Yale University

Admissions
Strategy
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Yale Admissions Strategy

Admissions Criteria:

The most important factors for Yale admissions are the essays, recommendations,
course rigor, extracurriculars, GPA, standardized test score, and character. Yale wants
students who are academically prepared, and who demonstrate this preparation by
excelling in difficult courses. They further want passionate and involved students; who
have demonstrated their passions and curiosity through their extracurricular activities.

Factors which are considered, but are of secondary importance are the interview,
legacy status, first generation status, race/ethnicity, geographic origin, state residency,
and work experience. None of these are enough on their own, but can serve as
deciding factors between qualified candidates.

Yale is need-blind in admissions, which means a student’s ability to pay for college is
not factored into the admissions decision.

What is Yale Looking For?

Yale wants students who will best be able to take advantage of and benefit from the
resources they offer on campus. This is not just students who are the most
academically prepared, but ones who are deeply intellectually curious with passions
they want to pursue.

The first thing admissions looks at is academic preparation: a student’s transcript and
test scores. This is the first bar which must be passed, as Yale seeks academic
excellence and intellectual passion. While admissions will keep reading an application
even if grades are sub-par, academics are a key factor.

The letters of recommendation provide context for a student’s grades; how they work
and how they think. This combines with later sections of extracurriculars and essays to
give admissions officers a better idea of who they are as a person beyond their scores
alone. Here, they are looking for passion, academic curiosity, and a drive to learn for
the sake of learning and knowledge alone.
All applications are read through in their entirety before being discussed by committee.
While the various strengths of each file will be discussed, and each will be decided by
committee, many will be dropped very quickly if initial readers don’t believe the
applicants are suited for the college. First readers decide which applications deserve
more in-depth review by the committee.

Yale is devoted to both keeping its high standing in the rankings, preserving their
campus culture, and in increasing outreach to underserved and underprivileged
communities. Thus the ideal student is high achieving, from an under-represented
background, and fully embodies the culture of Yale, as portrayed in their essays.

Finally, Yale has a strong athletic tradition, and recruited athletes who meet their
academic standards are in a very good position to gain admittance. It is rare for
students to meet both criteria, however, and admissions hope should not be pinned on
this.

Yale Strategy:

Yale is currently in the process of increasing their undergraduate population, although

as with the rest of the elite schools in the country the number of students applying to
the school is growing every year. Thus admission rates will slow their descent, and
indeed the 6% admissions rate last year was an increase from the year before. That
said, it is not a high rate by any means.

Yale does not track demonstrated interest; their yield is slightly above 70%, which
means 70% of the students they admit decide to attend the school. However, the
optional interview is a good opportunity to both learn more about Yale, and to give
admissions another view of who you are as a person. This is important, because
character is one of the key factors considered in admissions.

Yale does not offer Early Decision, but does offer Restrictive Early Action, which is a
good option if Yale is your top choice. Applying this way prevents you from applying to
other schools early, but doesn’t bind you to attend Yale if you are accepted. As the
applicant pool is smaller, students have a slightly higher chance of being admitted
applying this way.
Yale is known primarily as a liberal arts school, although they are trying to improve their
reputation for STEM subjects, thus students who are moderately competitive for MIT or
Caltech would actually be more competitive for Yale.

Students should do their best to have a singular passion or theme through their
extracurriculars, as this makes it easier for first readers to remember their application,
and present it to the committee. Students who stand out in their passion and
involvement are more likely to be accepted, as they appear unique and interesting.

Yale Essays Analysis

Introduction

Yale University receives tens of thousands of applications each year, and the essays
are how they sift through the students who apply. They require two short essays, two
medium essays, and four short responses, in addition to the personal statement. They
don’t ask for much writing overall, but they do want a lot of information. They want to
get to know many aspects of you briefly, and want to see how well you can express
yourself within the given constraints.

We’ll give examples of the short and longer essays, and of the short responses, and
discuss what exactly Yale is looking for with the questions that they ask.

Why Major Example

Why do these areas appeal to you? (up to approximately 100 words).

