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v_san wrote:I just completed my first semester in my sociology undergraduate degree. I earned a 3.9 GPA, however, I want to go to Yale. I know a need a better GPA, but how much? Also, can you people give me some advices on how to perform better next semester? I literally had to kill myself; slept at 4 am every day, skipped meals, no exercise, no social life whatsoever, basically a very exhausting semester. I don't want to exhaust myself that much, I want to study hard but also study smart. Any thoughts on both situations?

sd5289 wrote:You killed yourself for your 1st semester Sociology degree?? I hate to break it to you, but law school is a hell of a lot harder than an undergrad Sociology degree. Try to keep yourself in the 3.9 category (for any law school, not just Yale), but develop a better sense of work/life balance or you'll burn out by fall semester junior year if not sooner.

sd5289 wrote:You killed yourself for your 1st semester Sociology degree?? I hate to break it to you, but law school is a hell of a lot harder than an undergrad Sociology degree. Try to keep yourself in the 3.9 category (for any law school, not just Yale), but develop a better sense of work/life balance or you'll burn out by fall semester junior year if not sooner.

SnakySalmon wrote:

sd5289 wrote:You killed yourself for your 1st semester Sociology degree?? I hate to break it to you, but law school is a hell of a lot harder than an undergrad Sociology degree. Try to keep yourself in the 3.9 category (for any law school, not just Yale), but develop a better sense of work/life balance or you'll burn out by fall semester junior year if not sooner.

I don't know if this is entirely fair. Freshmen generally have no idea how to work, and what stuff is important and unimportant. I think it's pretty typical for them to find the first semester super hard. I'm sure he'll figure it out without too much trouble.

copingtrope wrote:Obvious troll.

MistakenGenius wrote:I think this is likely a flame but I'll be stupid and answer it seriously.

Hey OP, I'll give you my take on it since I'll be starting YLS this Fall. I think it's great you have high aspirations for a freshman. I assure you, a 3.9 won't hurt your application to Yale. That said, I think you're misunderstanding Yale. If you look at the forums, you'll see people are quick to say people with strong stats will get Harvard. However, they never say someone is a sure thing for Yale. This is because Harvard has such a large class size, they have to accept most people with certain numbers in order to maintain their medians. Yale doesn't have that problem. They only accept 200 people, and do not care about numbers like other schools. Let me clarify, if you have a 3.5/170, you're not getting Yale unless you're famous or a cowboy astronaut secret agent. So low numbers will keep you out. But they'd much rather have someone with a 3.85/176 who has really good softs than someone who did the basic clubs and nothing else and happens to have a 4.1/180. So "low" numbers will keep you out, but good numbers alone won't get you in.

Because of that, you need to come up with softs. FYI, being student body president or a member of your prelaw society is not the kind of soft I'm talking about. Law School admissions is a marketing game where you sell yourself to the adcomms. You have to stand out. I don't want to out myself, but if you or anyone else would like to hear my softs and numbers and discuss it, pm me.

Next, it's not in your best interest to be working so hard for Yale. It's more realistic to say you'd like a T14 or maybe T6. Statistically, Yale is going to be next to impossible for you or anyone. It comes down to luck as much as your qualifications. Maybe Asha is in a bad mood when she reads your file. Ding. Maybe the professor who's deciding your fate didn't like what side you chose on the LSAT writing sample. That's a ding. That's how it is. You should do well in school, but you shouldn't kill yourself in pursuit of something which probably isn't going to happen.

Now, my serious concern. Why are you struggling so much to obtain a 3.9 in Sociology? There are certain majors which are frowned upon because of easiness, Sociology is pretty much the king of those fluff majors. As one of the easiest majors, you shouldn't be working yourself ragged to do well during one semester. You have 7 semesters left and if you couldn't handle the basics you learn freshman year, it's unlikely you'll maintain that GPA. You are 1/8 of the way there to when we should be having this conversation. It's unrealistic at the moment. It's much more likely you burn out than you maintain that GPA.

