Comments on: A messsage to everyone awaiting Yale 2012 Early Action Results:

By: Congratulations Yale Class of 2012! | the Sam Jackson College Experience

Congratulations Yale Class of 2012! | the Sam Jackson College Experience — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:51:50 +0000

[...] [message originally posted in December] [...]

By: Jen

Jen — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 03:23:29 +0000

I’m just crushing on Yale right now. Trust me, it isn’t full blown love (I hope it will be, but I know that I applied to some outstanding schools [no, not other Ivies... Yale was my only Ivy] and will most likely be just as happy there as at Yale).

Plus, I know far better students - more rounded, better at certain things - than myself who were also deferred and even rejected at Yale. I count myself lucky.

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 02:53:16 +0000

I also know many others with similar credentials from my region (Westchester, NY) who were deferred too….

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 02:52:43 +0000

I’ve been in despair for the past two weeks (I was deferred), so I’m glad that I came across this tonight (basically with a google search). I don’t know the reason either– 2320, top of my class, 800 on my SAT IIs, 5 on all of my APs, president of three clubs, national academic champion, musical theatre, taught myself Chinese, and I worked with a Yale genetic anthropology researcher over the summer (he wrote me a great recommendation). I guess that I’ll never know why, but I wish I had seen this earlier because it’s been tough putting together all of my other applications in such a disconcerted state

By: Sam Jackson

Sam Jackson — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 23:45:39 +0000

Don’t let college admissions consume your lives, guys–the dirty little secret of college admissions is that people end up happy wherever they go, generally speaking. Don’t let your love of Yale blind you to other great schools. As readers of my website, I’m sure you’re the cream of the crop ; ) and will have great options.

By: Jen

Jen — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 02:04:01 +0000

I would love to know why, too.
I’ve never been deferred! (but I’ve never applied to college before either)
But I guess this is just more motivation for me to … find the cure for cancer or eradicate AIDS or get Paris Hilton to wear real clothes or something.
Don’t know if I can do any of this in three months, though - but I’m going to try!

…I wonder if Yale knows that I’m willing to give up the world’s most perfect weather for it.

By: Joe

Joe — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 21:51:54 +0000

like you, Jen… I don’t think I want to go to another Ivy League besides Yale. I was deferred as well… I just wish I knew why. I’m first in my class, got a 2290 on my SATs, was a foreign exchange student my sophomore year, have a 4.5 average on my AP Tests, am a varsity runner, work 20 hours a week at Subway, and do just about everything my school offers (President of United Way Club and Treasurer of Key Club), and even started a new Model United Nations Club there. And I attend a small public school- I’m actually the first person to apply to Yale from there ever. I mean, I haven’t done any ground-breaking research or won any national championships, but I really though I had a pretty decent chance, considering my parents haven’t had the money to send me to an elite private school since the time I was in first grade… I just don’t understand what more I could possibly have done.

By: Jen

Jen — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 23:58:59 +0000

Deferred, unfortunately.
Would have been nice to be accepted.
I guess better this than an outright rejection.
Yale’s still the only Ivy I’d go to.
Haven’t applied to any other Ivy actually.
Unless you want to call Stanford an ivy.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 05:32:55 +0000

8 inches or so of fresh powder. The Ultimate teams decided it would be a good idea to go play in this weather, so I just got back from that, and then we ran into people who were sledding on dining hall trays. AMAZING.
Be jealous of our mighty MA weather!

By: Sam Jackson

Sam Jackson — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 02:29:14 +0000

Great to hear that, Rachel! Just goes to show what the dirty little secret of college admissions is: people tend to be happy wherever they end up, once they’re there. Cognitive dissonance, a little bit, but a lot is just the normal common denominators of college life at so many college campuses and the adaptability of motivated students to novel environments!

Hope you’re having fun with the snow–I’m jealous of everyone back home in MA, as we here in New Haven do not nearly have enough (or good enough) snow for my tastes. *sigh* @ Connecticut weather, I guess. Too bland!

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 02:16:09 +0000

I’ll absolutely agree with this post. I followed your blog last year, while I was in the middle of my own college waiting game for Brown ED. I was deferred, and then rejected, and I’m at Brandeis now.
And every time I see people from high school and they ask about whether I wish I was at Brown, I tell them that I’m so thankful that they rejected me. Sure, I probably would have been happy at Brown, but I can’t imagine it being as perfect a fit as Brandeis has turned out to be.
Ivy League isn’t everything. Rankings aren’t everything. And just because you thought a place was perfect during the early application season doesn’t mean you’re necessarily right. Brandeis was pretty much a safety school, and I find myself challenged in classes every day. My friends are amazing, I’m more involved on campus than I ever was in high school, and the only thing I ever complain about is my roommate situation, which could be a problem anywhere you go.