Nathan Chen

[frida80]

Well, Yale is certainly closer to Hackensack, NJ than Harvard is ...
I find it kind of hilarious that the haters are already thinking it's great that Nathan is going to Yale - no more medals for him and more for their favorites

Haters gonna hate. Nathan is a genius to manage what he has done with all the craziness of his life. I'm sure he'll be a lot better than his haters think.

 

[discode]

Well, Yale is certainly closer to Hackensack, NJ than Harvard is ...
I find it kind of hilarious that the haters are already thinking it's great that Nathan is going to Yale - no more medals for him and more for their favorites

Yeah, isn't that funny it's already happening. Probably the same people who said he only won worlds since certain people weren't there. Amusing how that works. He needs people to be gone to win, but at the same time other people need him to be gone to win now. hwell:

But I look forward to them underestimating him.

 

[sheetz]

In other news, other SOI cast members (shibs, Charlie) are on their way to Florida. And Mirai is already there. I hope Nathan made a stopover in California first.

 

[discode]

cologne.

he needs to go home and rest a day or so, celebrate his win the the fam and pick up some more tshirts for the road. he's been working non stop since before worlds, on top of his emotional and long season too.

I forgot, pick up the pants without the pockets too. Don't forget them.

 

[NicoleH]

I have the feeling that Yale made him a really incredible offer - but idk for sure.
As for grades - from what I know, the grading at Yale is not harsh at all. Even for science majors. I'd be more concerned if he were attending a school like Cal - where A's are relatively rare, a lot get C's and there are mandatory D's and F's per course.

Could it be that Stanford, Berkeley, and UCLA rejected him? Otherwise I'd love to see him staying in California and being able to manage training and school at the same time.

 

[Metis]

Could it be that Stanford, Berkeley, and UCLA rejected him? Otherwise I'd love to see him staying in California and being able to manage training and school at the same time.

Unlikely. He’s considered an in-state applicant, yeah? Even if not, he’s still Nathan Chen, and, honestly, that matters. I’m not saying he doesn’t have the test scores and other credentials — but being a famous athlete is obviously a boost to your college application. I mean, nobody is really going to be able to beat his extracurriculars. [emoji23]

Some west coast kids believe the USA ends at the Rockies. (This was said to me by a California native.) Some actively seek universities on the other side. Maybe he wants to experience all four seasons of winter: almost winter, winter, still winter, construction. Maybe he wants a smaller, more secluded campus. There’s more to school choice than raw academics — you need to like the school’s atmosphere, general “vibe,” and student composition. And then there’s population preferences and campus styles. I preferred larger populations and more urban campuses, or at least ones that weren’t secluded and/or didn’t require multiple forms of transport to get to the nearest metro area. Some people want the exact opposite. All of that has to be a balanced against the offers you receive and the academics, but the best academic offer isn’t worth taking if it means you’re going to be surrounded by people you can’t stand in a location you hate for four years.

We have no clue what Nathan wants. If he opts for Yale, good for him. I’m sure he has his reasons. Boston is a great airport for international flights, so that’s a plus.

 

[NicoleH]

I would find this *really* hard to believe as I got accepted to all those schools (and not really all that long ago), and I think my college application must surely have been at least 1000x less impressive than Nathan's lol.

I get the impression that going to the east coast for school/ivy league is a deliberate choice for Nathan.

Maybe you have a better GPA than Nathan? As I know, Yale's bio engineering major is weaker than those California schools, so maybe they emphasize on the GPA. I also hope schools like Berkeley and UCLA would look more into Nathan's athletic achievements rather than just his grade.

 

[Ophelia]

Maybe you have a better GPA than Nathan? As I know, Yale's bio engineering major is weaker than those California schools, so maybe they emphasize on the GPA. I also hope schools like Berkeley and UCLA would look more into Nathan's athletic achievements rather than just his grade.

Why should those schools do that? They're academic institutions, not sports organizations.

 

[discode]

Didn't he get a perfect score on his math SAT? On top of all his other many talents, I'd bet his GPA is higher than most people's.

And yes, there are better schools for what he wants to study near him but I guess it's not what he wanted.

