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I was wondering if it is advantageous to be Native American in Ivy League/Stanford admissions. To what degree will this status help you, if at all. My stats: Cherokee Indian with 4.3 GPA, all honors/AP classes, good extra curriculars, 1300 SAT(2nd time taking it. Could retake to get it higher.)I live in California.(Im not sure if that is significant)Do I have a chance at any of these colleges? Thanks

By Dave Berry on Sunday, August 05, 2001 - 03:33 pm: Edit

I'd say that if the rest of your profile is competitive with the general HYPS-and-similar applicant pools--and you can write a strong essay--your Native American status will be an edge for you. These big schools don't have many Native Americans and they seek them out.

As you no doubt know, you'll have to document your Native American heritage. I've advised Native Americans before and I always tell them not to put a lot of confidence in their ethnicity, but to proceed with their applications as if they didn't have the Native American advantage. That's what I'd recommend for you too.

By Jonathan W on Thursday, August 23, 2001 - 11:08 am: Edit

Hi, I'm another Native American applicant thinking of applying to Yale ED. I do have tribal registration. My SAT is 1420, and I'm in the top 5% of my HS class with 6 AP classes by the time I graduate. You say you advise NA applicants not to put a lot of confidence in their ethnic background -- is that because schools don't give any preference to NA students in the way they might to African American and Latino students? or because you don't want kids you advise to think they're in without doing a good job on the application? Also, do you have any thoughts on whether applying ED as a native american to your first choice school will give you a bigger "boost," since I'm guessing schools get few ED native american applicants. Thanks.

By Dave Berry on Friday, August 24, 2001 - 07:36 am: Edit

Well-phrased questions, Jonathan. You're correct in inferring that I don't want minority applicants to lean too heavily on their diversity status. At the top of the elite-admissions scale (Yale's at the top, of course, along with P, H, and a few others), admissions competition is fierce, as you well know. My approach to advising qualified candidates (as you seem to be from the limited stats I see) is to create the very best application package possible, forgetting, for the moment, about any ethnicity qualifications.

To me, ethnicity is considerably secondary to stats and so-called packaging issues. If your application profile and package can compete, then your NA status is icing on the cake, to use a well-worn cliche. Your package must be a comprehensive presentation of superb essays, heartfelt recommendations, and full, well-crafted disclosure of every positive aspect of your academic and extracurricular profile.

I cannot speak for Yale regarding the relative "preference" (be careful with that word) weighting they give NAs, African Americans, Latinos, or other groups. In fact, perhaps the only people who REALLY know about that are the Yale administration. These topics are confidential policy issues. Since Yale is a private school, it's not subject to the same level of "sunshine" legislation that public schools are, so matters like that remain vague.

Bottom line: Three things. (1.) Get the best-possible advice you can for your application process, (2.) get your tribal-documentation act together, and (3.) hit the ground running this school year. If you are TRULY qualified, and Yale is your clear first choice, then go ED. That's what ED is for. You may just experience a slight edge over RDers out there.

Best wishes, Jonathan. Please check back with us and let us know your progress, will you? As always, we'll be glad to help you in any way possible.