After spending the last few years researching medical imaging, I’ve discovered a beautiful
synergy between computer science and biology. Computational methods, like modeling
biological systems on computers, can be powerful tools in generating scientific conclusions.
I love thinking about problems I encounter in research. I love exploring the nooks and crannies
of these problems and finding all the given implications. Most of all, I love the potential
computer science and engineering have in improving the world. By immersing myself in these
fields, I’m preparing to create solutions that help others lift the limitations imposed by their
circumstances.

Why Major Analysis

Yale, like most other schools, wants to know what you intend to major in. More
importantly, they want to know why you are interested in the topics you are. You only
have 100 words to answer, so this will need to be much less of a narrative than other
Why Major essays.

Yale is looking for students who love learning and discovery for their own sake, and
who are driven by a passion for the topics they explore. It is fine to want to apply what
you learn as well, and the author in the example above expresses this desire well. A
desire for money, political power, or a successful career, while perhaps your driving
motivation, are not the best reasons to list. While there is nothing wrong with the desire
for a good career, Yale is looking for students who aspire to a higher purpose.

The example above does this well. The author is interested in the convergence and
cross application possibilities of two fields, computer science and biology. They
display intellectual curiosity and a desire to learn. Further, they have an overall end goal
of bettering the state of the world at large. While your own goals do not need to line up
with this, you should display a genuine enthusiasm for whatever subjects you wish to
study.

Why Yale Example

What is it about Yale that has led you to apply? (125 words or less)

Yale will allow me to explore a variety of academic interests. I love how only a third of my
classes have to be related to my major, and how I can study computer science and classic
literature as a BME student. A world of opportunities will be at my disposal; I can ask investors
at the Entrepreneurial Institute for advice on a start-up, or stop for a quick chat with the
professor who worked on novel organ-preservation techniques. I can’t wait for the daily-life: for
doing my homework in the Cathedral to Knowledge and for waking up to songs on the
Harkness Tower. At Yale, I can work to become the best version of myself and push my
knowledge to new frontiers.
Why Yale Analysis

While Yale is quite proud of their reputation, they still want to know the specific reasons
behind why you want to attend. The point of this essay is partially why Yale is right for
you, and partially why you are right for Yale. There is not much space to answer, which
means you will have to either cover many things briefly, or dive in depth on a single
topic.

The author in the example above covers many topics, which display that they have
clearly done their research on Yale. The reasons they give cover a good mix of
academic interests, social opportunities, and resources which are specific to Yale.
Whatever you include in the essay, it should be very specific. Award winning faculty are
present at every top school, as are challenging discussions and motivated peers. Look
for what makes a school unique, and sets it apart from its peers.

The more specific you are in this essay, the better. The first two sentences above,
where the author discusses the ability to explore multiple interests, both shows their
passion for exploring intellectual topics, and demonstrates how Yale specifically fills
this desire. When they discuss aspects of Yale’s campus, they are clearly grounded in
research, and each sentence sets up a desire and shows how Yale fulfills it. In this way
the author clearly shows that Yale is the best place for them to go to college; this is the
conclusion you want admissions officers to draw when they read your response to this
question.

Community Essay Example

Reflect on your engagement with a community to which you belong. How do you feel you have
contributed to this community?

The lopsided slab of bread protruded over melting strawberry cream; pink letters ran messily
across white icing. I’m not the best at baking triple-layer cakes, but all sixteen of the kids at the
Fort Bend Women’s Center demanded seconds.

What began as an endeavor to expose kids in Houston shelters to the wonders of engineering
became a venue for powerful, individual connections to be born. First day of Planting STEM, I
lugged two duffel bags of equipment to the Rainbow Room, but I soon discovered no
mountains of lesson plans would suffice in taming the sixteen wild animals bouncing off the
walls. Children, it turns out, are little sponges of inquisitiveness filled with boundless energy.
They oozed entropy; they turned their noses at our hours of preparation.

The next day, I came armed with popsicle sticks, Arduino lights, and motors. I spread the
inventory across the tables, and when the kids walked in, it was chaos. Amidst the frenzied
hours spent running after 8-year olds wrapped in duct-tape, I learned about the dreams and
passions that swirled through the Rainbow Room. One ten-year-old, Ariana, aspires to be a
fashion designer. I helped her make a light-up T-shirt with Arduino lights and an accompanying
website. Zaiyon loves cars, and together, we used motors and cardboard to make vehicles that
zoomed across the room!

