Yale c/o 2017 Applicants (2013-2014 cycle) Forum

[Arrow4Christ]

how many people in this thread already applied?

Me

[wtrc]

Seriously, I'm getting this application in within the next 10 days. Seriously, there have been enough weekends where I sit down in a coffeeshop planning to get this app finished.

I'm happy with my work/college activities essays though.

I need 250 words

[barrelofmonkeys]

Seriously, I'm getting this application in within the next 10 days. Seriously, there have been enough weekends where I sit down in a coffeeshop planning to get this app finished.

I'm happy with my work/college activities essays though.

I need 250 words

wait, *essays*
i thought it was just like, a list?
gd it

[rseaney]

how many people in this thread already applied?

Me

i applied back in November. I suppose given Yale's unique admissions methods it would have made sense to hold off and review and rereview and rerereview my app..

not that i didnt at least proofread my ps haha

[HorseThief]

how many people in this thread already applied?

Me

i applied back in November. I suppose given Yale's unique admissions methods it would have made sense to hold off and review and rereview and rerereview my app..

not that i didnt at least proofread my ps haha

+1. I really regret turning in my early app because now I could write a kickin' 250. I hope the boring one is good enough for them.

[The-Specs]

how many people in this thread already applied?

I have.

I started my 250 back in June while waiting for my LSAT score and had it done by September. The waiting has been rough but I am glad I got the app out of the way.

[rendlelaw]

I started my 250 back in June while waiting for my LSAT score and had it done by September. The waiting has been rough but I am glad I got the app out of the way.

[thechancellor]

how many people in this thread already applied?

Me

i applied back in November. I suppose given Yale's unique admissions methods it would have made sense to hold off and review and rereview and rerereview my app..

not that i didnt at least proofread my ps haha

+1. I really regret turning in my early app because now I could write a kickin' 250. I hope the boring one is good enough for them.

Yep. Wish I had been on TLS back then..

[JD1776]

how many people in this thread already applied?

I waited for a letter, so I applied early January. But I had a first draft of all the materials in October, so I spent those months editing and editing and editing.

[pokemonsters]

Seriously, I'm getting this application in within the next 10 days. Seriously, there have been enough weekends where I sit down in a coffeeshop planning to get this app finished.

I'm happy with my work/college activities essays though.

I need 250 words

wait, *essays*
i thought it was just like, a list?
gd it

Yeah, as I remember, it was basically a chopped up / reformatted version of my resume with some added information that they specifically requested. Not sure what you mean by work / college activities essay.

[Howl]

I'm in the same boat as wtrc. I've told myself SO many times that I'd get it done this weekend...this weekend..DEFINITELY this weekend..DEFINITELY by February...

at least I have a draft of the 250 now

ETA: I'll definitely DEFINITELY get it done this weekend, and please someone from TLS come and kick my a$$ if I don't

[milkandcheerios]

how many people in this thread already applied?

as of today, I can finally answer yes to this question!

now please just ding me quickly and spare me the agony of the wait

[chizzy]

how many people in this thread already applied?

I have.

I started my 250 back in June while waiting for my LSAT score and had it done by September. The waiting has been rough but I am glad I got the app out of the way.

Now you make me feel lazy. i started mine really late back in Jan.

[chizzy]

.

[drawstring]

I think Yale is one of my easier waits because I have no expectations of getting in. Also love how they tweet when there will be action.

[The-Specs]

I think Yale is one of my easier waits because I have no expectations of getting in. Also love how they tweet when there will be action.

+1 to all of this.

[IrishJew]

how many people in this thread already applied?

I applied as early as I could get my app done: late November. And a whole lot of good it's done me, LOL.

[IrishJew]

how many people in this thread already applied?

I have.

I started my 250 back in June while waiting for my LSAT score and had it done by September. The waiting has been rough but I am glad I got the app out of the way.

Now you make me feel lazy. i started mine really late back in Jan.

I know I'm about to be pelted with tomatoes here, but my 250 was the very first thing I wrote, even before my PS for any school. I actually wrote three different drafts and showed them to people to ask their advice, then I picked the winner and polished the heck out of it.

That might actually be a good tip if you're struggling with your 250 topic. Pick a few and see how well they actually write. There was a topic that I thought would be great but it just wouldn't flow well over such a short length, so I scrapped it.

