Challenge yourself with difficult college prep curriculum in high school. Because Yale is an Ivy League school, admissions officers look for students who have proven they can survive a heavy course load. Achieving high grades in easy courses will likely not be enough to get you into Yale, so load up on advanced placement and college prep courses to prove you stand out among your peers.  If your high school offers unusual or unique courses not found in most high schools, take them. For example, if your high school offers an exotic language such as Japanese or Mandarin in addition to Spanish, French and German, choose Japanese or Mandarin. This will help you stand out. Don’t take “easy” or “blow off” electives. Getting a 4.0 in easy elective classes will not help you gain admission to Yale. So ditch the dodgeball class and take something a little more challenging. . The first thing Yale will look at is your academic performance throughout your high school tenure. Maintaining a consistently high grade point average throughout high school is a critical step in applying for Yale.  As an elite Ivy League school, Yale will examine your grade history from all four years of high school whereas less exclusive schools tend to weigh your performance in your junior and senior year more heavily.  However, you should make sure that your senior course load reflects a rigorous program of study. Do not indulge in "senioritis." There are a number of programs and courses designed to help you prepare for the SAT and ACT. These courses can help you devise methods for studying and taking the exams that will help you achieve the highest score you possibly can.  These courses or programs generally provide techniques designed to help you maximize your score on the ACT or SAT, like how to increase the speed with which you work through individual questions or how to eliminate clearly wrong choices when you don’t know the answer. Community centers and public schools sometimes offer these classes for free or at a reduced rate, so check in your area to see what options are available to you. SAT Subject Tests are recommended but not required for admissions to Yale. However, these tests are a great way to showcase your knowledge in a specific area and can help distinguish you from the rest of the pack. Be sure to pay close attention to the dates when you can take the ACT or SAT in your area and compare those dates to Yale's yearly application deadlines. This will help you plan out a schedule that maximizes your chances of scoring highly on a standardized test before you have to apply to Yale. The application deadline for Single-Choice Early Action applications -- where you agree to accept an offer of admission if it is made -- is November 1. The regular application deadline is January 1. If you are applying for regular admission, Yale recommends you take the SAT or ACT no later than December. If you are worried about your score, consider taking the SAT or ACT more than once. Your score on these exams is a major component of your application package. However, Yale does suggest that you not retake the test if your score is already in the ballpark, since your time will be better spent strengthening other elements of your application.  Yale does not have standardized test score cutoffs. However, the most recently enrolled freshman class had SAT scores ranging between 2130-2400 and ACT scores ranging between 32-36.  Yale does not participate in “Score Choice” reporting on the SAT and ACT general exams. This means that you must submit all of your SAT and ACT general exams scores to Yale.  On the SAT subject test, Yale does allow “Score Choice” reporting, meaning you can choose which scores you want to submit to the university on the SAT subjects test.  While you can take these tests multiple times, there is little evidence to support the idea that your score will rise drastically after the second or third time you take the exams. Save yourself the time, money and headache by focusing on exam preparation in the beginning rather than trying to maximize the number of times you take the test.
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One-sentence summary -- Take AP or college prep courses if they are available. Get good grades Enroll in SAT or ACT prep courses. Schedule your exam dates carefully. Consider taking the SAT or ACT multiple times.


Just like cats, dogs will also do things that they shouldn’t. Upside-down mousetraps and deterrent devices are very effective at discouraging a dog’s bad behavior (e.g., getting into a trashcan). Withholding a treat when a good behavior is not performed is another undesirable consequence, and is especially useful when training your dog. Meeting bad behavior with inattention is another good way of making your dog’s bad behavior undesirable. Keep in mind that inattention will not always be a practical way to handle bad behavior, especially if that behavior results in physical injury. Your cat can certainly cause your love to wear thin if he is scratching up your furniture or attacking you. Rather than reprimanding him with harsh words or physical punishment, you can try other ways to make his bad behavior undesirable. For example, if your cat is scratching your sofa, you can make your sofa undesirable by placing orange peels by the sofa (cats don’t like the citrus smell) or putting double-sided tape on it.  If your cat is attacking you by playing too roughly, you can give him a time out. By not giving him attention, he will realize that his behavior is not rewarding, and will learn not to play roughly with you. If your cat likes to jump up on countertops or tables, you can place an upside-down mousetrap on the surface that will flip upward when he steps on it. This will be upsetting enough to get your cat to stop this bad behavior, but will not injure him. If your bird tends to bite, you can communicate through your body language that this behavior is unacceptable. For example, if your bird bites you when he is perched on your arm, you can rotate your arm to throw him slightly off balance. Creating unbalance without causing him to fall will be just enough to let him know that he should not bite you. If he is perched on your hand, you can unexpectedly and slightly drop your hand to throw him off balance. Discouraging your horse’s bad behavior can involve the use of direct (your hand) or indirect (your lead rope) pressure. For example, if your horse makes a habit of invading your personal space, you could use a lead rope or your hand to apply pressure to his body—the pressure will not hurt him, but will make him uncomfortable enough to step back. Due to a horse’s size, the risk of serious physical injury can be far greater with a horse’s bad behavior than a dog or cat’s bad behavior. If the bad behavior poses a physical danger, consider contacting your equine veterinarian or equine veterinary behaviorist for guidance on addressing dangerous bad behavior.
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One-sentence summary --
Create an undesirable consequence for your dog’s bad behavior. Make your cat’s bad behavior undesirable. Use body language to discourage your bird’s bad behavior. Make your horse’s bad behavior undesirable.