Sometimes, the best way to enact a change in perspective isn’t with rigorous planning. It’s by
entering the whimsical world of children and helping them see how engineering could be used
to bring the craziest of ideas to life.

Community Essay Analysis

This section gives several possible questions, and asks that you respond to two of
them. The question above is a community essay, which is easily cross applied. Thus
we recommend it as a choice, as it lowers your overall writing workload.

This question is in two parts, the first asking you to reflect on your engagement with a
community, the second how you have contributed to that community. These may be
answered concurrently, as the easiest way to answer this question is by finding a
community where your engagement contributed positively to the community as a
whole.

In the example above, the author demonstrates their contributions while volunteering,
but the volunteering itself is merely the setting for the essay. Instead, the essay shows
how the author gave the students a love for learning and creating, and learned in turn
how best to inspire and motivate children. This also shows off the author’s skills with
engineering, and helps the narrative found elsewhere in their application.

What Yale is looking for in a response to this question is an idea of how you will interact
with and contribute to their campus community and culture. By seeing how you have
contributed to other communities you have been involved with, they are able to assess
how you will add to theirs. The essay above does this well, by showing the author is
willing to learn and grow when they misjudge, and is eager to share their love of
learning and discovery with others. Yale is looking for passionate and dedicated
students, and the essay above demonstrates these traits well.

Free Space Example

Write about something you would like us to know about you that you have not conveyed
elsewhere in your application.

I love being Indian and American. It means buying Galaxy pizza in the school lunchline and
coming home to the scent of piquant samosas. It means playing baseball in recess and
cheering till my vocal cords shrivel during the Cricket World Cup. It means living with
perspectives in perpetual juxtaposition. Sometimes, this poses a challenge: does one
viewpoint subsume the other? Must I be an Indian-American or an Indian in America, or can I
affect a polymerization?

The latter option seems the nicest, but blending two completely different parts of myself can
come with cross-cultural pressures that can be difficult to endure. It can mean opening an
odorous container of biriyani while peers next to me unwrap their mellow ham sandwiches. It
can mean facing ridicule for smelling like curry - even if I don’t and it’s a stereotype without
basis. It might mean facing oppression for things out of my control, for having thick,
unmanageable hair and skin the shade of a burnt pancake.

Being Indian and America means bridging the gap between two cultures, two mindsets, and
two peoples a hemisphere apart from one another. And, in the process of doing so, it means
developing a strong, profound comfort in my identity. Though my hemispheres may
occasionally collide and clash (like when I traverse Costco in an elaborate, garish sari), I no
longer think of myself as an Indian-American or as an Indian in America. I am Indian, I am
American, and I have the best of both worlds.

Free Space Analysis

This prompt is as open ended as is possible for one to be. You can talk about anything
you find relevant, that you think admissions officers should know about you. The lack
of constraints on this prompt can make it seem overwhelming to students, as no
guidelines can often be more daunting than rigid structure. We recommend an essay
which highlights your values and accomplishments which have not been shown
elsewhere in the application.
One thing you should definitely not do with this essay is repeat information found
elsewhere, either in terms of the values you are demonstrating or the activities you are
talking about. Admissions officers only know what you tell them, so you want to give
them the best possible picture of yourself.

The essay above is another example of a community essay, but instead of focusing on
how the author contributed to a community they were a part of, it instead focuses on
how the author’s inclusion in communities has shaped their identity, and how they
think about the world. This is a good choice, as Yale prides itself on bringing together
people with different viewpoints and experiences, and fostering connections between
them. While the essay doesn’t dive deeper into any of the author’s activities, but is
instead a discussion of identity, and shows the author’s maturity in how they conceive
of and approach the world around them.

Your own essay does not have to be on this topic. You can focus on any value you feel
should be conveyed to admissions officers. We do recommend reusing an essay you
had to write for another school, be it about your leadership ability, challenges you’ve
faced, or some creative outlet you’ve embraced. The one thing you shouldn’t be is
boring. Use this essay to expose some new facet of yourself to admissions officers, so
they can better understand how you will fit into the community at Yale.