BTW: Regarding Midwest, found the sociology major.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:Yeah, it's pretty unlikely that OP was taking more than one sociology course in their first semester - most schools require a bunch of gen ed that most people start off with getting out of the way. The sociology major is kind of a red herring.

cotiger wrote:

A. Nony Mouse wrote:Yeah, it's pretty unlikely that OP was taking more than one sociology course in their first semester - most schools require a bunch of gen ed that most people start off with getting out of the way. The sociology major is kind of a red herring.

If OP declared a major during his first semester of college jfc... well, I guess it goes along with his extreme KJD jumping the gun ness. Still, RELAX. SLOW DOWN. Everything in good time.

SnakySalmon wrote:

cotiger wrote:

A. Nony Mouse wrote:Yeah, it's pretty unlikely that OP was taking more than one sociology course in their first semester - most schools require a bunch of gen ed that most people start off with getting out of the way. The sociology major is kind of a red herring.

If OP declared a major during his first semester of college jfc... well, I guess it goes along with his extreme KJD jumping the gun ness. Still, RELAX. SLOW DOWN. Everything in good time.

Some schools require you to declare a major, so they can put you in a college for events. A lot of people change it later of course.

v_san wrote:I just completed my first semester in my sociology undergraduate degree. I earned a 3.9 GPA, however, I want to go to Yale. I know a need a better GPA, but how much? Also, can you people give me some advices on how to perform better next semester? I literally had to kill myself; slept at 4 am every day, skipped meals, no exercise, no social life whatsoever, basically a very exhausting semester. I don't want to exhaust myself that much, I want to study hard but also study smart. Any thoughts on both situations?

MistakenGenius wrote:I think this is likely a flame but I'll be stupid and answer it seriously.

Hey OP, I'll give you my take on it since I'll be starting YLS this Fall. I think it's great you have high aspirations for a freshman. I assure you, a 3.9 won't hurt your application to Yale. That said, I think you're misunderstanding Yale. If you look at the forums, you'll see people are quick to say people with strong stats will get Harvard. However, they never say someone is a sure thing for Yale. This is because Harvard has such a large class size, they have to accept most people with certain numbers in order to maintain their medians. Yale doesn't have that problem. They only accept 200 people, and do not care about numbers like other schools. Let me clarify, if you have a 3.5/170, you're not getting Yale unless you're famous or a cowboy astronaut secret agent. So low numbers will keep you out. But they'd much rather have someone with a 3.85/176 who has really good softs than someone who did the basic clubs and nothing else and happens to have a 4.1/180. So "low" numbers will keep you out, but good numbers alone won't get you in.

Because of that, you need to come up with softs. FYI, being student body president or a member of your prelaw society is not the kind of soft I'm talking about. Law School admissions is a marketing game where you sell yourself to the adcomms. You have to stand out. I don't want to out myself, but if you or anyone else would like to hear my softs and numbers and discuss it, pm me.

Next, it's not in your best interest to be working so hard for Yale. It's more realistic to say you'd like a T14 or maybe T6. Statistically, Yale is going to be next to impossible for you or anyone. It comes down to luck as much as your qualifications. Maybe Asha is in a bad mood when she reads your file. Ding. Maybe the professor who's deciding your fate didn't like what side you chose on the LSAT writing sample. That's a ding. That's how it is. You should do well in school, but you shouldn't kill yourself in pursuit of something which probably isn't going to happen.

Now, my serious concern. Why are you struggling so much to obtain a 3.9 in Sociology? There are certain majors which are frowned upon because of easiness, Sociology is pretty much the king of those fluff majors. As one of the easiest majors, you shouldn't be working yourself ragged to do well during one semester. You have 7 semesters left and if you couldn't handle the basics you learn freshman year, it's unlikely you'll maintain that GPA. You are 1/8 of the way there to when we should be having this conversation. It's unrealistic at the moment. It's much more likely you burn out than you maintain that GPA.

BTW: Regarding Midwest, found the sociology major.