Am I on the right track for Stanford?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>Hello my fellow CCers!
I am very interested in Stanford, I just love the school!
Anyway, do you guys think that I am on the right track for getting in? I know that it's highly unpredictable, but lets say if you had to take a shot in the dark, where would you shoot your arrow? lol.</p>

<p>Okay, so my Freshman year of high school was very rough. I had switched counties and schools for second semester and I didn't know anyone. Because of this (yeah, lame excuse) I hadn't done my homework, etc. but yet, I still had aced all my tests, and for that matter, even gotten 5s on all of the star testing exams. Also, I used to be called "stupid" by all of my classmates, which had actually made me believe that I am stupid; which caused me to act stupid and not study, because I had thought that it would be pointless because I am "stupid" (I'm not stupid at all).</p>

<p>(by the way, thank you so much for all of your time)</p>

<pre><code> Freshman Year:
</code></pre>

<p>Semester One
Project Physics (CP): C-
Integrated Math (CP): A-
English I (CP): F
Spanish I (CP): A+
Photography (CP): C
Humanities (CP): B</p>

<p>Semester Two
English I (CP): B-
Global Science (CP): C-
Physical Education (CP): C-
Wood I (CP): A
Algebra I (CP): C-
Health (CP): D</p>

<p>Freshman GPA: 2.75</p>

<p>Made up English I first semester and got a high A. While I was taking my summer school class, I had lost out on the opportunity to go to this summer camp that I have been going to every year, the experience was just soul crushing for me, because I gave up the one thing that I was looking forward to the whole year. Because of this, I started thinking about my life and where it was going. If I had just done my homework my GPA could have been a whole two grades higher in average in every class, because homework is worth 20% for most classes and I literally hadn't done any. Although I had aced most of my tests, I just didn't care. This is where Stanford had just totally switched my perception on and about school. I had done research about colleges during the class and Stanford had just blown me away. I knew that I had to do anything and everything that I can to get in. So the next year, Sophomore year, although I wasn't eligible for any APs or Honors due to my grades, I knew that I had to make a change, even if it was only in CP classes. (btw, my new school doesn't award A+s, just As and A-s.</p>

<pre><code> Sophomore Year:
</code></pre>

<p>Semester One
American Sign Language I (CP): A
Geometry (CP): A
English II (CP): A
Biology (CP): A
World History (CP): A
Weight Training/Team Sports (CP): C- <em>not on GPA</em></p>

<p>Semester Two
American Sign Language I (CP): A
Geometry (CP): A
English II (CP): A
Biology (CP): A
World History (CP): A
Sociology of American Pop Music (CP): A- </p>

<p>GPA for Sophomore Year: 4.0</p>

<pre><code> Junior Year:
</code></pre>

<p>Semester One
American Sign Language II (CP): A
Computer Programming (CP): A
Algebra II w/trig (H): A
Chemistry (H): A
US History (AP): A
English III (AP): A</p>

<p>Semester Two
American Sign Language II (CP): A
Algebra II w/trig (H): A
Chemistry (H): A
US History (AP): A
English III (AP): A
Psychology (AP): A</p>

<p>GPA for Junior year: 4.5</p>

<p>(Btw, I honestly feel like I scored a 5 on all three of my AP tests!!)</p>

<p>Summer School before Senior Year:
Life Skills (CP) A
Drama (CP) A
Senior Year: (only my schedule)</p>

<p>Semester One
American Sign Language III (CP):
Math Analysis w/Calc A (H):
Computer Science A (AP):
Physics B (AP):
English III (AP):
Economics (AP): </p>

<p>Semester Two
American Sign Language III (CP):
Math Analysis w/Calc A (H):
Computer Science A (AP):
Physics B (AP):
English III (AP):
US Government (AP):
<em>I am going to self-study Calc AB</em></p>

<p>So these are my stats, now time to move on to some other things...</p>

<p>10th grade PSAT: 158
11th grade PSAT: 200 (I know, holy crap. My had score jumped like crazy! This is mostly because I had relearned Algebra I on my spare time and I am also studying grammar in my spare time. I also do SAT prep)</p>