Short Answers

Yale asks for responses to four short answer questions. They allow 200 characters to
respond, which lets you write a sentence or two. We’ll give examples of some
responses, and discuss what Yale is looking for when they ask each question.

Inspiration Example

What inspires you?

Cheesy answer alert! Poetry fills my soul in the way few other things can. I love to read poems
by Pope and Donne aloud, listening to the way the words flow out of my mouth.

Inspiration Analysis

This question is quite straightforward, but is difficult to answer. For some students, the
answer will be easier than others. There is no single right way to answer this question,
and your sources of inspiration can be academic, artistic, or based in an
extracurricular. Whatever you answer, however, it should be genuine. Do not give
answers simply because you think it is what admissions wants to hear. If you are
deeply inspired by chemical formulas and lines of code, say so, but if not, don’t make
such claims.

While there is not much room for an explanation, there should be one. The author here
expounds slightly on why they enjoy poetry, and does so in a poetic way, while also
including some of their favorite poets. This makes the answer feel more authentic, as
the author clearly knows what they are talking about, and has a deep connection to
poetry. This sense of authenticity is key, regardless of what your source of inspiration
is. The more authentic your passions are, the more the response will resonate with
admissions officers.

Speaker Example

Yale’s residential colleges regularly host intimate conversations with guests representing a wide
range of experiences and accomplishments. What person, past or present, would you invite to
speak? What question would you ask?
Margaret Sanger, the woman who promoted birth control and gender equality. With the masses
of society standing against you, how were you able to spot the issue and take such pointed
action to address it?

Speaker Analysis

This question is another chance to show you passions. Answer the question honestly,
but as with other questions that ask about you, try to portray the best version of
yourself. The answer above is well done. It names the figure, and explains her
significance briefly, as she may not be commonly known. Equally important is the
second sentence, which frames the question the author would ask of the guest. The
goal with this essay is to give some insight into how you think and approach the world.

The worst thing you can do with this question is be boring, predictable, or inauthentic.
It is difficult to give specific advice on how to avoid this, but consider what your answer
says about you. Always answer honestly, and if you have odd hobbies or passions, and
want to speak to the gurus involved, own it. Yale enjoys seeing passion, and seeks out
students who are unafraid to follow their interests.
Course Example

You are teaching a Yale course. What is it called?

How to Read Emphatically: Explore the author’s intent and convey it through dips and surges
of your own powerful voice. Learn how to make the sound an echo of the sense.

Course Analysis

Here is another chance to show your passions and interests. All of these can be minor
interests, or tie into the broader story of your narrative. For this question, pick a topic
you are interested in and knowledgeable about, where you want to share the
knowledge you have with others. This can be a topic you’ve already expressed interest
in in your other essays, or be something more lighthearted as this is.

Be aware of subheadings when naming your class. College classes are either named
very simply, such as “Calculus III,” or with titles meant to convey the depth of what will
be discussed, such as “The 3.5 Billion Year History of the Human Body.” Professors
want to entice students to take their classes, because otherwise they’re left talking to
themselves. Give you course a descriptive title and subheading, so there's not much
ambiguity about what will be discussed, and those who read it will be enticed to learn
what you have to teach.

Roommate Example

Most first year Yale students live in suites of four to six students. What would you contribute to
the dynamic of your suite?
I believe Gordon Ramsay would be proud of my M&M pancakes, which is exactly what I hope
to contribute to my new family first day of college! That, and my mean interior-design skills.

Roommate Analysis

This is a chance to introduce yourself briefly as a person. Schools want to make sure
the students they are admitting aren’t just good students, they’re good people, and will
make for good roommates (it even sometimes works). You don’t have time to go in
depth, so think of one or two things you bring to a group situation. There’s already an
essay for demonstrating what you bring to a community generally, so this answer can
be more lighthearted.

This answer should be authentic, and is a chance to bring up some of your smaller
quirks or talents. In the example above, stellar M&M pancakes are a small thing, but
are an amusing humanizing detail, which lets the readers feel as if they know the author
better. This response is a small window into who the author is, which is the point of
these short responses.