I just think it's pretty impossible UCLA or Berkeley would turn him down. Even not being a national champion, Olympian and world champ he has the qualifications for those schools.

I really don't think Yale is a school he had to take because he had no other options. It seems like what he wanted.

 

[Metis]

Maybe you have a better GPA than Nathan? As I know, Yale's bio engineering major is weaker than those California schools, so maybe they emphasize on the GPA. I also hope schools like Berkeley and UCLA would look more into Nathan's athletic achievements rather than just his grade.

If he’s interested in medical school, Yale and Stanford are honestly about equal, probably slight edge to Yale in terms of name. Med school is, in rather crass terms, one third GPA, one third MCAT score, one third undergraduate university prestige factor. Yale is not going to hurt him there.

For undergraduate admissions, your intended major doesn’t matter unless you’re applying to a specific school within the general university and those are special cases. And GPA + test scores get you in the door for admissions, but they don’t determine your admission. It’s also important to keep in mind that application acceptance rates at various schools are sometimes massively inflated by a huge number of “long shot” applications, while some equally or even more competitive schools receive fewer overall applications for a similar number of slots, but have a self-selecting population problem: all their applicants are equally competitive. It’s never as simple as a tenth of a point in GPA (especially when GPAs average above 4.0 on a 4.0 scale).

University admits are very weird. I was admitted to the top-rated university for academics and showered in scholarships and all I can say about that is ... not attending high school for a year was the single most effective thing I did to make myself competitive in a crowded field. (Don’t try this at home.)

 

[yyyskate]

Nathan is very very very very very very smart. That's all.
And medical doctor as a profession will be a great fit for him in the future.

 

[NicoleH]

If he’s interested in medical school, Yale and Stanford are honestly about equal, probably slight edge to Yale in terms of name. Med school is, in rather crass terms, one third GPA, one third MCAT score, one third undergraduate university prestige factor. Yale is not going to hurt him there.

University admits are very weird. I was admitted to the top-rated university for academics and showered in scholarships and all I can say about that is ... not attending high school for a year was the single most effective thing I did to make myself competitive in a crowded field. (Don’t try this at home.)

Well, Stanford medical school is a lot better than Yale med school. Even UCLA is better than Yale in terms of med school. Like my cousin applied to Stanford and Duke med schools and she got into Duke and was rejected by Stanford, but she didn't even apply to Yale med school because it was not that good. Yeah, I agree university admits are weird. I just hope Nathan could stay in California. Anyways, good luck to him.

 

[Ophelia]

I know people who have been accepted at some of these top schools (including Harvard, Stanford) at least partly because of their achievements in athletics. And I don't personally know anyone who has achieved anywhere close to what Nathan has in his sport.

Not all sports are equal in colleges' view. Majority of the athletic admits to the top colleges are in sports such as football, basketball, rowing, volleyball, which have school teams. Athletes will join the school teams, which then impacts the school's athletic rankings. No college has a skating team, and skating is not as lucrative as other aforementioned sports, so a linear analysis comparing Chen's athletic accomplishments to another person's athletic accomplishments doesn't apply.

 

[hhh]

Whatever reason he chose Yale, he’s going to a college he likes and will have a memorable time learning and making new friends. Now his decision makes me wish I had picked East instead of staying on the West, maybe for mba, anyways so excited for him to start a new chapter. Will ABC do another piece with Nathan in college while practicing for competitions?

Yes, the grade inflation at some has been a thing, I’ve heard about while on campuses (3 years ago). I’m sure his sport career made up for the supplemental letter of recommendation and due to his national status the application process for him won’t be like us. I think with Yuki as an alumni and some kids of her friends are there, he’s in good hands.

@metis a good post thanks!

In other subject, soi rehearsal did have a countdown post but I don’t know if all skaters are required to be at FL on the first day, maybe he’ll have time to unwind a bit at home and pack for the next trip.

 

[alexaa]

As Oatmella said, Nathan is going to Yale for undergrad, not the medical school, so the ranking of the medical school is irrelevant. Most of the ivy schools you don't need to declare major in first year, I know a couple of kids decide to major in something else other than what they originally intended to study.

