caitlynatyale,
Yale
B.A., Political Science and Government
I was accepted to Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Brown, Berkeley Regents/Chancellors, UCLA Honors. Ask me how.
Features Included
14
Essays
12
Schools
8
Scores
18
Advice
9
ECs
2
Sports
Background
Hometown
Central Valley, CA, California
GenderFemale
EthnicityWhite Non-Hispanic
Class of2020
First Gen College StudentYes
English First Language
Yes
Results, Essays, and Advice
Accepted
Waitlisted or Withdrew
Denied
-
Tap/click a school logo above to view essays and advice specific to that school.
Yale University (New Haven, CT)
Applied for a B.A. in Political Science and Government
Accepted and Enrolled Legacy: NoSchool Specific Essays
Personal Statement656 WordsCareer aspirations, Childhood memory, Family background, Volunteer/public interest workI was hushed and thrust into the upstairs spare bedroom. It was always my favorite room, the room my mother moved into when my father came home in drunken fits. I didn't understand what was happening. To my seven-year-old mind, it was the room where my mom would console me with tales about fairies when his addiction wreaked havoc in our home. But, at that moment, the room, once bespeckled with dancing fairies, was devoid of color and laden with...Read more...Supplemental Essay: “Why us” school essay92 WordsBoundless educational opportunity, unlimited creative outlets, infinite research possibilities; Yale loves learning. As a kindred spirit, another enamored of learning, this was what first drew me to Yale. ̈Yale is November, crisp and energetic, ̈ my favorite author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, wrote in his first novel. Rather than the list of attributes and programs I appreciate at Yale, what brought me to apply is this vitality Yale possesses that Fitzgerald first wrote of nearly one hundred years ago. What I love...Read more...Supplemental Essay: Unique question posed by school251 WordsI repressed the grimace sneaking its way onto my face as I stared at the guinea pig's frail thigh on the plate in front of me. It was cuy, guinea pig meat, a staple in the indigenous Andean community I was living in. A long-time vegetarian, I was somewhat disturbed. However, as a student, I recognized the price tag on this opportunity for education. I closed my eyes and took a bite. The people of Union Chauay were kind, accepting,...Read more...Supplemental Essay: Unique question posed by school150 WordsAs a 9-year-old, I never would have imagined the ineffable influence 4-H would have in my development of leadership skills and diverse interests. What began as a weekend hobby quickly transformed into a consuming search for my identity as a leader. As I grew older, my responsibilities increased: my passion for leadership and cooking translated into teaching the cooking project and winning awards at the State Fair Cook-off, my role as club president led me to hold county and state...Read more...Supplemental Essay: Unique question posed by school180 WordsThe leaves on the tree droop and drip before dissolving into a green and yellow puddle amid a sea of ambiguous chestnut. Fitzgerald and Tennyson and Orwell climb to 451 degrees. Animated screens blink to black as lines of code unravel. Nothingness. Written in ink, tumbling off the tip of a tongue, inscribed in the code of the universe; words dictate life. Without them, it is impossible to feel or think or write- three things imperative to the human experience. In...Read more...Supplemental Essay: Issue of personal significance387 WordsI was first introduced to service-learning projects when I began my Emerald Star Project in 2012. I spent a few months planning, a few months overseeing the project, a week evaluating it, and, then, it was done nearly a year later. After all the work I had put into this project, Camp Sylvester, the camp that I grew up attending and currently volunteer as a counselor for, was no longer facing what had seemed inevitable merely a year earlier: bankruptcy and...Read more...Supplemental Essay: Issue of personal significance192 WordsA change in my school's master schedule during my sophomore year brought me the news that it would be impossible to take Spanish III, Algebra II, and Honors Chemistry in one year. The schedule allowed for me to take only two of these three subjects, which I saw as equally important in achieving a well-rounded education. Not wanting to give up my opportunity to study any of these courses, I set out to find an alternate means of education. I...Read more...Supplemental Essay: Unique question posed by school60 WordsName your favorite books, authors, films, and/or artists: Keep the Aspidistra Flying by George Orwell, Record Collecting for Girls by Courteney E. Smith, A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Astrophil and Stella by Sir Philip Sidney, Henry David Thoreau, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Rachel Getting Married, Stuck in Love, music by Robert or Jason SchwartzmanRead more...Supplemental Essay: Unique question posed by school36 WordsWhat newspapers, magazines, and/or websites do you enjoy: Stanislaus Connections, Tumblr, National Geographic, Bon Appetit, The Kind Life, The Coalition on Homelessness' Street Sheet, Duolingo, Code Academy, Chefchloe.com, The Political Student, Lexicon of SustainabilityRead more...Supplemental Essay: Unique question posed by school56 WordsWhat is the most significant challenge that society faces today: Apathy. Passion drives progress and, as a society, we face the issue of desensitization to problems that do not affect us. Whether this comes from an inert selfishness or a Darwinian will for personal advancement, it is harmful to the humanity and legacy of our people.Read more...Supplemental Essay: Unique question posed by school58 WordsHow did you spend your last two summers: Studying food security and nutrition in Peru through the American Youth Leadership Program, showing dairy goats at the county fair, preparing for the California State Fair Cooking Competition, working as a camp counselor, attending 4-H leadership conferences, participating in an interstate exchange with Tennessee, and self-studying French and basic HTML.Read more...Supplemental Essay: Unique question posed by school65 WordsWhat were your favorite events (e.g., performances, exhibits, competitions, conferences, etc.) in recent years: 4-H California Focus Citizenship Conference (elected Superintendent of Public Instruction), BVCHS's Our Town (I played Emily Webb and went through a terrible, month-long existential crisis while getting into character!), Latin American Artists Exhibit at SF MoMA, Young the Giant concert, Modesto Open Mic and Poetry Night, the French Cassettes concertRead more...Supplemental Essay: Unique question posed by school60 WordsWhat historical moment or event do you wish you could have witnessed: The famed coup d'état of Catherine the Great's husband. I find it interminably interesting that Catherine took the throne by caring for the 'outcasts' of her husband's kingdom: the religious and the peasants. And I would love to experience her room meant for nondiscriminatory, intelligent idea exchange.Read more...Supplemental Essay: Unique question posed by school173 WordsDear Diary, I am so perplexed by this letter I am supposed to write to my new roommate. There is, of course, a list of things I would like her to know about me: my love of coffee rivals the Gilmore girls’, my need to make vegan cupcakes often dominates my need to sleep, I believe vinyls belong in art museums, my goats are named after constellations, I burst into Disney ballads while doing just about everything, my typewriter sometimes ...Read more...School Specific Advice
