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Someone I know got into Yale with average SAT's and GPA (nothing over 1450 or 3.7 i believe) and nothing really spectacular in any one subject.
Kind of strange considering the quality of deferred applicants on this board....

By Yalie05 (Yalie05) on Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - 06:33 pm: Edit

maybe they don't want a bunch of geniuses killing the curves...hehe...maybe they want to make yale seem more accessible

By Purgeofdoors (Purgeofdoors) on Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - 06:42 pm: Edit

There are so many factors that it's impossible to call something "questionable" unless you know the entirety of the person's situation: his parents may have connections, may have donated large sums of money, his essays may have been spectacular, or (most likely) he may have just been what they were looking for from a particular region at a particular time.

By Xtreme783 (Xtreme783) on Tuesday, December 16, 2003 - 08:20 pm: Edit

yeah, i don't think any evaluation based on SAT/GPA is an adequate one. that's why they say they take a very wholistic approach to the process... my assumption is that it's true. they say in every info session ever that they could fill their entire frosh class w/ 1600's 36's and valedictorians, but that they don't. i suppose this is just further proof of that fact. granted, those people worked very hard and are most likely going to be successful either in RD at yale or at any other excellent university that they choose to apply to. and yes, they deserve to succeed for their hard work, don't get me wrong. but i do think that basing any evaluation of their merit solely on the numbers and lists of ec's we see posted is inherently flawed in what is obviously a very non-numbers process. i for one know i had rough stats comparable to many of those people, but i know that i had far fewer awards (i think i only listed three) than people with massive numbers of national rankings/awards, etc. based on that knowledge, i feel pretty confident that it was my essays, recs, and interview (the stuff they cite as the more "intangible") that helped me out. i don't blame anyone for feeling disappointed - i was pretty dejected until i learned my decision because i was absolutely POSITIVE i would be deferred/rejected. my condolences are with everyone, i know it doesnt mean much, but i really do feel for you all and wish you the best of luck in the RD pool or wherever you decide you want to apply additionally. if i ruled the world, none of us would have to deal with this kinda disappointment. unfortunately, i don't, but i'm working on it ;)
peace, ya'll, and best of luck (and congrats to those for whom congratulations are in order)
-patrick