@shivaya Did you listen to the Amherst audio story? Do you envision yourself a better judge of “what to look for?”
That’s quite a bit of hubris from someone who’s not even attended college yet, I would say.
@TheWaffleMan149 - agree :))
@T26E4 - I have listened to this (a while ago) and many others like Stanford, Dan Rather’s interview from 2013, etc.
I am not stating if I am a better judge. If they don’t know what the school motto is, how do they know what to look for?
The entire recording is very funny to me - sounds like they are having a jolly good time from the essays.
Mostly, the admissions team looks at the grades, scores, ECs and if they are convinced from the essay, they like it.
But, how in the world is a team member likes or dislikes an essay. No one in this world is so versatile to review an essay completely “unattached”. Every one of us is “human” and have our own biases and dark beliefs.
After all the interviews, I was almost shocked that most of the alumni had no clue where the motto statement came from 
Keep in mind: Like or Dislike are the 2 sides of the same coin. If you analyze deep, it will reveal some fun stuff. Only the one who does not have a like or dislike can find the true student.
You seem to want measure this according to some perfect rubric. Admissions is not a science and no one claims it’s a perfect system. But it works for the individual schools mostly.
I don’t believe you know what I want:-). And, I agree with you that it is never going to fit some perfect rubric.
Someone told me (and I love it): admissions is not a science but an art.
If the above statement is agreed, why do we have these discussion forums and why do people do “chance me”?
Why do people with perfect ACT/SAT and 3.9 GPA (mostly) get in?
On the other hand, if admissions officers are biased (which no one is going to admit openly but these audio clips clearly prove so). what are these colleges truly worth?
All I am saying is that the schools’ admission team is not in line with the vision of the founding fathers.
But you see @shivaya this is where a lot of people go wrong. It is not entirely (or even mostly) the adcom’s fault. When you receive 40,000 applications, and 80% of them are HIGHLY qualified, you have to have a way to determine who the 1,000 actual spots go to. This is a byproduct of the way that the Ivy League (particularly HYP) have marketed themselves throughout the years
@TheWaffleMan149 - I wholeheartedly agree. After all the interviews with so many great schools (I thought were lofty), I was very much disillusioned.
A few schools have convinced me that I should have hope and trust that there are some schools still on the lookout for great thinking minds - even in today’s rat race of students.
I do not wish to join a “donkey manufacturing school” - work 24x7 with very little creative thinking.
So, I relaxedly await for the results and have created a spreadsheet of factors with weights on how to select the school of my choice:-)
@T26E4 wow thank you for the information! Are they deliberating until the very last day? Will they finish in mid March? Early March?
@shivaya What’s this “founding fathers” thing you keep referring to? Yale was founded in 1701 in a different age for a different purpose. Universities in America have been redefined dramatically within the last 150 years. Do you know why they Ivies began to interview? To add a filter for too many Jews and overtly effeminate gay men. I can guarantee you that the majority of Yale students in 1920’s interpretation of the “mission” of Yale would shock you. Do you even know the amount of wails that erupted to oppose the radical idea of allowing women into Yale College? Even in my era (the 1980s), I look back and regret the casual homophobic joking we engaged in despite having close LGBT friends. What’s this “ideal” you speak of? You seem to speak as if you’re its arbiter or uphold its banner.
I’m simply want to challenge your idea here.
Simply because of your limited sample where you’ve seen a “donkey” or grade grinder get a Likely Letter – so now you’re jaded. You don’t know a d**m thing about that person’s essays or character.
Nor would I presume to know yours when and if you get admitted to schools over other people. C’mon. The fact is Yale is hungry for particularly strong STEM applicants. It this “too Asian” for you and not truly “great thinking minds?” Wow.
I sure hope you get into many schools. I hope you go and attend their admitted student affairs so you can gather broader info. What you’ve stated to this point is kinda scary to me.
@shivaya, in my experience, Yale’s adcoms (and those of other schools admitting students holistically) do a remarkable job of carefully reading essays and the LoRs. Of the, say, 100 students that I had some familiarity with in DS’s school and town, I can think of only one result (an acceptance) that I would not support, but I think that he was a developmental case. DS won out over grinders with better GPAs.
@T26E4 - I like your challenge. Let me ask you a simple question. Can you state and explain the motto of Yale?
Yes. And even if it were “no” – would that cheapen my 30 years experience with it? my +25 years of recruiting on its behalf, including in two large inner city communities?
May I suggest you not cast aspersions on someone because they aren’t so wrapped around a three word phrase that you somehow idealize? There’s much to be said about it – some good and some bad. There were total jerks who wore it on their sweat shirts and others, who weren’t into the “rah rah” of Yale or its history or its prestige – who have gone on to shape the world around them magnificently and might not even recognize the 3 latin words on their school crest unless someone pointed it out to them.
You think that’s the litmus test? I can guarantee you that some Yalies of old draped themselves in that phrase but were terrible people and committed societally hideous actions. What does that tell you?
I’ll end this conversation with this: don’t judge any school based upon one person’s knowledge of a bit of trivia. We weren’t required to chant it at the beginning of every day or lecture or at sundown or whisper “Hail Hydra” to one another, you know. I sincerely calibrate your filter and discount that and discover if indeed, a campus is comprised of people who genuinely value light and truth
Your response was exactly what I expected. I had no intention of offending either you or anyone. So, I will end the conversation here.
Soooooo, that was intense. :-j All interpretations of school crest & motto aside, has anyone received an update to a deferred status? Some other schools have started announcing admissions of previously deferred students and I was wondering what was up here for SCEA? Anyone know of potential announcement dates? Or do SCEA students get announced on 3/31 along with all RDs? All the best to everyone here~
I believe deferred applicants from SCEA will be notified along with the RD applicants March 31st.
But is the admission offer still binding?
@noname876 Yale does not offer binding decisions.
Ehm if you apply SCEA isn’t it binding? I thought it was
Not SCEA. ED, yes. SCEA is just like EA, except you can only do it once (hence the single choice part).
Now I am confused! I am in my gap year here in US, and when I met with a college advisor he said that if I apply to Yale early action I cannot apply to any other school early action because Yale has a binding policy. I am going to visit Yale during spring break, so probably I’ll have the chance to ask about this… But if any of you can explain this to me, I’d be very grateful 