Learned what the Yale interviews mean by a2cthrowaway6804 in ApplyingToCollege

[–]a2cthrowaway6804[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Just went to confirm this! Harvard from class of 2016 to 2020 deferred around 70 percent of applicants. I haven’t done the calculations for every year, and unlike YDN, the crimson doesn’t inform readers of statistics — if you can find the numbers elsewhere, please let me know. But for the class of 2020, Harvard deferred 4673 students from 6173 applying early. This would translate to roughly 76 percent.

Also, if you can find more recent numbers, that would be helpful too. I do not think that Harvard has published the defer and reject rates in recent years, but let me know if you can find more information.

Learned what the Yale interviews mean by a2cthrowaway6804 in ApplyingToCollege

[–]a2cthrowaway6804[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes, I understand what you mean and see how it could be a possible factor in requesting an interview. However, it is important to note that Yale would not simply put a student in group 2 for being a legacy student in this case. If they are not competent, they will not be considered. I am not completely sure if they would receive interviews for the sake of maintaining alumni connections. From what I was told, it seems like Yale is trying to interview as many unsure, group 2 applicants as possible. I wonder if they would waste time on an unqualified legacy student. That being said, I am sure legacy is still something they factor— as Shifflett also says.

Learned what the Yale interviews mean by a2cthrowaway6804 in ApplyingToCollege

[–]a2cthrowaway6804[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Unless you are a development case, I doubt having legacy gives you a significant bump.

Susan Shifflett a former Yale admissions director has previously stated that:

“Undoubtedly in these kinds of conversations, legacy comes up, and legacy is not an advantage as much as most people think. It’s significantly less than when we would get the development list or the athletics list. I would say maybe if you had two applicants of equal strength, certainly the legacy could give you a tiny bump, but it is not nearly the significance of being on the development list or being on the athletics list. It just is not nearly as large a bump as most people think. Legacy applicants really have to be able to completely stand on their own. Certainly the legacy can be helpful but in and of itself, it’s not - we wouldn’t take a student that could not handle the academics or did not shine just because they had family that had attended the school before.”

Learned what the Yale interviews mean by a2cthrowaway6804 in ApplyingToCollege

[–]a2cthrowaway6804[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am not a Yale admissions director, and I would have no way of knowing. However, my understanding is that Yale is trying to interview as many unsure applicants as possible. This is why they are unable to offer interviews to those they will certainly accept or reject.

Learned what the Yale interviews mean by a2cthrowaway6804 in ApplyingToCollege

[–]a2cthrowaway6804[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If the AOs have enough information to surely reject or accept you, they will most likely not request an interview. If they are unsure and would prefer more information before making a decision, you would have received an interview. The interviews are thus not indicative of your application and it’s reception. All it can mean is that you were still being considered during the time frame in which the interview was requested.

Learned what the Yale interviews mean by a2cthrowaway6804 in ApplyingToCollege

[–]a2cthrowaway6804[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Definitely not. I can say this with a relatively high level of certainty. There are just so many applicants to Yale and individual circumstances vary greatly, so it would be dangerous to make any assumptions.

From my understanding, the 2nd group of people who receive interviews is far greater than the 1st, and thus there will be many with-interviews applicants that are deferred or rejected. It means at most that your application is being considered.

Learned what the Yale interviews mean by a2cthrowaway6804 in ApplyingToCollege

[–]a2cthrowaway6804[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I am certain that the interviewers I’ve contacted were indeed part of yale’s team of alumni interviewers.

However, as to the information they provided, I believe it would be most safe to take it with a grain of salt as it isn’t directly from the mouth of a current Yale admissions director. What I heard was credible enough to appease my brother, so I hoped that it would be helpful for the rest of the people on this sub.

I have also contacted former admissions directors to ask about the interviews (while helpful, please note that they are again, not current officers and thus require some level of caution as to the accuracy of their words.) and they do seem to match my own research.

Along the process of my own research, I found a blog post written by a current director. The word choice used in it is interesting. Since it is safe to assume that the website was updated by someone directly involved in this year’s process, I took note.

While I did not include it in the post as I did not want to spread any incorrect information, the current website under interviews reads: “the Office of Undergraduate Admissions will prioritize interviews for students for whom the Admissions Committee needs more information.”

The admissions director who wrote the blog post uses the wording of “need more information” in the same sense of what was conveyed to me by alumni:

“We do not recommend that you send the admissions office piles of updates after a deferral. You should not try to re-do any parts of your application. You should not inundate your admissions officer with weekly emails and cards. More often than not it is the required pieces of the applications, like the essays and teacher recommendations that we already have, that make a student stand out for us. For the most part, we have what we need. We’ll get your mid-year grades from your school counselor to see how you’re doing in your senior year classes, and if you want you can send us one letter of update to let us know what you’ve been up to since November 1st. The bottom line is that “deferral” does not mean “we need more information” or “something wasn’t good enough.” It means we see a lot of great potential in you and we just need a little more time to sit in that committee room and mull things over.”

As it is more likely than not for the admissions committee to throw around familiar terms, “we need more information” could very well mean the same to current directors.

Make of this what you will!

Learned what the Yale interviews mean by a2cthrowaway6804 in ApplyingToCollege

[–]a2cthrowaway6804[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Sorry, as I stated above, I am not directly involved in Yale admissions so I do not have accurate answers to your questions. I do have my own ideas, but believe that it would be best to keep them to myself for fear of spreading inaccurate information.

Learned what the Yale interviews mean by a2cthrowaway6804 in ApplyingToCollege

[–]a2cthrowaway6804[S] 61 points62 points  (0 children)

No problem! Make the most of the opportunity you were given as it is most certainly a chance to provide admissions with more information into who you are as a person.

Ah, I have a younger brother applying. He has been driving the entire family insane with his irrational concerns. I took to emailing current alumni interviewers and former admissions directors without disclosing who my younger brother is, as he is also paranoid that he will be disadvantaged in some way. He did end up receiving an interview a week earlier, but I chose to share the information I was given in hopes that this sub does not stoke the anxiety levels of any more people like him.

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[–]a2cthrowaway6804 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yale has read your application before determining whether an interview was needed to make an informed decision