What is THE Yale Admission Factor?

maineparent
Sun, 02 Sep 2007 00:56:44 +0000

My response is not what you want to hear…but, I feel I must share my perspective on how what you want (a single factor) is not an option!

Here is the way I look at this challenging process…both for the applicant and the admissions officers…

Academics are Primary (this is an application to college, not for a job, etc):
1: did the student/applicant take the most challenging courses available and how did they do?

2: their rank tells how the student did compared to their local peers…
2a: the school summary provides background to understand what was available for the student to choose and relative performance of those peers

3: test scores provide a way to gauge the student against their national peers…

I believe every admissions officer has a range of results for the above that they are looking for…the following is used to then flesh out the candidate pool for consideration:

Other:
1: EC’s show two-three things; passion, bandwidth (the ability to excell in multiple areas) leadership

2: Recommendations - from both guidance, teachers and others, that demonstrate the student’s character

Once the student is validated as a candidate and desireable member of the community, the admission officer gets to read the:

ESSAY… this is the final moment for the student to express themself. The essay is where the admin officer finally “MEETS” the student. That is why YOUR voice is so important.

I don’t believe that any of the above steps can be eliminated…nor does any one “trump” the other…that is why YOU have to be honest with yourself and your choices…did you challenge yourself? do you want to be challenged? the top schools want students who will learn…and then go out and apply what they have learned. Yale doesn’t want just the top kids… they want kids that want to contribute/make a difference/improve the quality of life for a few or for a lot. Yale wants kids for a few years only…but they commit to providing their students with an experience that is top notch, world class, challenging…memorable. Something to strive for… and a community you can be proud to belong to… for the rest of your life.

A lot of schools have this…the diversity of any class enhances the experience for all classes…so you cannot appeal via only 1 aspect of your application (the exception to this is the athlete, offspring of a significant donor, etc. ) Be thankful that the college application process provides you with so many ways to hone how you represent yourself. And, know you will have a chance to use this skill in preparing/packaging yourself in the job market, in the field of love, and as a member of a community. And, if you are a bit late to having what it takes, then know you can excell in 4 yrs of college elsewhere and go to your dream school for graduate work.

The fun is only beginning…if you are lucky, you will undertake a new interest/endeavour when you are 64 and beyond. Reach to be outside your comfort zone…that is when it gets interesting.