Plus, not everyone would like the big class sizes of UC systems, especially Berkeley. I don't know how crowded Berkley's Life Science classes are, I do know the classes sizes for CS is ridiculously large that some students HAS to attend class online, let alone the crazy class registration process. The reason that the first offer that one of my coworker's kid rejected is Berkley, the kid even got merit based scholarship that year, which is super super hard to get, and reason for her rejection is the enormous class size.

 

[hhh]

I agree with oatmella he’s an undergrad and at this point, no one knows whether he has declared a major and if he will change his mind as he studies and engages in college life. And many got accepted mainly base on their sports credentials - football and basketball to name a few and though skating isn’t a lucrative sport or a popular at the colleges here Nathan’s credential just being an Olympian and national champs are trophy-like icing on the cake of his excellent academic. Though it isn’t as what is used to be, being Olympian is a national pride that all colleges will hold high respect to.
@bonita well said the class size at UC is something many students don’t like and a turn-off, I for one was overwhelmed on my first week.

 

[sheetz]

Nathan is also enough of a celebrity that he can help with alumni donations/fundraising. I mean, there's got to be at least a few wealthy, die hard figure skating fans among Yale grads.

---------------------------------
Nice pic with Patrick, Javi, and Chris Reed at SOI practice
https://www.facebook.com/starsonice...10101600935/10155407825040936/?type=3&theater

 

[NicoleH]

As Oatmella said, Nathan is going to Yale for undergrad, not the medical school, so the ranking of the medical school is irrelevant. Most of the ivy schools you don't need to declare major in first year, I know a couple of kids decide to major in something else other than what they originally intended to study.

Plus, not everyone would like the big class sizes of UC systems, especially Berkeley. I don't know how crowded Berkley's Life Science classes are, I do know the classes sizes for CS is ridiculously large that some students HAS to attend class online, let alone the crazy class registration process. The reason that the first offer that one of my coworker's kid rejected is Berkley, the kid even got merit based scholarship that year, which is super super hard to get, and reason for her rejection is the enormous class size.

Well, Nathan said "I finished the application for Harvard. I’m doing some applications for University of California schools now." From what he said, I get that his first choice is Harvard, and the UC schools are pretty much his second choice. I heard his family member goes to UC as well, so he's aware of the class size. Yale pre-med and bio engineering undergrad courses are not as good as their history for example. And if I were to choose between Berkeley CS and Yale CS, I'd choose Berkeley for sure. Well, I wouldn't even apply to Yale CS.

 

[discode]

https://twitter.com/kisasari_sk8/status/979232116520108032
talented kid

https://twitter.com/Yamazaki21/status/974664720262225920
port de bras collection

this is a nice review of SOI from a Japanese fan (scroll down) http://marosakura.hatenablog.com/entry/2018/04/02/032207 understandable with google translate.

https://twitter.com/magicaleggrolls/status/980612693110546432

"Machiko was moved by Nathan at the Olympics and when she saw Mao she said, “Mao, doesn’t Nathan remind you of yourself?” And Mao said, “Yeah he does.” :')

 

[NicoleH]

One of his sister is doing PHD in Berkley, her undergrad study is Johns Hopkins. Undergrad program and PHD are totally different thing. One of his other sister is from Emory, I think.

From Berkeley's website, "Based on historical acceptance rate data, the projected UC Berkeley acceptance rate 2015 is estimated to be 20%.

From Wall Street Journal 03/29/2018,

"Yale admissions officers were “impressed and humbled” by the volume of qualified candidates, said Jeremiah Quinlan, dean of undergraduate admissions and financial aid. That school tied its record-low 6.3% admission rate this year"

But UC schools mainly look at your GPA, while Yale looks more at your extra-curricular activities. Also, Berkeley and UCLA get a lot of applicants with perfect math SAT score. You know California's Asian kids are all so good at math. This would be to Nathan's disadvantage too. :disapp: Btw, why didn't he apply to Johns Hopkins? This should be his first choice if he wants to study pre-med. But yeah, Johns Hopkins is quite difficult to get in.