What are my chances for Yale?

I’m visiting Yale soon. Before I go I want to have an understanding of my chances of admission. I am an uprising senior from Pennsylvania. I am interested in a Biomedical Engineering or Bioengineering Major.

Grades-
Unweighted: 95.09% (4.07)
Weighted: 103.79% (4.73)
(I do not know how accurate the 4.0 scale grades are, my school only reports percentages. I had to use an online converter and those are the results)

Class Rank- 18/593

All AP classes I will have completed by the end of Highschool- Physics 1, Micro Econ, American Gov, English Language and Composition, US History, Calc AB, Chemistry, English Literature, Calc BC, Biology, Human Geography

IB classes- Spanish 4

Honors Classes- World History, Algebra 2, Spanish 3, Biology, Intro to Engineering and Design, Chemistry 1, Precalc, Anatomy, Principles of Engineering and Design, Biochemistry, Architectural Engineering Level 2- English 9, English 10

Senior Year Course Load- AP English, AP Human Geography, AP Calculus BC, AP Biology, Honors Biochemistry, Honors Architectural Engineering

SAT- Math: 730, Reading+Writing:660 (1390 total)
I am awaiting a recent SAT test score which I did much better on.

ACT- English: 32, Math: 33, Reading: 27, Science: 31 (31 Composite)

SAT 2- Math 2: 770, Chemistry: 800

Extra Curriculars- 5th Place (Out of about 100) in my region’s Chemistry Olympiad, National Chemistry Olympiad Participant (only top 10 qualify), attendee in Penn State’s PULSE program (program for high schoolers who are interested in attending Medical School in the future. Lectures are held once a week for a few months with a final at the end), award for perfect attendance at PULSE, President and Founder of my school’s Russian Club, Treasurer of National Honor Society, will be volunteering at a hospital this summer (competitive admission), will have went on two mission trips in Maine repairing homes for the less fortunate and handicapped, participated in my region’s Technology Student Association competition.

Race- White
Gender- Male
Hooks- first generation American, first generation college student, Bilingual (Russian)

I know my SAT is pretty lacking, but that is my first and only score that I received and I didn’t study prior. I have been prepping and am awaiting what I hope to be a much better score. I am planning to take the SAT and ACT again with more prep.
My grades and class rank will definitely jump a few places senior year.
I am a pretty good writer and am planning on writing about my transition into adulthood after my mother being diagnosed with cancer on my common app.
All feedback is appreciated! Thank you!

I apologize if I’m being harsh; I usually just say that Yale is a reach for everyone, and let it go at that. But, something about your post kindled my interest. Please take this in a constructive manner.

You do know that you’ll have to submit all the tests (either all ACT or all SAT or both), right? Why would you take the tests multiple times, apparently twice with zero or half-hearted prep? You won’t be the first to submit 3 sets of scores, but you missed an opportunity to do a “one and done.” Too late now, but think about it.

Grades and rank are fine, as are subject tests.

You say you’re a good writer, and perhaps you are, but you wrote (at least) two phrases (“uprising senior,” and “will have went on two mission trips”) that are very awkward or wrong. That might be carelessness or bilingual in genesis, but much will depend on your essays, so be aware and vigilant.

Your LoRs will matter. Your class size is on the largish side, so be sure that you cultivate the letter writers. Your GC letter will matter quite a bit, as I assume that the GC has a relationship with Yale AO, so be sure he/she knows you well and can write a truthful positive letter.

What does Naviance say, if your HS has it?

Good luck.

I wasn’t expecting Yale to be anything less than a reach, so I respect the honesty more than some one commenting something like “your stats look great.” I would have taken the SAT more than once, regardless of how good my first score was, as most people do recommended sending at least a couple of scores. I’m sorry that my grammar/phrasing is not up to par, but obviously I’ll be more concerned about that when writing my essay, so there’s no need to make a big deal out of it. And I think you misunderstood what I meant about my SAT test. The first time I did not prep, but I took it again after prepping pretty hard, so the score that I’m awaiting should be pretty good. And to then to hopefully improve that score, I am currently prepping to take the test a third time, because I yet have to take the essay. My LoRs will be great, the teachers that I will ask really respect me and my efforts, and have told me that in the past. And what should I look at in terms of Naviance? My school does have Naviance, but I’m a bit unfamiliar with it.

Thank you so much for your response and all of the details you included, I really appreciate it!

Nothing wrong at all with your EC’s or grades/classes whatsoever that I can see. You’re biggest problem, as you mentioned, are your test scores. You really need to have at the very least a 33 or 1500, and to be considered a safe bet, probably a 34+ or 1540ish. Work on those and I’m sure your chances will increase significantly, although this is Yale we’re talking about, so even with a 36 and 1600 anyones chances would still be slim

@AnthonyZ, ETA I misread your post and thought you said your HS doesn’t have Naviance.

Edited: Naviance is a database/software tool that compares a student’s SAT/ACT and GPA against previous graduates of the HS who applied to specific colleges and graphs the results. It can be useful to give you an idea, but since it doesn’t include data on whether the student was a recruited athlete, URM, the quality of their essay, etc., it is imperfect. Ask your GC if they can show you where you stand relative to previous applicants to schools that you’re interested in.

Anthony, please don’t misunderstand my making a “big deal” of your “grammar/phrasing not being up to par.” Being defensive isn’t helpful to you/u. I’m not calling you out; I’m asking you to be observant and aware. I know that your essay will be gone over at least a dozen times, but getting in the habit of good writing, whether it’s an essay or just an anonymous Internet posting, can be helpful.

Good luck.