<p>SAT: Shooting for a 2200 (I feel very confident that I can do this).</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests:
US History, 780.
Hebrew, 800.
Math II, 700. (my lack of pre-calc, which is on the test).</p>

<p>Extra Curricular:</p>

<p>JV Football: 10, 11.
Varsity Football: 12 (I'ma make the team, again)
Beginning Peer Counselor: 10
Advanced Peer Counselor (very small acceptance rate, 18% get in): 11,12.
Tutor: 10, 11, 12.
FBLA: 10, 11, 12.
Internship: Two, both writing for different websites.
CIT at my camp, it was the whole summer (8 weeks and I slept there, you had to be accepted), I learned a lot about what it is to be a counselor: 11. (it's only one year, summer after sophomore year).</p>

<p>Started a sports fundraising club, raised 3 grand for sports teams at my school (many members, 20+, I am president): 11,12.</p>

<p>Community Service Hours: 150
Hobbies: I preform magic, professionally. I have done MANY paid shows and assisted in even more. I play piano. I also write movie plots, like real, most are over 30 pages, I just haven't pitched them to any director/ producer yet.
I also am trying to start a "5k for 5k." My goal is to raise 5 thousand dollars for food for underprivileged kids. I am very close to getting it submitted to my local police department and everything. It's gonna happen.</p>

<p>Thank you so much everyone! What do you guys think??</p>

2

<p>Oh, and my GPA is like a 4.3 right now. But that’s only Soph and Junior year!</p>

3

<p>I assume that by your GPA being a 4.3, you are speaking of weighted. I think that your freshman year is really going to hurt your unweighted GPA, so that’s a negative. On the bright side, you’ve overcome moving countries and appear to be on the right track. Whether or not this path will lead you to Stanford is really up to how well you do on standardized tests, essays, and letters of recommendation. None the less, I don’t think you have to worry that you will end up somewhere worthwhile. Keep up the good work and keep your fingers crossed, there’s always a chance that anything can happen!</p>

4

<p>That is way too long for me to want to read.</p>

<p>I would strongly suggest you condense it. Props to anyone who actually tries reading those walls of text.</p>

5

<p>

According to many posts on this site, Stanford does not include freshman year when computing HS GPA.</p>

6

<p>@austrohungarian
Do you know how to condense a post??</p>

<p>@jt1995
I think you misread my post, Counties, not Countries. lol. But yeah, I moved thirty miles. That was enough for me to not know anyone though, so that had hurt me socially. haha.</p>

<p>@Data10
Really?! That’s such a plus! That’s insane! YESSS!!! Because my school doesn’t rank, so it’s not like that had hurt me with ranking or anything.</p>

<p>Would you guys reccomend that I apply EA next year? Because I heard that it doubles my chances in getting in, something like 7% vs 13%? Or would you guys recommend that I apply to Cornell ED? Because although I’m not too into Cornell, I would go there, but my heart is set on Stanford.</p>

7

<p>SCEA for Stanford has a higher acceptance rate mainly because of the quality of applicants and a much smaller pool of students (~1/6 of total applicant) submitted for SCEA. One do not really get double the chance than regular applicant but a small advantage for those around the acceptance threshold. Around 10% SCEA applicants are deferred for RD. The one who got rejected in SECA (~80%) would also be reject if applied RD anyway but simply get an earlier notice. The tricky part is the Single Choice that you cannot apply to other EA/ED schools. For that reason, only very top students would take the risk and that led to the higher apparent acceptance rate.</p>

8

<p>@changedperson</p>

<p>Applying ED does NOT “double your chances”. Your chances are based on how strong your application is, how strong the applicant pool is and a bit of luck.</p>

<p>People who get in during the ED round would also have gotten in during the RD round.
The fact is that many of those highly qualified people apply during ED and fewer less qualified people is what determines the ED acceptance rate being higher.</p>

<p>@data10 - correct. They recalculate the GPA without freshman year, but since it is holistic admissions (vs. just numbers) I would expect they would look at that year.</p>

9

<p>Wow!!!</p>