What else can he do for EA does he have realistic chance

Colleges & Universities Yale University
1

Son senior in high school
Made a few college visits
Liked Yale followed by Columbia
Intended major political science
From upper Midwest

GPA unweighted 4/4
Weighted 4.12 end of junior yr ( scale of 4.5) ( has maximum possible gpa in schools)
All A’s

ACT 35. Writing 11/12

SAT Subject tests
MathII 760
US history 790

AP English comp 5
AP European history 5
AP chemistry 5
AP US history 4
AP calculus 3 ( AB 4 BC 3)

National Spanish exam
Freshman yr silver
Sophomore yr gold
Junior yr gold

Senior year classes
AP Spanish
AP English lit
AP statistics
AP biology
US govt, ecomonomics, physics , strings

Leadership in student council all four yrs
Speech team captain

Started politics club in his school

Passion is speech

Qualified for NSDA sophomore yr and junior yr
Semi finalist (top 15 ) in consolation event sophomore yr
Semi finalist (top 15) supplemental event jr yr
Nietoc jr yr quaterfinalist ( top 25) in interp event and octafinalist in a second interp event
Third place state speech championship interp event .

Placed top 3 inter school speech events in several categories too many to count
Lives and breathes speech

State theatre award for role in a high school musical

In school orchestra all four yrs
Plays violin and cello. Plays well but not stellar

Played jv soccer and varsity track

Does a few other activities outside school that he enjoys that I haven’t mentioned

Expecting excellent references

Personality. Funny guy of the class. Serious when he needs to be. Kind and generous.
Happy kid overall enjoys his high school experience

Declined any kinda tutoring or coaching and prefers doing it himself. As parents we only watch from a distance .

Does he have a realistic chance even to be looked at seriously for ea Yale or ed Columbia.

He liked the Yale campus and likes the dept he intends to major at these two places

He is realistic and making sure he applies to a few match and safety schools

Please advice

2

Yes, well THAT is ‘key.’ Your essays need to covey that passion, AND your teacher recommendations and GC’s Secondary School Report need to reinforce and back-up the way your passion has had a positive impact on your high school and the lives of those student’s who attended your HS. If those element’s are missing, or have been tepidly addressed, your application is not going to soar.

3

The best thing he can do at this point is make sure he has solid safeties and matches that he’d be happy to attend. Not just willing, but happy. He is a senior — the die is cast. His odds, like those of all applicants to those schools, are quite low. He seems like he has a shot, but I don’t see the “wow” factor that improves his chances over the rest of the pool. He may get in. Have him put his best application together. But be certain he pays an equal amount of attention to matches & safeties (not only should he be happy to attend, but you should make sure they are affordable).

4

His references would reflect his passion for speech and the impact on his school.

His writing skills are decent, so hoping his essay will be solid . Will not qualify for any need based aid at any school .

The other schools he likes are Columbia Berkeley
U Chicago. UCLA UT Austin and NYU

Safety would be his home state school

Thanks will keep it in mind

5

Without need-based aid, nearly all of the schools you mention are in the 65k + range (I don’t know about UT). You’re ok with that?

6

Your son’s application is much stronger than the average applicant but will be similar to many thousands of high quality applicants. There are a few things that might help to optimize his application.

Choose LoR writers who know your son well and can provide personal anecdotes to support their recommendation. There is a huge difference between “He is passionate in everything he does and has a special passion for speech” vs “His passion for speech has infected the entire club. In addition to leading by example, he is always willing to help his teammates both in improving their skills and instilling them a love for speech. The team has grown from 6 members when he was a freshmen to over 15 today, and X has been a big part of this growth along with the success that the team has enjoyed in district and state competitions.” It may be helpful to supply the LoR writers with a resume/list of accomplishments to make it easier for them to connect adjectives to facts.

Have a trusted friend (family friend, teacher (LoR writer ideally), relative, mentor) review the EC and essay parts of the app as a whole, not for editing purposes, but to get their view if the application is true to what is “special” about your son. The AO readers will be trying to piece together a narrative about each application from these pieces (as well as from the objective portions). Is the narrative consistent, does it ring true? Will the AO conclude, I know who this is and we need someone like that here.