Let’s do some math, as this will help you concretely understand your odds. Harvard is a bit more forthcoming than Yale – and as HY are competing for approximately the same applicant pool, I think it’s worth investigating what Harvard says, as your chances may be slightly better at Yale, but truthfully not by that much to make a difference.

Harvard Admissions is on record as saying that 80% of applicants can do the work on their campus, and fully 40% of them are top students with exemplarily credentials.

Now, last year almost 40,000 students applied to Harvard. If 40% of them are tippy-top students, that means 16,000 students are the best-of-the-best from across the country and around the world – truly stellar students with top grades, test scores, recommendations and essays. However, Harvard only has room for 1660 students in their freshman class, which means over 14,000 terrifically qualified students are rejected every year – and everyone one of those students had a chance.

So, might you have a chance at Yale? Yes, especially if you boost your SAT or get your ACT up to 34+. But, are the odds in your favor? No! Are the odds in anyone’s favor? No!

Well, you should become intimate with the workings of Naviance, as it will provide more insight into your chances of getting admitted to Yale than what I or @IxnayBob have to say. For example, Naviance will tell you how many students from your high school have been admitted to Yale in the last five years with your GPA and test scores. If the answer is very few, then your chances coming from your high school are not as good as another student from a different high school in Pennsylvania. Please speak with your guidance counselor in the fall about Naviance and really take what it says to heart as IMHO it’s the best predictor of your chances to Yale and any other college. Best of luck to you!

I apologise if I came across as aggressive, that was not my intention, I really do appreciate your help and your suggestions. I did take a look at Naviance, and though I do believe that my school is relatively strong academic wise, very few students are accepted into highly selective schools. Those that are selected are not always the ones with the highest GPA and SAT scores, so I think extracurriculars and all of the other factors play a large role. Thank you again!

Thank you! I will definitely speak with my counselor and be sure to familiarize myself with Naviance.

Agree with everything @oakland818 mentioned, just lacking test scores, also might want to recalculate your uwGPA, 95% would be more around 3.7-3.8 I believe.



Best of Luck

If you know how to do that, please let me know. I found a website online to do that and I am also questioning its accuracy.

Wow, my school does percentages too! I think if your school does percentages, chances are they won’t convert the GPA to a 4.0; they’ll send it in as a percentage. If you want to calculate your 4.0 GPA then you’d just multiply 4.0 x .9509 to get 3.80.

IMO your UW average could be a bit higher; maybe shoot for 96% or above. Your course load seems very rigorous, EC"s are good, and I think your class rank is fine but getting top 10 would be better. However, you could probably improve on your ACT a couple of points to be more competitive, like a 34+ and a SAT score of 1500+ is ideal.

I’d appreciate it if you could chance me back! http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/2000649-chance-me-low-rank-common-ecs-cornell-harvard-wharton-etc.html#latest

Yale is a reach for anyone, including applicants with perfect GPA’s and test scores. There are levels of competitiveness. If your objective stat’s don’t fall within the 25th to 75th percentile, absent some huge hook, like being an athletic recruit, huge development prospect or child of some world leader, your chances are pretty slim, almost nil. Your current scores on both the ACT and SAT put you below this level. Yale’s admissions site shows an ACT range of 32 to 35. https://admissions.yale.edu/what-yale-looks-for For the SAT, Yale breaks it down by component under the old 2400 system, but there are sites that put the new SAT 25th to 75th percentile range at 1490 to 1600. To compare against this table and the other table linked below, I converted your new SAT to an old SAT score of 700 math and 1210 R+W (605 each if we simply average). Your ACT score of 31 converts to a new SAT of somewhere around 1430. Maybe you should focus your prep time on the ACT, especially if your second SAT score doesn’t put you over 1500. Yale requires you to send in all test scores of either the ACT or SAT (you can send in all scores for both tests at your option), so you can choose which set is better.

If you fall within the 25th to 75th range, you will still be competing with thousands (more likely well in excess of 10,000 candidates), that also fall within that range competing for roughly 2300 spots. My guess is that applicants at the lower end of the range tend be “spikier” (really extraordinary in 1 or 2 things), have truly memorable essays and/or LoR’s (not just "excellent ones), are athletic recruits or have some lesser hooks (legacy, geography, URM). Students at the higher end of the range probably can be “rounder”, although essays, LoR’s and EC’s must still be distinguishing. This is just my guess, but it is one based on common sense and indirect empirical evidence if you look at the SAT by component in this piece https://admissions.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/class_profile_2020_8-29.pdf. You can see the high (mostly majority) percentage of admitted students received SAT component scores over 760, and this is under the 2400 system. Converted, the score is 780 for math and 770 for reading and writing for the new SAT.

All of this means that any applicant needs to follow a strategy of a good mix of reach, match and safety schools.

Good luck.

I followed a link on Prepscholar and got an unweighted of 3.89 and a weighted of 4.53. I’ll take a look at your post.

No he does not. From his OP,

Unless a college specifically requests a conversion, which Yale does not, he would report his GPA on a 100 point scale.

Your class rank is much lower than most of my friends who’ve been accepted into Yale. Good luck nonetheless.

That’s probably true, but top 3% of class is fine, depending on the school. DS’s school didn’t rank, but with the GPA gaming going on, I’m not sure he would have broken top 10%. GC’s LoR will provide context.

The plural of anecdote is not data.

You’re first gen. I’d say your chances are better than most applicants. You have a good hook.

I agree with a lot of the responses so far, your resume looks lacking at the surface (gpa and sat) but your high-level coursework and ECs might be good enough to cover (who really knows anyways lol)
You said you are volunteering at a hospital, so I would recommend you try curing some disease while there, the more serious the better. Colleges like that.

^^if you can’t cure the disease at least develop a new test for the disease, if possible using an app