Yale Waitlist

When I received notification of the adcom's offer to waitlist me, I was floored. I was 100% positive that a DING was on the way. I never received an interview or heard anything from the adcom after the last of my transcripts had been submitted. It only made sense. I had even started coming to terms with it. I only had myself to blame, I reasoned. I didn't spend enough time on the essays. I didn't do well enough on the GMAT. I totally over-shared, which, you'd be surprised to learn, makes many people uncomfortable. Plus, when I re-read my application essays about two weeks after submitting them to Yale, I saw a sentence in one of them that shocked the hell out of me. I won't tell you what it was. Let's just say that if you knew me and heard me say it, you would think it was hilarious. If you didn't know me and you read it, you would certainly raise an eyebrow.

So, in my eyes, a flat-out rejection was definitely in the cards. Fortunately, Yale's adcom is very forgiving. I gladly accepted its offer to place me on its waitlist, and then contacted the school for feedback. As it turns out, my quant score was a point of concern. (Yes, I did well enough on the GMAT in terms of my overall score, but when you look at the the math and verbal scores individually, well . . . What can I say? My B.A. is in English, people!) The adcom recommended that I 1) retake the GMAT, or 2) enroll in a stats or finance course. Well, the GMAT wasn't going to happen. The test is too stressful. And besides, I don't know how often in my career I would need to be able to measure the surface area of a balloon in ten seconds or less. I reasoned that a course in stats would be more indicative of my quantitative ability and would give me knowledge that I could use throughout my professional life, regardless of whether or not I got into Yale. So I started a stats course - three weeks after the first class had begun - through UC Berkeley Extension. I am pleased to say that I am already caught up.

Yale also had a question on my resume, but this was easily straightened out.

So, I'm hoping that Yale will be able to render a decision sometime after my first midterm. I know that's extremely optimistic. Still . . . I got this far. Who knows what could happen?!