Can one get into Yale by being simply amazing in all aspects but great sat/act scores just below their 50%?

I have no experience in the ivy league admission process, but I would imagine that the test scores are weighed heavily in the acceptance criteria. They get far more applications then slots for every freshman class, so they have to discriminate heavily.

Another avenue if that is at your disposal is maybe you have some connections either through family members or close friends. Friends/Family of alumni, especially those who donate heavily the school sometimes get the fast track.

Although, in the end, there are fine State/Private Colleges/Universities out there and if she works hard wherever she goes, she will excel and do fine.

I have a good friend who used to work with the Admissions Office at Yale and is a Yale grad. He said that Yale could fill their entire freshman class with valedictorians if they wanted to. They get lots of applications with perfect SAT scores. They are looking for truly interesting people to round out the class- not just make it a bunch of nerds. Interesting applications stand out. If you had to sift through thousands of applications, many of which say the same things- student government, AP classes, etc.- you would be intrigued by something that was truly unique and interesting. By truly interesting, he means somethings such as geographic diversity, such as being from rural West Virginia or Northern Idaho or Latvia or Mozambique or somewhere besides the major metro areas and the Northeast. Not sure if your daughter fits there. Or, something else interesting such as being an Olympic athlete, or an author of a good book, climbing Everest, or something like that. Being senior class president, chess club, playing in the school orchestra, etc. is too common and is definitely not in the interesting category. The community service and missions and trips to Brazil are admirable and show that she cares about something besides herself, however they don't rate with Olympic athletes or Latvians on the interesting scale.

Taking AP classes and getting top grades is very good, but expected at Yale- everyone there does that. So, with test scores below their 50% and without something exceptionally interesting, her chances are probably less than 50-50, but she still has a shot. If your test scores are below their 50%, I think that you had better be very high on the interesting scale.

There are some things you can do to bolster her application. Yes, everyone has excellent letters of recommendation, however there are ways of making them really stand out if the writer can include anecdotes and stories that illustrate her qualities. In other words, the letters should not just state that she is hard-working, honest, intelligent, etc. - they should have stories that show that she is by someone who really knows her.

But there are hundreds of other excellent schools where your daughter would receive an excellent education if she didn't get into Yale. I doubt that she has had the time to visit or consider all of these other schools. I suggest that you spend some time looking at some other schools where she could also receive an excellent education.

Alternatively, she could move herself into the interesting category. How about taking a year or two off before college and doing her mission and service work in Brazil? She would speak Portuguese pretty well by then and would have an interesting experience that no one else applying has.

I spent a year in Taiwan before law school and sent off applications from Taiwan and got accepted at many top law schools (but Yale rejected me- my grades weren't that great). Having the application sent from a foreign country where you are living puts it into the interesting category.

I hope this is helpful. Best wishes.

Ron

Wow, she got into all those places? She must have had some great extracurricular activities. How many hairballs did she hack up per hour during high school? I know cats with perfect CAT scores that were rejected from MIT and Yale because they only did about two hairballs per hour (as I'm sure you know, the average is five for these highly competitive institutions). All colleges are different. I suggest that she visit them all and see which one she likes best. One cat's dream college is another's litterbox, after all. May God bless you.

If that's where she wants to go, she should apply - there's definitely a chance she'll get in. Obviously they do take 25% of their students with test scores that are below that 50% range. Many of these are athletes, legacy cases, and drama school students, though, so don't be too optimistic.

SAT's are important, but not nearly as important as her resume and grades. The interview will also help a lot and it sounds like she's left a great impression already. If she's really concerned, maybe look into an SAT prep course to help give her more practice. I wish her the best of luck! :)

they do look greatly on the SAT. it's one of the most important aspects...she can try, but you never know...it's worth to try, right?

Screw merits. If I wanted to go I could. I'd just have my father buy my way in. Kaching.