7

Yeah with both parents being physicians. We feel it’s not even worth applying for aid and would rather a less fortunate kid benefit from college resources. Just have to work a few extra years to pay for his college.

BK thank you so much for the very objective input.
His school has one of the best counsellors in town. His speech coaches and teachers I suspect will give stellar letters.
Every activity he has done he has enjoyed. He hates math and it shows.He refuses to indulge in any activities just to fill up his resume.
We are hoping if the references project his personality, admission officers would consider him seriously . The key is essays and LORs projecting him like he is.
Appreciate your inputs lot BK
Can’t worry about the result . We tell him to be his natural funny positive self and have fun with the process. It’s not the end of world if he doesn’t get picked.

8

He should look to apply to one of the honors programs at UT (Plan II may be a fit) and his state flagship (perhaps others). Often these will have rolling admissions, which might help to narrow the list and reduce the RD app’s to submit. Unless Columbia is a clear number 1, I would stick with an EA school to keep his options open. Best of luck!

9

He is certainly a solid applicant.

IMO the best thing he can do is to create a solid college list that includes reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (run the net price calculator for each school) and that he would be excited to attend. The people I see who get hurt by the college admission process are the ones who focus on one or two hyper-competitive schools and then don’t get in. Cast a wide net and recognize that (assuming no major hook) Yale and Columbia are a reach for any unhooked applicant…

10

6 reach 3 match 2 safety is what he is doing

11

“6 reach 3 match 2 safety is what he is doing” I’d say that’s what we did for our kids (though no one here would call our safeties “safeties.”) It worked out well; kid 1 got into almost all her schools, kid 2 got into two low reaches, so all was well. I agree that your kid has a solid case to make for himself. Just make sure that the “safeties” are really attractive to him.

12

Georgetown and Tufts could be target schools. I would consider American and George Washington as match schools as well.

13

And depending on what state you’re from, Berkeley and UT-Austin aren’t necessarily match schools.

Edit-upper Midwest is a pretty vague description. Michigan and Minnesota are good schools and could fit the bill of potential matches.

14

You’ve received excellent advice above.

That might matter more to Yale AO than it would at some other schools. My sample size is small, but I have found it noteworthy how large a percentage of Yale students I regard as especially kind, so it probably is something that is, consciously or unconsciously, selected on.

Good luck to your worthy son, whether at Yale or elsewhere.

15

Thanks Bob. It’s insane how hard these kids have to slog to get to these colleges .

16

^^^And even with all the hard work and achievements nothing will guarantee an unhooked applicant’s acceptance into an elite college. That is why I always think a HS student’s goal should be to be the best they can be in every aspect of life – as a student, a person, a leader, a fiend, a family member etc. When the goal becomes getting into an elite college that student places too much of his/her self-worth in the hands of an admissions officer who he/she has probably never met and who spends 10-15 minutes on his/her application.
It looks to me like your S will be successful be it at Yale, Columbia, or another outstanding college. Good luck.

17

I say this only with hindsight, because at the time it seemed to be too “laid back” an outlook for my kid. I have known many of my son’s cohort since pre-K, and knew a great many of them during high school, hockey teams, etc. I had opinions about their character, intelligence, curiosity, etc., and was sometimes surprised by where they wound up attending college.

Now that (most) of them have graduated, I have to say that overwhelmingly the capable, hard-working, quality, kids did well, regardless of where they went to college. I would have scoffed at this view some years ago, probably called it Pollyanna-ish, but . . .

18

True Bob

19

Thought I would update.
Got accepted to state flagship school . University of Nebraska Lincoln honors program. Got acceptance from UT Austin .
Keeping fingers crossed SCEA Yale with low expectation . Did not get an interview call.
Other schools he is applying for RD in case he doesn’t accepted are
Columbia
Brown
UPenn
UCLA applied
Berkeley applied
WashU
NYU applied
Uchicago
Harvard

If he doesn’t get Yale his next choice school would be Brown . Columbia . Berkeley

Still in two minds about NYU (Tisch acting school) will audition and decide in April .

20

^ He sounds like a talented kid. Good luck to him!