How to increase chances at my school198 WordsI ultimately chose not to attend Stanford because I fell in love with Yale's student body after I visited its admitted student weekend, however, I do have a few tips for an application to Stanford. The first: Pay attention to their prompts. They ask for a few things: a brief reflection on an extracurricular activity or community that shaped...Read more...Additional material sent in after waitlisted or deferred286 WordsI applied EA to Harvard because I knew I was less excited about Harvard than other schools. I figured I would use this early application to see how I faired in a more competitive applicant pool. This was not a good idea, I believe the readers could absolutely could tell that I was not committed to Harvard. I was deferred. Once deferred, the best thing to do is have your guidance counselor or admissions counselor call the school. It seemed crazy to me at first,...Read more...List of schools I interviewed with and my interview experience334 WordsI interviewed for only a handful of schools: Harvard, Yale and Brown. My interview for Harvard was very traditional. I met in a lawyer's office. He was jovial and kind and made a few jokes, but stuck to asking questions off of the sheet he was given. It eventually devolved into more casual conversation when he asked about some of the service work I was doing and some mutual contacts. It felt no different from a job interview. My interview for Brown was quite the opposite. I met an acclaimed filmmaker, poet and doctor in an upscale neighborhood in San...Read more...What I now know about my school that I never would have known prior to enrolling97 WordsThe "campus bubble" is significantly more real than anyone will prepare you for. Most of life at Yale takes place within a few block radius that very few students...Read more...5 adjectives that describe a typical student at my school (Feel free to elaborate!)11 WordsPhilosophical Idealistic...Read more...How important school spirit is around athletics at my school8 WordsVery unimportant,...Read more...My plans for a typical weekend108 WordsAfter classes wrap on Friday, I spend Friday nights working my campus job at the Yale Farm, making the BEST pizza. Saturday mornings I spend studying at Sterling or Koffee (with a...Read more...Why I declined other schools196 WordsIt all came down to admitted students' weekends. At Stanford's, I found myself very surprised by how intense the Techy-Fuzzy divide was. I met for coffee with someone I knew through Appblr who was an anthropology major, and they told me that they felt a lot of pressure to be more tech/STEM-oriented in their approach to their...Read more...How I would rate the career center or my advisor16 WordsNot particularly involved with her...Read more...The stress level and competitiveness of a typical student at my school3 WordsVery...Read more...What I now know about my school that I never would have known prior to enrolling65 WordsWhat it's like to live in the snow. As a California-native, the grey, rainy and snowy weather was a HUGE...Read more...What I now know about my school that I never would have known prior to enrolling51 WordsLiving at Yale is very much living in a small bubble—a few block radius....Read more...More Essays
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General Admissions Advice
Recommended summer activities during high school and college123 WordsThe most important thing about summer activities, and activities in general, is making sure they line up with your passion, whatever that may be. Your passion is what you sell to the admissions committee, because it turns...Read more...What set me apart from other applicants216 WordsI believe developing a narrative for my application is what set me apart. I attempted to use my common app essay to convey that most clearly, connecting my childhood story with what I'm passionate about and what I hope to accomplish in my life. As I continued to work on the remainder of the essays and extracurricular answers, I focused on grouping together key ideas...Read more...Did you take a gap year? Tell us about your experience.124 WordsI took a gap year after my freshman year of university. The quite unusual choice wasn't easy, but it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I spent the majority of the time traveling. Without...Read more...What I’d change about my application process69 WordsI actually really enjoyed my application process, so here's some advice: find a community of people applying to the same schools...Read more...Whether I took out loans or applied for scholarships, and my advice128 WordsAs soon as I finished college applications, I modified my common app essay to fit scholarships. I applied to everything I could using this version of the essay and used modified supplements for other requirements. I received a...Read more...My advice about getting recommenders88 WordsMy strategy for getting recommenders was different from those of my friends. While many of them chose teachers from subjects they excelled at, I preferred to...Read more...High School Performance
Weighted GPA4.30(equivalent to 4.00 unweighted)RankTop 1%
Academic Performance in High School Steady
Test Scores
Highest ACT33ACT Score DetailsOther ACT ScoresACT Prep
Highest SAT1520on 1600 scaleHighest SAT2220SAT Score Details
Other SAT ScoresSAT Prep
PSAT Scores
AP / IB Classes and Scores
Details5 classes and scoresSports
SportsBasketball, Volleyball
Extracurriculars
Activities4-H, Choir, Community Cleanup / Service, Hospital Volunteer, National Honor Society, Nonprofit, NGO or Charitable Organization, School Theater/Plays, Spanish Club, Tutoring/Mentoring
Experience & Awards
Volunteer Experiences
Awards Received
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