Advice, please.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>I am a second semester junior and would like to know what I should do to increase my chances of getting into Stanford.</p>

<p>Stats so far:
-Catholic private school
-African-American/Korean female
-3.5 gpa (upward trend, honors and AP classes)
-Co-captain of Varsity cheer squad
-Varsity cheerleader, 1 letter, 4 awards (10th, 11th, and next year)
-Over 200 Volunteer hours with the Red Cross (9th, 10th, 11th, plus this summer)
-Catholic student leadership program at school (11th grade and next year as well)
-Volunteer to feed homeless people breakfast about once a month (11th grade)
-Chair of speakers committee for an African-American summit hosted at my school. Also organized a toy-drive and raised over 50 toys for a children's hospital by my school! :)
-Volunteered at a military medical training center for 60 hours (11th grade)
-Volunteered at a charity dinner that sponsors the organization where I feed breakfast to the homeless (11th grade)
-Relay for life (11th grade)
-NOLA service trip- going to Louisiana this summer with a group of kids from school to help build houses for Katrina victims!!!</p>

<p>Other:
-12 years of piano lessons
-certified in CPR </p>

<p>Senior year schedule:
AP Language
AP Lit
AP Pyschology
Spanish 4
Anatomy
Intro to Calc</p>

<p>Scores:
SAT- took in May, not happy with my score..retaking in October for hopefully a 2100
ACT- taking in June, hoping for a 30
Subject tests- Math 2c, Lit, and maybe Math 1 or History for the third test...depends on how I feel on test day; aiming for mid 700s on each.</p>

<p>Plans for college:
Study pre-medicine and major in English. I plan to become an Emergency Room Doctor after college and want to do a lot of volunteer work in Africa. </p>

<p>Last words:
I visited Stanford last summer after months of researching about the school and absolutely LOVED it! Stanford is my hands down first-choice school and if I do not get in there then I will be attending a state school, which I would also be happy at. I am super passitionate about helping people, and I am very out-going when it comes to volunteering. I am also a good leader and hope to use my skills to become the best person I can be for others!</p>

2

<p>You seem like a good and giving person. All colleges desire that kind of student. Hopefully it will come out in your essays. </p>

<p>Your senior year schedule will put you a little behind some of your competition. Taking 3 out of 6 classes that are not honors or AP will be less than some applicants. However, since your application to Stanford (and all other colleges) will be submitted before you have any senior year grades on your transcript it may not matter. Of course if your high school has limited offerings in AP/honors courses, then it is no problem at all.</p>

<p>You should try to reach your goal of a 2100 on your SAT. Less than that may definitely decrease your chances at elite schools although it would not be a deal breaker.</p>

<p>You asked what you should do to increase your chances. The one thing that stands out to me is your trip this summer to build houses for Katrina victims. If it is just for a week or two, that would not be a big deal. If you will be there for 6-8 weeks, that would make a very good topic for an essay. You will definitely have some moving experiences to relate to Admissions. My suggestion is to write a rough draft essay as soon as you return while the passion is still there from the trip.</p>

3

<p>Thank you :slight_smile: I love writing so I don’t think I will have trouble showing my personality through my essays. If anything, my essays will help me the most.</p>

<p>Well, I am taking the hardest possible course load I can take. The only change I could make is to take AP chem instead of Anatomy. Would you suggest that? The only thing is that I am in Honors Physics right now so I would have to jump back to chemistry next year, plus I thought Anatomy would be really interesting and beneficial for someone studying pre-medicine. I could take AP Stat but my teacher said that the class is not useful for pre-med students as calculus. And I cannot take any other Spanish class.</p>

<p>It’s only a week (still excited nonetheless!) but I have a handful of topics I could write about so I am sure I will find one that suits me best.</p>