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

[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.

OP: to answer question above why Yale, what PP describes is why Yale is her super reach (but also very excited about Rice, Swarthmore, Pomona etc.). She wants an interdisciplinary school where you don’t go there with a job path in mind. She is very intellectually curious, never studies for grades but still gets top marks, loves learning, and is top of class for sciences, writing and languages. She wants to learn from other people different than her and find ways to improve communities. This is not her sales speech, she lives for this stuff. Her teachers love her and have involved her in their projects, curriculum planning during the summer and even one in her PhD paper when DD never asked. She is a nerd, humble, quietly ambitious but not competitive.

Sounds like a shoe-in. Don't use a coach so she sounds authentic....the winning formula per DCUM

[Anonymous]

DC was rejected by Yale but got into Harvard as RD. Colleges look for different traits.

[Anonymous]

OP, talk to the college counselor at your well-known private school. That is part of why you're paying $$$ for the well-known private school.

[Anonymous]

A time machine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC was rejected by Yale but got into Harvard as RD. Colleges look for different traits.

I know a kid who was rej by Yale REA and got into Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, USC, Georgetown, Northwestern, and at least 5 other super selective schools RD.

Point is, it's pretty random among the Ivies, but with those stats your DD will almost certainly get into a T10. Try not to get your/her heart set on just one.

[Anonymous]

Longtime interviewer here. Lately what seems to do well is something that in the grand scheme of things be thankful that your child does not have - extremely bad life circumstances that they still managed to successfully shine in academics and extracurriculars. That doesn’t mean that I’ve never had a UMC DMV kid get in, but hardship helps. Have answers to the “Why Yale” question, but just citing interdisciplinary is what they all do. Also common, establishing to help targeted underprivileged groups. They are all great things and keep helping your community, but you don’t stand out from my stack of interviews.

The most important intangible is hard to prep for - be interesting and be interested (in topics). Practice conversing with adults. Be able to carry a two-way conversation. Don’t be afraid to geek out on your chosen topic in the essay or interview. I had one student get in and we basically spent the entire interview talking about their favorite pop culture-type topic. I’ve geeked out with applicants on linguistics, mechanics, theater, etc. Yale has a type. Confident, not arrogant, able to be in a room of people and engage in substantive topics without being star struck. Appearing to know what we’re talking about without being a dick about it. I see a lot of dual-alum kids get in (and some are not big donors at all) and I think one element is that their social and conversational norms were influenced by two parents who were already the “type”. Even if it doesn’t fully come out in the short interviews I do, it’s going to come out in ther statements and recommendations.

And five percent is five percent. A few win, but tons of great kids don’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure how that mom knew so many AOs but she had posted in AN. I remember it only because I was struck by the amount of attention some kids were getting. One was probably Sara. Your guess is as good as mine for the rest.

Which mom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Be a star athlete

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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 literally the only example I can think of.

at our feeder HS, yale admits are either legacy or just really smart - like national debate winner.

I listed them above but you must have missed it:
Ben Affleck's kid
Conan O'Brien's kid
Gwyneth's kid

[Anonymous]

Athlete, celeb kid, or child of a very, very rich legacy.

[Anonymous]

I recommend you start listening to elite admissions podcasts. "The Game" is a really good one, and he really goes deep in analyzing flaws of applications and how to stand out. He has a 5 hr. deep dive into a Stanford application that was really revealing.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-game-a-guide-to-elite-college-admissions/id1745045021

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not sure how that mom knew so many AOs but she had posted in AN. I remember it only because I was struck by the amount of attention some kids were getting. One was probably Sara. Your guess is as good as mine for the rest.

Which mom?

The mom whose kid got off the WL at Yale — she had multiple AOs read her don’s essays.

Sorry I forgot to quote OP’s response to my comment!

[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.

OP: to answer question above why Yale, what PP describes is why Yale is her super reach (but also very excited about Rice, Swarthmore, Pomona etc.). She wants an interdisciplinary school where you don’t go there with a job path in mind. She is very intellectually curious, never studies for grades but still gets top marks, loves learning, and is top of class for sciences, writing and languages. She wants to learn from other people different than her and find ways to improve communities. This is not her sales speech, she lives for this stuff. Her teachers love her and have involved her in their projects, curriculum planning during the summer and even one in her PhD paper when DD never asked. She is a nerd, humble, quietly ambitious but not competitive.

Maybe you’re putting on a front or maybe you’re genuine, but you’re describing me and most of my friends from Yale. I was MB&B but went into a very different career- worked in CPG and brand strategy for years before becoming a ghostwriter. I have friends who were history majors who became bankers and then farmers, German majors who became lawyers, and so on.

My friends who had kids younger are sending their kids to places like Pomona so I think your DD is on the right track.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Legacy. Recruited athlete. First Gen

This and URM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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 literally the only example I can think of.

at our feeder HS, yale admits are either legacy or just really smart - like national debate winner.

I listed them above but you must have missed it:
Ben Affleck's kid
Conan O'Brien's kid
Gwyneth's kid

this is not a very long list!

Conan's daughter has graduated. He does have a son at Harvard. It's a step-kid for Gwyneth - her kids are at Vandy and Brown. And yep, Affleck. But really, any college of 6k will have this many celebs!