Yale Admissions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Other than Legacy/Athlete/URM - any DMV admits at all? Looking at our school, this seems to take up 100 percent of the cases.

Not to re-open the debate that was going on earlier, but my DC was accepted rea to Yale this year. Not legacy, white/asian, not an athlete. Goes to a relatively good public school in DC. None of the other ivy/t25 early admits there were hooked either.

Same for us. Kid in at another Ivy early. White. My other kid was '22, and 4 of 5 admitted to their Ivy were white/Asian and I don’t think had any hooks. Neither of mine did. Public magnet school.

Well a 4.5 and 1600 isn’t enough to get in so what made them stand out?

For the kids I know, it was ROTC and being 50% -100% URM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Other than Legacy/Athlete/URM - any DMV admits at all? Looking at our school, this seems to take up 100 percent of the cases.

Not to re-open the debate that was going on earlier, but my DC was accepted rea to Yale this year. Not legacy, white/asian, not an athlete. Goes to a relatively good public school in DC. None of the other ivy/t25 early admits there were hooked either.

Congrats and how exciting.

I'd love for my sons to end up in that environment instead of the huge drinking party schools with girls flashing their boobs all over the stadium, and drinking themselves into an oblivion 5 nights out of the week...with little care for academics. College campuses have taken the partying from 1980s/90s to total whoreville and debauchery and trouble.

I really enjoyed seeing boobs in college and I’m sure your sons will too.

[Anonymous]

Legacies only

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Other than Legacy/Athlete/URM - any DMV admits at all? Looking at our school, this seems to take up 100 percent of the cases.

Not to re-open the debate that was going on earlier, but my DC was accepted rea to Yale this year. Not legacy, white/asian, not an athlete. Goes to a relatively good public school in DC. None of the other ivy/t25 early admits there were hooked either.

Same for us. Kid in at another Ivy early. White. My other kid was '22, and 4 of 5 admitted to their Ivy were white/Asian and I don’t think had any hooks. Neither of mine did. Public magnet school.

Well a 4.5 and 1600 isn’t enough to get in so what made them stand out?

For the kids I know, it was ROTC and being 50% -100% URM.

ROTC is a huge hook at schools like Yale, Princeton, and MIT.

Tough to get the four year scholarship, but once that happens, all good almost everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Other than Legacy/Athlete/URM - any DMV admits at all? Looking at our school, this seems to take up 100 percent of the cases.

Not to re-open the debate that was going on earlier, but my DC was accepted rea to Yale this year. Not legacy, white/asian, not an athlete. Goes to a relatively good public school in DC. None of the other ivy/t25 early admits there were hooked either.

Same for us. Kid in at another Ivy early. White. My other kid was '22, and 4 of 5 admitted to their Ivy were white/Asian and I don’t think had any hooks. Neither of mine did. Public magnet school.

Well a 4.5 and 1600 isn’t enough to get in so what made them stand out?

For the kids I know, it was ROTC and being 50% -100% URM.

ROTC is a huge hook at schools like Yale, Princeton, and MIT.

Tough to get the four year scholarship, but once that happens, all good almost everywhere.

It’s the only way in for kids that’s aren’t first gen or wealthy .

[Anonymous]

It appears they fill roughly half the class in in REA and roughly half in RD; so if your DC is unhooked non-legacy but excellent stats, thoughts on whether it is better to go REA or RD there (even though ton more apps and lower acceptance rate for RD)?

[Anonymous]

My DC, neither a legacy nor an athlete, was admitted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seeing this thread. Realizing it was a BIG mistake to apply early to Yale. Top kid but zero hooks! Oh well..

I'm sorry. But if they have the stats to be competitive at Yale, they will do fine in the end.

But yes, I would not encourage any unhooked kid to apply SCEA to Harvard or Yale. Waste of an opportunity. The sweet spot for a strong ED application are the schools ranked 10-20. You'll never know whether they could have gotten into Stanford, but you'll avoid the stress and anarchy of regular decision and still be assured of a great education.

Or to Princeton or Stanford. It's a waste...

Our Big 3 has a Stanford and Harvard admit this year, non-legacy, non-athlete, non-donor, non-URM. They are both incredibly smart kids though.

[Anonymous]

1. You don't need to have a hook to be admitted to these schools (lots and lots of unhooked kids are admitted).

2. Among the kids who meet a high threshold (great applicants), it is essentially a lottery. Some very, very qualified kids will not be admitted; some very, very qualified kids will be admitted. Universities do their best to build the class they want, but from the perspective of any single student it is essentially a lottery.

3. Students with hooks get more lottery tickets-- it's still a lottery, whether hooked or not hooked. But the probability of acceptance is higher for those with hooks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC, neither a legacy nor an athlete, was admitted.

This isn't helpful. What are your DC's stats and ethnicity?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DC, neither a legacy nor an athlete, was admitted.

This isn't helpful. What are your DC's stats and ethnicity?

