What does one need to have a better than 5% chance at Yale?

[Anonymous]

Science major DD. Top 5% from highly-respected private, but with average ECs and no other hooks. Very well-liked by teachers.

[Anonymous]

Any goals that align with the very specific interests of very specific professors? If so, that would be worth mentioning.
Why does she want to go to Yale? That’s a real question. Does she have an answer to that question that someone interviewing her or reading her application would find memorable?

[Anonymous]

I’m a Yale alum and I spend too much time on Instagram. I think about your question a lot.

And I’ve noticed a strange phenomenon of a lot of girls who are very smart but average-ish but have moms with large social media followings matriculating at Yale in the last few years. These aren’t influencer types but more like designers, artists, etc and they send their kids to top but not tippy top privates. My assumption is that social class, a certain sophistication that might come out in essays, and going to privates with historically large groups that is accepted to Yale is a big help. You need signifiers that are shortcuts for the admissions staff.

So for example, going to a school like St. Ann’s in Brooklyn means you have already gotten through a few different gauntlets of selectivity and that helps justify accepting multiple students per year when an average suburban HS would struggle to get a similar student noticed.

[Anonymous]

I know a mom whose son sounds like your DD. They have his app reviewed by 5-6 former AOs. IIRC he was waitlisted by Yale then admitted. So application review by former AOs might help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a Yale alum and I spend too much time on Instagram. I think about your question a lot.

And I’ve noticed a strange phenomenon of a lot of girls who are very smart but average-ish but have moms with large social media followings matriculating at Yale in the last few years. These aren’t influencer types but more like designers, artists, etc and they send their kids to top but not tippy top privates. My assumption is that social class, a certain sophistication that might come out in essays, and going to privates with historically large groups that is accepted to Yale is a big help. You need signifiers that are shortcuts for the admissions staff.

So for example, going to a school like St. Ann’s in Brooklyn means you have already gotten through a few different gauntlets of selectivity and that helps justify accepting multiple students per year when an average suburban HS would struggle to get a similar student noticed.

This really rings true for all the recent admits we personally know. A public example might be Kat Dubrow, Heather Dubrow's daughter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a Yale alum and I spend too much time on Instagram. I think about your question a lot.

And I’ve noticed a strange phenomenon of a lot of girls who are very smart but average-ish but have moms with large social media followings matriculating at Yale in the last few years. These aren’t influencer types but more like designers, artists, etc and they send their kids to top but not tippy top privates. My assumption is that social class, a certain sophistication that might come out in essays, and going to privates with historically large groups that is accepted to Yale is a big help. You need signifiers that are shortcuts for the admissions staff.

So for example, going to a school like St. Ann’s in Brooklyn means you have already gotten through a few different gauntlets of selectivity and that helps justify accepting multiple students per year when an average suburban HS would struggle to get a similar student noticed.

This really rings true for all the recent admits we personally know. A public example might be Kat Dubrow, Heather Dubrow's daughter.

This is no different from any real celebrity’s kid. Instagram famous is not the same as someone who is on TV and is known for being incredibly wealthy: Ben Affleck, Conan O’Brien, Heather Dubrow, Gwyneth Paltrow.

[Anonymous]

A moderately famous parent.

[Anonymous]

URM.

[Anonymous]

I went to Bulldog days (as the admitted student days are called at Yale) and there was a panel discussion by the Yale director of admissions on what they looked for and how they admitted the class of 2029.

A few things that stood out

1. They are super sensitive to the application looking too polished as in having multiple people reviewing it as they really really really want to read in the student's voice. I thought my kid's application is a bit raw and it likely helped.

2. They love quirky as in not following a template. The one person who we showed the application thought my kid is making a big mistake because of this and very strongly recommended kid change/rewrite parts of the application. The AO who reviewed my kid's application actually highlighted in a hand written note in the admissions letter about the exact thing the kid was told to modify. So glad kid had the confidence not to take that advice.

[Anonymous]

Listen to the podcast. They kind of tell you.

Your sciences DD better be interdisciplinary and be able to show a long history of that interest.

Understand the ethos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Bulldog days (as the admitted student days are called at Yale) and there was a panel discussion by the Yale director of admissions on what they looked for and how they admitted the class of 2029.

A few things that stood out

1. They are super sensitive to the application looking too polished as in having multiple people reviewing it as they really really really want to read in the student's voice. I thought my kid's application is a bit raw and it likely helped.

2. They love quirky as in not following a template. The one person who we showed the application thought my kid is making a big mistake because of this and very strongly recommended kid change/rewrite parts of the application. The AO who reviewed my kid's application actually highlighted in a hand written note in the admissions letter about the exact thing the kid was told to modify. So glad kid had the confidence not to take that advice.

Excellent points.

I emphasize point number one quite often only to be derided by the self-appointed "experts" on another well-known, but dying, college admissions website. (However, there are college admissions officers/readers at, typically, less competitive schools who favor highly polished applications because it shows that the applicant put a great deal of time and effort in constructing the application. This is a small-minded point of view in my opinion and harmful to applicants' chances at the most selective schools.)

Point number two distinguishes an application and makes the applicant memorable to the reader.

[Anonymous]

Be very rich and connected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Listen to the podcast. They kind of tell you.

Your sciences DD better be interdisciplinary and be able to show a long history of that interest.

Understand the ethos.

What does this gibberish mean ?

If I understand, I suggest that applicants ignore the above advice.

[Anonymous]

Be a star athlete

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen to the podcast. They kind of tell you.

Your sciences DD better be interdisciplinary and be able to show a long history of that interest.

Understand the ethos.

What does this gibberish mean ?

If I understand, I suggest that applicants ignore the above advice.

Listen to the Yale podcast?

Interdisciplinary nature of Yale which basically begs students to connect different areas in their applications (The “and” students”).

Yale wants kids who will be changemakers in their fields; have deep passion; they don’t care what Yale can do for you they want to know what you’ll do (bring to) for Yale.