My chances of getting into Yale??

gibby
Wed, 18 Sep 2013 07:28:52 +0000

If your high school uses Naviance, or some other college admissions tracking system, you should check to see how many kids have been accepted from your HS to Yale with your GPA. If your HS doesn’t use Naviance, ask you guidance counselor, as they can provide you with school-specific information that will be more accurate that any advice you get on CC.

There are more qualified applicants than there are seats at Yale. Great grades, test scores, extracurriculars, demonstration of leadership qualities are pretty much prerequisites for admission. Great essays and recommendations will also play a role in the admissions process.

Because there are many more fully-qualified students who apply than there are seats in the incoming class, at least to those of us looking from the outside, there is a seeming element of randomness in the process. Even if you’re good, you’ll also need some luck to get into Yale.

There is little that you, the student, can do to directly get yourself into Yale. Do your best academic work, engage in non-academic activities that you enjoy or are meaningful to you, and be the best person you can be. But you should be doing all those things, anyway, not just to get into Yale.