And are they first gen or ROTC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They should just increase the number of seats. let go of the residential college for those willing to attend without RC. Plenty of room in most classrooms.

Are you at all aware that Yale added two new residential colleges fairly recently?

Just how would letting go of residential colleges - one of Yale's best features - increase seats? And why should they do that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG just give it a rest. I interview in this area and all the kids from my list who have gotten in in the last few years are neither rich legacies nor athletes. Your kid is not likely to get in because statistics are not on your side and you’re trying to find some “excuse” ahead of time. Just relax, go read a book of something.

Good to know. This is definitely not the case at our DC private. Genuine question for you as interviewer though: How would you know if the kids you interview are legacies? Are the interview requests marked as such.

I'd like to know this too. And even if you know whether they're legacies or not, how would you know how rich they are? I don't believe that you are interviewing in the DMV (meaning DC, Montgomery County, Northern VA) and have had several kids with no hooks (not URM, not athletes, not legacies, not from famous/influential families, not big donor, not first gen) get into Yale.

I honestly don’t care what you believe, but which is more believable, that there’s a mix of kids from all backgrounds or that there’s some massive conspiratorial plot that keeps all middle class white and Asian kids out? They are not even allowed to look at race any more. And yes, I live in one of the “good” zip codes around here.

It's not a belief, it's a fact. It's not a secret who goes to Yale and similar schools from this area. You may not even be aware of the hooks these kids you're interviewing have. I think that's why you're getting so defensive. People are URMs, but you'd never know it by looking at them. People have connections at universities that you may know nothing about. People may be uber wealthy, but you as a volunteer interviewer wouldn't have a clue. This is not debatable. You may not have realized the kids you were interviewing were hooked, but they were. You just don't understand all the hooks.

So it’s the tinfoil hat conspiracy theory for you, then.

NP here and a Yale grad. I don't think there's a big conspiracy to keep out the middle class. I think this demographic is under-represented at Yale and similar schools because of finances. These kids are from doughnut hold families who are too rich for aid but too poor to afford the tuition.

I was in this group actually. Family not rich at all but above the FA cutoff. I won't go into all the details but I made the finances work even though it was hard. There were not many others like me in the middle, it seemed like everyone had more or less $ than my family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Other than Legacy/Athlete/URM - any DMV admits at all? Looking at our school, this seems to take up 100 percent of the cases.

Not to re-open the debate that was going on earlier, but my DC was accepted rea to Yale this year. Not legacy, white/asian, not an athlete. Goes to a relatively good public school in DC. None of the other ivy/t25 early admits there were hooked either.

Same for us. Kid in at another Ivy early. White. My other kid was '22, and 4 of 5 admitted to their Ivy were white/Asian and I don’t think had any hooks. Neither of mine did. Public magnet school.

Well a 4.5 and 1600 isn’t enough to get in so what made them stand out?

For the kids I know, it was ROTC and being 50% -100% URM.

For mine, it was a mix of arts and stem. Excellent arts ECs plus awards in stem and arts (in 3 areas of arts), high GPA/scores and magnet curriculum. 3 strong arts portfolios.

Other kid also had mix of arts and stem with international awards in both. Also, some other unique ECs and distinct perspective in writing. 2 strong arts portfolios. High scores and GPA.

For others we know, 1 had music w/ decent awards but oversubscribed instrument, but also had good stem awards. Another was ranked in a sport. Another had some highly ranked stem awards. All with high scores and GPAs.

Also know another one in early with humanities awards in humanities magnet and strong arts portfolio. Likely high scores and GPA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Other than Legacy/Athlete/URM - any DMV admits at all? Looking at our school, this seems to take up 100 percent of the cases.

Not to re-open the debate that was going on earlier, but my DC was accepted rea to Yale this year. Not legacy, white/asian, not an athlete. Goes to a relatively good public school in DC. None of the other ivy/t25 early admits there were hooked either.

Same for us. Kid in at another Ivy early. White. My other kid was '22, and 4 of 5 admitted to their Ivy were white/Asian and I don’t think had any hooks. Neither of mine did. Public magnet school.

Well a 4.5 and 1600 isn’t enough to get in so what made them stand out?

For the kids I know, it was ROTC and being 50% -100% URM.

For mine, it was a mix of arts and stem. Excellent arts ECs plus awards in stem and arts (in 3 areas of arts), high GPA/scores and magnet curriculum. 3 strong arts portfolios.

Other kid also had mix of arts and stem with international awards in both. Also, some other unique ECs and distinct perspective in writing. 2 strong arts portfolios. High scores and GPA.

For others we know, 1 had music w/ decent awards but oversubscribed instrument, but also had good stem awards. Another was ranked in a sport. Another had some highly ranked stem awards. All with high scores and GPAs.

Also know another one in early with humanities awards in humanities magnet and strong arts portfolio. Likely high scores and GPA.

URM for your kid(s) and/or the others?