Accepted to Yale: Now What?

For students who are interested in attending only the most historic and prestigious learning institutions in the United States, Yale University absolutely ends up at the top of many of their lists. After all, along with Harvard and Princeton, Yale is considered to be the elite of the elite

But getting accepted to Yale is just part of the journey, albeit a very difficult part. There is a lot that a student must do once they are actually accepted into Yale or any other school for that matter.

So, if you have recently been accepted into Yale, or simply want to know more about how the incredibly selective admissions process at this school – or similarly prestigious schools – work, then we can certainly help!

At AdmissionSight, we work with a large number of intelligent and highly committed high school students every application cycle to give them the tools, skills and information that they need to improve their chances of getting into Ivy League schools and similarly competitive schools elsewhere in the county. While there is no way for any student – no matter how impressive they are – to guarantee their admittance to these kinds of schools, there are absolutely ways to overcome weaknesses and promote strengths in an application profile.

One of the best ways for students to improve their chances of getting into the schools that are at the top of their list is by learning about the specifics of that schools admissions process and what that school looks for in students – both in terms of what kinds of students they are and what kind of individuals they are outside of the classroom, and then by molding their own application around that knowledge. This could be seen as overly strategic, but in the end enjoying a successful application experience can all come down to strategy.

Just like people have to prove that they are the right person for a highly desirable job with the resume, so too do students need to prove to the admissions officers at schools like Yale that they are the right student for that school.

Overall, it means doing what you can to prove that you have what it takes to thrive within Yale’s rigorous academic environment as well as flourish within the school’s diverse and highly involved campus community. It also means showing to the school that you are the kind of person who is going to go on to achieve great things, in whatever field you end up pursuing, after you graduate.

After all, a big part of the prestige that schools like Yale are able to hold onto has to do with the fact that people who graduate from their school often end up going on to achieve great things and become leaders in their fields.

It all has to do with contributing to the school’s legacy! The importance of this is especially true if your dream schools are part of the Ivy League, as no schools take their history and legacy more seriously than these eight prestigious institutions!

That is where AdmissionSight can come in to help! As admissions consultants, we make it our primary goal each school year to help the students that we are working with put themselves in the best position possible to get into the schools of their dreams.

For some students, this means working with us for years to help establish the best high school curriculum, identify what extracurriculars to invest most time and energy in and more. For other students, it simply means working with us throughout the application process to make sure that the application itself, personal essays, letters of recommendation and more reflect as positively as possible on the student!

Our dedication to the job at hand is one of the many reasons why the students that we work with have historically done incredibly well when it comes to applying to and getting into the most competitive schools in the country.

In fact, 75 percent of the students that we work with in a given year end up getting into an Ivy League school like Yale, Harvard or Princeton or a different top 10 school in the United States like MIT or Stanford. Considering the fact that many of these schools have overall acceptance rates below 5.0 percent, a 75 percent success rate is pretty impressive if we do say so ourselves!

So, if you are curious about how the process of Yale admissions work or simply what to know what to do after getting accepted to Yale, then you have absolutely come to the right place! Let’s get started on breaking down the answers to these questions and more so that you can know what to do after getting accepted to Yale and much more.

How Yale admissions work

In order to know the solution, you need to know how the problem works, and while there is no clear equation to get into a school that is as competitive as Yale, there are definitely ways to tip the chances in your favor.

Perhaps to start off the conversation of Yale admissions, perhaps the best place to start is the numbers related to the most recent application cycle. Students who applied in the 2021-22 application cycle were hoping to become a part of the 2026 graduating class. Believe it or not, the class of 2026 marked a historic moment in the school’s admissions history as 50,015 students applied, the largest ever pool for the school.

Of those 50,015 students, just 2,234 ended up getting admitted to the class. The acceptance rate was just 4.46 percent, the lowest acceptance rate in the last four years. 800 of the students applied to Yale via early action and the rest were accepted via regular decision applications.

When it comes to the process itself, Yale’s Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Jeremiah Quinlan appeared in a podcast interview a couple of years ago and discussed, in detail, how the school approaches the admissions process for undergrads.

“We have 25 admissions officers who are responsible for applications from all over the world and we divide up the world into geographic portfolios,” he said in the interview. “So, there’s someone who is responsible for reading all of the applications from Virginia or all of the applications from Michigan, all the applications from Eastern Europe.

And that person opens up the file and looks at testing and the transcript and tries to ask themselves, ‘Can this student do the work at Yale?’ Fortunately for most of our applicants, the answer to that question is yes. So they read the rest of the application regardless.

But if they really find the student would also — in addition to being able to do the work here — would be able to contribute in a really, really valuable way to the classroom, to the Residential Colleges, to extracurricular activities, to the New Haven community, then that person would probably be passed on to be read a second time.

Now since it’s all virtual, the person would read the application, send it back to the area officer and then the area officer is responsible for presenting the strongest applicants from their geographic area to the admissions committee.

“The admissions committee at Yale usually consists of around five folks: three members of the admissions staff, a member of the faculty, and a dean in Yale College. And the presentation is made about the specific applicant and then the application can be reviewed in the admissions committee room.

