Admissions Advice for Rising Senior

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

Hey Guys!

I plan on applying to Stanford this upcoming fall and wonder how my chances are looking right now.

Weighted GPA: 4.4
Unweighted GPA: 3.9
ACT: 28 (Explanation at the bottom)
SAT: 2130(Will be retaken in Oct)
AP Classes(For all 4 years): Human Geography, Language and Comp, World History, Environmental science, chemistry, seminar, U.S. Government, Spanish, Biology, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Research
Honors: Chemistry and Physis
I have taken a total of 5 years of English, 5 years of Spanish, and 6 years of science.
As for Extra Curriculars: NHS(3 years), SADD(3 years), Tutoring(4+ years), Working with the special ed. students, babysitting, participating in Chemistry Olympiad, Formulating a method to replace $10,000 spectrophotometers with a phone app to yield successful results(Which will now be used in all local high schools), Creating an annual charity/donation fund for a village in a foreign country(donations of clothing, feminine products, shoes, locally grown food etc), Helping my father maintain his multiple businesses.

I understand my scores are not up to par with Stanford’s average, or with the other universities I plan on applying to. However beginning junior year, I was diagnosed with Lupus.This form of Lupus has had a significantly negative effect on my mental health, cognitive health and memory. It has caused me to suffer from very severe migraines that are physically and mentally disabling. I have not been able to show case my true abilities through my standardized tests. For this reason, I may or may not decide to use this topic as my common app topic. However how I plan to do so in a way where it does not come across as a pity party will be difficult.

This has been a very serious part of my life and education, I find it absolutely necessary that I include this somewhere throughout my application. I intend to make my essays stand out and capture my character at the same time.

Thank you in advance for reading all the way through!

2

Along with that, I am a female of middle eastern descent, neither of my parents have more than a high school education. I am fluent in English, Arabic and have been self-teaching myself Spanish at a higher level than I was being taught at school. I have been helping other international students with English as well. I have multiple volunteer awards, I have participated and worked with many diversity and cultural programs.

Financially my parents make less than $40,000, however they will be divorcing soon and I will live with my mother who is unemployed.

3
  1. My advice is to be certain you understand what S is looking for, in terms of the 3 A's: academics, activities and personal attributes that come through on your app and supp. You need to dig through what they say, not assume.
  2. Consider using the SAT. Stanford says either. (What CR and M, what possible major?) But be careful with any explanation. They want to know how you persist and triumph, despite challenges, not simply that you risk mental health issues. The essay is really to show attributes the school values, embedded in a tale, not explain limitations. ("Show, not just tell." And make the topic relevant to an admissions review, not just something or other.) You can use Additional Info to briefly state something about the illness.
  3. Your GC can be your ally, explain the challenges and focus on positives. Talk to him/her. Best wishes. We know it's difficult.
4

I agree with the previous post. My suggestion is if you write about your challenge with Lupus it would be better to focus on how much you have achieved in spite of the illness. Don’t use it as an excuse for not getting better test scores. The admissions readers are smart people and they will appreciate how much you have done.

I know students who were accepted with SAT scores below 2100. One common thread among them was they accomplished something beyond the normal ECs like clubs, high school sports, minimal charity work, etc. Replacing spectrophotometers with a phone app seems impressive to me if it is something you did primarily on you own.

Good luck. I am sure you will have plenty of college options to choose from.

5

@ucresearcher444 outside of athletes or famous peoples kids or rich peoples kids please give us some examples of kids with SAT scores below 2100 that were accepted since you know a bunch of them

6

If you are asking me to post names, I won’t do that. You can look at the exact percentages in Stanford’s 2015/2016 common data set.

If I am reading the CDS correctly about 20% of the entering freshmen scored under 2100. It gives the percentages individually for each of the three SAT sections so 20% is an approximation. However, I don’t think you post on the Stanford threads to find information for any constructive purpose.

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Those are almost all going to be athletes, legacies, or URMs. OP, go ahead and apply. But have a solid list of matches and safeties you want to attend and can afford.

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You should seriously consider the Questbridge match program. It’s designed for students like you – in order to match them to a select handful of universities. Good luck.

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Thank you all for your advice, I appreciate it!