Good luck, people. Good luck to all of us!

[The-Specs]

how many people in this thread already applied?

I have.

I started my 250 back in June while waiting for my LSAT score and had it done by September. The waiting has been rough but I am glad I got the app out of the way.

Now you make me feel lazy. i started mine really late back in Jan.

I know I'm about to be pelted with tomatoes here, but my 250 was the very first thing I wrote, even before my PS for any school. I actually wrote three different drafts and showed them to people to ask their advice, then I picked the winner and polished the heck out of it.

+1 to the bolded. This is what i did as well.

[Sourrudedude]

I'm just gonna say that I think the whole "applying early doesn't help at Yale" thing is BS. I mean, they start letting people in, filling up spots, leaving fewer for everyone else. The only way I could explain it would be if they were willing to up the class size if they got more quality applicants.

[cee cee]

I'm just gonna say that I think the whole "applying early doesn't help at Yale" thing is BS. I mean, they start letting people in, filling up spots, leaving fewer for everyone else. The only way I could explain it would be if they were willing to up the class size if they got more quality applicants.

Well..
eta: also, broken down by splitter status

[Sourrudedude]

I'm just gonna say that I think the whole "applying early doesn't help at Yale" thing is BS. I mean, they start letting people in, filling up spots, leaving fewer for everyone else. The only way I could explain it would be if they were willing to up the class size if they got more quality applicants.

Well..
eta: also, broken down by splitter status

Thanks, I'll take a look at that tomorrow.

[IfPaxl]

Well..
eta: also, broken down by splitter status

What do these charts mean? Is the message really that, all else being equal, an applicant to Chicago who submitted in October has a 1.78 * 1.78 * 1.78 = about 5.64 times as high a probability of being accepted as someone who applied in January? Because I think that's unlikely. (And of course the magnitude of the effect will vary depending on the strength of the application.) Or is it measuring something else?

[cee cee]

Well..
eta: also, broken down by splitter status

What do these charts mean? Is the message really that, all else being equal, an applicant to Chicago who submitted in October has a 1.78 * 1.78 * 1.78 = about 5.64 times as high a probability of being accepted as someone who applied in January? Because I think that's unlikely. (And of course the magnitude of the effect will vary depending on the strength of the application.) Or is it measuring something else?

Uh, I'm no stats guru. But the way I interpreted it: say you apply in December and you have an 8% chance of being accepted to Chicago. Had you applied in November, you would have a (8% + (78.8% of 8%) ) = 14.3% chance of being accepted to Chicago. Applying in October would give you a (14.3% + (78.8% of 14.3%) ) = 25.6% chance of being accepted. Am I thinking about this the right way? This still seems super high, but with a bias towards large magnitudes, this just makes a stronger case that Yale does not advantage earlier applicants.

Also, Asha is the Word made Flesh

(eta, i just carried the math one more month and realized we're saying the same thing..)

[IfPaxl]

Uh, I'm no stats guru. But the way I interpreted it: say you apply in December and you have an 8% chance of being accepted to Chicago. Had you applied in November, you would have a (8% + (78.8% of 8%) ) = 14.3% chance of being accepted to Chicago. Applying in October would give you a (14.3% + (78.8% of 14.3%) ) = 25.6% chance of being accepted. Am I thinking about this the right way?

I don't know if this is the right interpretation, but it's also how I read it. (I was doing the same math in a slightly different way.) If it's the right interpretation, I'm curious about the methodology. I'd guess that this is really going to be an interactive effect; if you apply to Chicago with a 4.0 GPA, 180 LSAT, and outstanding softs, you're going to get in as long as you apply reasonably before the deadline, while for certain marginal candidates, a non-trivial probability of admission when they apply in October might transform into a probability of essentially zero if they apply in January. That could get you a very large relative change in probability for those marginal candidates (a shift from, say, 5% to 0.5% is a 900% increase for applying early), without reflecting much on relative probabilities for most of the people in the applicant pool. I don't know how meaningful it is to aggregate all of this together.

This still seems super high, but with a bias towards large magnitudes, this just makes a stronger case that Yale does not advantage earlier applicants.

Sure, I'm not disputing your basic claim. Their admissions process is pretty fundamentally different from that at other law schools.