She got a 36 on her ACT, she’s seventh in her class out of 411 students as of last year, but she got rejected from Yale.

Senior Joyce Li’s first choice for college was Stanford University, but after visiting Yale University’s campus it became her first. Yale’s environment seemed to fit her. Li changed her mind about Stanford because she prefers rainy places and all the seasons. She liked that Yale made sure their students were happy.

Li started her essays pretty early, but completed the final drafts the day before the application was due. She was up late and tired and didn’t get edits back for a while. Li applied early action to the university this year and got her results back on Dec. 14, 2017.

“I was speed reading through it and didn’t actually catch what it was saying, until I got to the part that read ‘Why you weren’t deferred’ then it registered that I got rejected,” Li said, “I was pretty shocked and sad.”

Looking back on it, Li thinks her essays were the weak point in her application and didn’t make her a suitable candidate. She thought about what went wrong with her application and ended up reading through her essays and saw all the grammatical errors.

“I did the best I could [Academically], but I could have done a lot more community service and worked harder on my essays,” Li said, “I also didn’t do a lot of activities throughout high school.”

Li doesn’t plan on giving up Yale, because it is a really great school. She plans on applying for Graduate school and hopes to get in then. Her back up plan right now is reevaluating middle tier school choices that she could get into.

“If you don’t get into your first choice, don’t give up. There are plenty of other schools that will be suited for you,” Li said.

Li really thought about the acceptance rate and knew her chances weren’t high, but she can’t compare herself to others who get in, because some students start at a young age researching.

“Take rigorous courses and college courses offered through the school, along with developing relationships with teachers, because they will be writing your recommendations,” Li said.

Li plans on majoring in Neuroscience and minoring in Psychology or vice versa depending on how it goes.

“My dream school, like most people is an Ivy League school, specifically, Yale,” Raafa Elsheikh, fr., said, “I find interest in Yale because I’ve visited the east coast and I love it.”

Elsheikh is interested in law practices or a major in science, which Yale is highly ranked for both majors.

“Many people think it is farfetched, but honestly, anyone can do anything,” Elsheikh said.

Throughout high school, Elsheikh wants to know the most efficient and effective ways to find a college that will fit her interests and needs. Such as, what academic achievements, what classes will help suit her goals, and what extracurricular activities are needed.

“If I don’t get into my dream school I’d think either I didn’t do my work hard enough or I did my best,” Elsheikh said, “My reaction would be chiller, because of the very low acceptance rate Yale has.”

Elsheikh would still be sad, but understanding. She knows that Yale is not the only university or college in the world that she has to go to in order to have a successful future.

“My back up school would definitely be the University of Iowa (U of I),” Elsheikh said, “U of I has a good law and sciences program and it’s close to home.”

So far, Elsheikh has gotten advice to keep up her grades, always have a positive attitude, work to reach her goals, try new things, and never close doors on opportunities.