<p>Hi Friends: Congratulations to all of you who have made to stanford University. I am a stanford 2012 hopeful and have a following question on ACT/SAT scores. </p>
<p>Your SAT scores are low but not bad. Your extracurriculars, essays, and letters of recommendation must be great to get you in. I don't think Stanford will only "look at" your better score; I think they will take both the SAT and ACT into account, but I'm not sure. Please remember as you apply for colleges that the important factor is who you are - what you've done, what you enjoy, what drives you, and what you have contributed to the activities you've participated in. Numbers matter, but they're just one part of the big picture.</p>
<p>Thanks celestial605 for your advise. But it always bothers me how these top universities screen applications. While politically, they may say that each and every applications gets read, I have always felt that it is neither practical to read 23,956 odd applications nor it makes business sense. I therefore feel that top universities like stanford would have some sort of a compuerised composite score based on which they would sort out the likely candidates from the outright reject cases. My above question, therefore is with this perspective and my concern is that would stanford ignore my SAT and instead consider my ACT to avoid my missing the cut off.. ?</p>
<p>I believe they look at your highest score to determine if you make the cut-off or not. So yes, either look into improving that SAT I or taking the ACT+Writing.</p>
<p>There is no computerized cut-off. I've talked with Dean Shaw. And some of the admissions crew. They read each and every one. They do this 10 hours a day. For months. And generally SAT is taken into higher consideration, simply because it's far more common. But if you take it a third time and scores don't improve much, focus on getting the rest of your application into tip-top shape. I know one guy who nearly flunked out of high school who was just honest about himself and passionate about his extracurriculars on his application, and he's currently a senior here. Granted, this doesn't happen to everyone, but it just goes to show there's a chance if you really work on it.</p>
<p>my SAT was a 2120 and a 2060 before that..... </p>
<p>Your SAT II's are pretty good, i only got two 790's and a 710. It's all about your ec's and essays. After a certain point, they know that variation does occur, especially the higher up you get. Just focus on making yourself stand out in the application process (in other words, not just as a number like 2400, but as a person). You gotta remember, that Stanford gets tons of applicants, and at a certain point, everyone looks the same. </p>
<p>so my advice, worry more about making your application memorable over making it streamlined.</p>
<p>Hi Celestial15605, Jwj, billabongdude44 and saliksyed: You comments are very very encouraging, indeed. While I would think of improving my scores further by possibly making one more try - My this post was more from a persepctive of academic requirements - where I feared that there could be a cut off at Stanford..</p>
<p>On the extra-currcular front, however I think that I have excellent credientials. I live in the bay area and go to a reputed public high school. I have also been running my own internet based business from freshmen year at high school. After 2 1/2 years of hard work, I am now pleased with what I am achieveing in the same. In addition, I have a passion for basketball and have been coaching basketball to young kids for more than 3 years. I am a stanford certified double goal coach. Also, 18 months back, I started working on an exciting science project, which I would be submiting for Intel competition this year in the fall. In this regard, I was pleasantly surprised when one of the stanford's department offered me an internship and now I have an excellent guidance from stanford faculty as well. </p>
<p>My major worry however has been that would stanford not even look at my application if I donot meet academic cut off and clearly based on the responses on this forum, it does not appear to be the case. </p>
<p>this must be obnoxious to read these, but okay, i'll post it. </p>
<p>GPA: 4.4 weighted
SAT: Math 690, verbal 710, writing 740 (on my second time... and i doubt i'm taking it again because i heard you don't really improve that much a third time)
class rank: 15/800
ethnicity: puerto rican</p>
<p>activities: ballet (like hardcore. 18 hours a week), piano (since age 5), president of surfrider club, founder and president of our school's chapter of FACE AIDS, newspaper staff (hopefully editor next year!!), treasurer of california scholarship federation, and national honor society. </p>
<p>oh yeahh and i'm a math tutor on the weekends. </p>
<p>i've also been to stanford's education program for the gifted youth in the summer. </p>
<p>i'm in 5 APs this year and i was in 2 my sophomore year. i'm so bad at calculus though! i need to improve that. </p>
<p>i have some questions though:
1. do you think it helps to send in samples of fine arts to the departments? i was thinking of sending a dance sample and piano. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>do you think ethnicity really matters? </p></li>
<li><p>is it okay to look really lopsided? like way better at humanities than the sciences (basically like me).</p></li>
</ol>
<p>sorry kids, there is no magic formula, no way to say for sure with what scores or what not will you or won't you get in. to say that the first person's sat scores were low, you're crazy, anything in the 700's is pretty damn good... i got lower SAT scores in most subjects than those kids said, but i still got in.. and the regional director of admissions waited outside the financial aid office for 30 minuetes to tell me that i was one of the top 5 applicants in my region, easy to admit.. i believe he mentioned things from my reccommendations and essay.. i think those are the most important things, the things that show who you really are... you are more than just a number or a score and numbers and scores don't really tell you much about what kind of student someone is. you can make excellent grades and test scores and still not be a passionate student... from meeting the other admits, it seems that that is what stanford is lloking for, students who are passionate about what they do, who love learning, and show that in their application. scores don't show this at all, all it seems to me that they measure is your ability to take a test,though this assumption is not entirely true.. people who make perfect scores are brilliant, no one can argue that, but passion must be there too... brilliance without passion is a waste, to me at least. so yeah. :P</p>
<p>From the parent of an admitted student who is also a dancer (not to mention humanities oriented like you), definitely submit a dance video. While it is only one element of the "full picture," Stanford will seriously take it into account. Of course, make sure you follow all their instructions, especially about keeping it under 7 minutes in length!</p>
<p>i tottally agree with lilcheesy..think about it this way..everyone that applies to stanford has the same high SAT scores, the high GPAs the 20 EC the 12 APs on their transcript..wat u have to do is set ur self apart from the 20,000 other applicants..what makes u different..wat can u bring to stanford..aside from ur booksmarts..what challenges have u overcome,,what makes u truly wanna learn..trust me i think thats a key...bringing ur SATs and GPA and EC and essays all together and creating a face on ur application</p>
<p>I have a friend who scored under 2000 on her SAT and got into Stanford.</p>
<p>No one factor will guarantee admission to stanford or totally deny you.</p>
<p>They just have SO many applicants that it's always going to be a bit of a crapshoot.</p>
<p>At this point, you've taken your SATs, you have your GPA, your AP scores...stop stressing about whether these are good enough and focus on what you have more control over: your essays, your teacher recs, and the way you present your extracurriculars. </p>
<p>And remember: stanford isn't the only great college in the country.</p>
<p>one other thing i forgot-- stanford likes "lopsided," candidates, from what i've heard. don't ONLY be involved in one thing, but it is good to devote a significant amount of energy to one or two pursuits. you will only major in one or at most two subjects.</p>
<p>im LIKE the socal version of RK1 =D, except my grades are worse and my SAT IIs are worse haha</p>
<p>large public high school
GPA(unweight) 3.62
SAT: first time 2130 (710(CR),710(MATH),710(W))
second time 2190 (740(CR),720(MATH),730(W))
APs: Sophmore (AP BIO 4, AP Physics 4)
SAT II: math 790, mandarin 780, bio 710, physics 730</p>
<p>I love to play basketball and i sometimes vounlteer at the local YMCA.
I am on the school track team
played the violin since i was 7 (10 years)
volunteer at local hospital
own my own web company and i interact with international people
going to be an intern at a major pharmceutical company</p>
<p>listen, it is impossible to tell you how likely it is for you to get into Stanford. I don't work in admissions and I don't know if anybody else who posts here works in admissions.</p>