that a lot of people have done this and even have freshman year, but no one has at my school. just wondering.
Also, I don’t mean to sound obnoxious by being worried about these B+s…but as you all know, Yale is an amazing school academically (and for other reasons) and I was wondering if those B+s would lower my chances significantly, as they do lower my cumulative GPA.

Second, my SAT scores. For some reason, even though I’m terrible at math and I’m totally an english person, I got a 760 and 600 on those respective sections. I’ve taken it twice and my CR score has only gone up by 10 points. I’m taking Lit this weekend and well…if I were to take it right now, it would not look good. I do plan on studying a lot before Saturday to hopefully have a shot at a better score. The other thing is that I’m also signed up for Math II this weekend. I know that there is a very generous curve, but I have taken many practice tests and there is NO way I’m getting above a 670. I haven’t canceled yet but I’m leaning toward it…would my Math SAT I score cover my not taking the subject test if I will already have 2 others? I would rather focus on raising my Lit score than Math.
I’m taking the SAT I again in October and am really hoping to raise my CR score…but if things don’t work out as I’d hoped, how much will it hurt me?

Also, I heard here that SCEA is “kind to minorities…” is this true? Regardless, I am so torn about what to put down for my race.

Sorry this is so long; I tried to make it as short as I could Anyway, Yale is my absolute dream school, so I was wondering if you could answer these questions…any help at all would be appreciated.

Thanks so much!