So you can see five people around the table with a screen and they would hear the presentation, look at the credentials of the student-applicant, and then review different parts of the application — live in person as a group, discuss different parts of the application, and then vote on the application of that specific candidate. So by the time a student gets admitted to Yale, their application has been read twice and then seen by a five-person committee.”

When it comes to what Yale is looking for specifically, the school actually maps it out quite nicely for students who are interested in applying to the school. Again, following this guideline cannot guarantee admission to any student, but it is a good list of characteristics and factors to keep in mind when you are mapping out your application, deciding the topics of your personal statements and essays, asking for letters of recommendation, preparing for your interviews (if you decide to take part), and more. Here’s what Yale looks for in its students:

1. ‘Those with a zest to stretch the limits of their talents.’
2. ‘Applicants with a concern for something larger than themselves.’
3. “We have to make a hunch as to whether or not with Yale’s help the candidate is likely to be a leader in whatever he ends up doing. ‘
4. Two key questions

• ‘Who is likely to make the most of Yale’s resources?
• ‘Who will contribute most significantly to the Yale community?’

5.     Academic ability‘Look for students who have consistently taken a broad range of challenging courses in high school and done well.’Reflected in evaluations that detail performance in class
   •  Intellectual curiosity
   • Energy
   •  Relationships with classmate
   • Impact on Classroom environment

6. A lot of ‘little things’ that add up to a big picture

Things to do after getting into Yale

So, you’ve been accepted to Yale! First and foremost, a major round of applause and congratulations are in order. After all, you have just achieved something that a tiny fraction of the students who have applied to this school through the years have achieved. Getting into Yale – or any other Ivy League school for that matter – has statistically never been harder than it has been over the last five years or so.

Still, with that in mind, it is important to remember that simply getting into any school is not the end of the journey and that there is still quite a bit of work left to be done. So, let’s break down the couple of things that you will want to do after you get into Yale or any other school.

Wait to hear all your options

Despite the fact that Yale may very well be your top option, you are going to want to wait until you hear back from all of the other schools that you applied to. After all, your opinion can change in terms of what school you thought was the best option and what school you now think is the best option for you! On top of that, Yale’s early action admissions option is not binding. That means that you can apply to Yale via early action, get in, and still end up deciding on a different school if you want to.

Continue your research and visit the campus again if possible

Even if you visited Yale’s campus – or any other school that you are interested in – before you applied, you will definitely want to visit the school again after you get in. Continuing to do research about the school, either online or during an in-person visit to really make sure that it is the best option for you is a great idea.

This will help you feel really great about the final decision that you make ahead of National College Decision Day. When you do make your visit after getting accepted, contact the admissions office and let them know. You may be able to meet with a couple students or faculty members so that you can talk to them a bit about the decision that you are going to have to make soon.

Talk it out

Speak with your family, friends, counselors, teachers and (if you have one) your admissions consultant to really help you make that final decision. Talk about what you want to study, your goals, what activities you want to take part in outside of the classroom and what kind of environment and community you want to live in for years.

Knowing the answers to these questions should allow you to make a clear and informed final decision in terms of whether or not Yale is the right kind of school for you. Given the fact that it is truly one of the best schools in the country, it is quite likely that all this deliberation will lead you to answering the question with an emphatic yes.

Take the necessary steps to accept your spot at Yale

When you have come to your firm and made a final decision about the fact that you want to accept your spot at Yale and attend the school for your undergraduate education, there are going to be a few things that you need to make sure you check off your list.

First off, you are going to want to complete the Admissions Offer reply Form, and to accept the offer from Yale and hold your place at Yale, make sure that you reply no later than May 2nd, otherwise known as National College Decision Day.

On top of accepting the spot at Yale, the school also asks that students withdraw any other active applications at other schools.

Up next, you will want to set up your Yale NetID and submit your Housing and Advising Form. This form is due by May 10th. Keep in mind that you will be living in school housing through your sophomore year under almost all circumstances. After your first two years of undergrad, you can then look for off-campus housing if you desire to do so.

The next thing that you will have to do is send in your midyear and final reports from your high school. Ask a school official to submit the required Midyear Report and Final Report as soon as your official grades are recorded.

Please keep in mind that these reports are important, and that keeping up your grades to an incredibly high standard is a necessity. In fact, the school reserves the right to withdraw an offer if a student’s performance takes a significant dip. Here are all of the circumstances in which the school may withdraw its offer to a student:

• if your academic performance shows a significant decline between the time of your admission and your secondary school graduation.
• if you do not complete your secondary school program by the end of this school year.
• if your behavior brings into question your honesty, integrity, or character.
• if any part of the application you submitted is shown not to be your own work and truthful.
• if you hold a confirmed place at both Yale and at another institution after May 2. (You do have the right to remain on an active waiting list at another college or university.)

Note: If you have been offered admission under a binding early decision program at another institution, you must immediately withdraw your application at Yale.

Congrats on your Yale admission!

Getting into Yale is one of the hardest things a student applying to colleges and universities can do! For that reason, it is absolutely a time to celebrate and look forward to your future education. However, the work is far from over! If you are interested in learning more about what to do once you get in, or simply want to figure out how to best improve your chances of getting accepted to Yale, contact AdmissionSight today to schedule a free consultation.