Am I ON TRACK? chance a junior for IVIES!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Hi guys!</p>

<p>Stanford has been my dream since when I was little, and there are a bunch of reasons I can name... but I'm wondering if I'm on track to being accepted.</p>

<p>I'm a junior right now and here are my stats:</p>

<p>Location: Southern California:
Gender: Female
Race: Taiwanese (moved to the US when I was 10 and only knew the alphabet. Learned English entirely on my own. No tutors and no one spoke Chinese in my elementary school.)</p>

<p>Intended Major: Applied Math, Industrial Engineering, and/or Statistics. Probably also with a minor in Computer Science.</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 4.0/4.0
Class Rank: our school doesn't rank</p>

<p>APs:
AP Chinese (5, well I'm native, so...), AP Human Geography (5), AP Statistics (5, self-study)
This year taking AP Lang, AP Calc BC, AP Physics C, and AP Chemistry. Self-Studying AP Comp Sci.
Next year planning AP Bio, AP Psych (self-study), still undecided about AP Spanish.</p>

<p>SATs:
9th grade - 740 on Bio M
10th grade - 2200 (690 CR, 800 M, 710 WR)
11th grade - 800 on Math II C, taking SAT 1 again in December or January (aimming for >2250, at least).</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Piano - played since I was in kindergarten. qualified for state convention but couldn't go.<br>
Badminton - play nationally since fifth grade. won a few regional tournaments. (Stanford is only 8 miles from a professional badminton club, AWESOME!)
Varsity Soccer - started in sophomore year.
NASA INSPIRE (attended the SSE at VTech)
International Space Settlement Design Competition (school team qualified for international finals.)
Math Olympiads (5 on 2010 AIME I) - also doing USAMTS and ARML this year and taking classes at Art of Problem Solving.
Research (published two papers on biostatistics of Down Syndrome)
Marching Band (French Horn, played since seventh grade, expecting section leader next year)
High School Math Contest in Modeling (first time participating this year, don't know how it will turn out.)
Taking Physics and Multivariable Calculus at Stanford EPGY.
Also planning to participate in Physics and Chemistry Olympiad (not exactly preparing for these two though, focusing more on math olympiad)</p>

<p>School Clubs: JSA, Spanish Club (Historian), Spaceset</p>

<p>My Summers:
9th: went to Johnson Space Center for finalist round of the Space Settlement Design Competition.
10th: attended the NASA INSPIRE two-week program at Virginia Tech. (loved it)
11th: don't know yet. applying to RSI, Clarks, NASA internship at JPL, or COSMOS. Most likely will do a science project to submit for Siemens or Intel STS.</p>

<p>SCHOOLS:</p>

<p>STANFORD <-- TOP CHOICE. NO DOUBT.
Also considering MIT, Caltech, and UC Berkeley.</p>

<p>These are probably all reach schools (or dream schools) for me, but I haven't really thought about what my safety and best-match schools (I'm thinking USC, UCLA, UCSD??) would be, so please suggest some too!</p>

2

<p>Oh and I forgot!</p>

<p>Volunteer/Community Services: Volunteer for ~30 hours at hospital, coaching mathcounts at a local middle school (our team won chapter competitions), right now trying to start a badminton class at my city recreation program. Also will start volunteering at the Discovery Science Center after soccer season ended.</p>

<p>Job/Work Services: Did some receptionist work at my dad’s clinic. Help him organize/digitize his patient data to do research.</p>

3

<p>You have impressive stats and resume. Stanford and the Ivies are reaches for all, since so many qualified candidates get rejections each year. You definitely will be competive and I think you have a shot at some of these top tier schools. You are a match at UCBerkeley. Make sure you sign and return the transcript release form for your ELC status at the UC’s (top 4%). Good luck!</p>

4

<p>Thanks for helping!</p>

<p>I just looked up the ELC, and it was a bit confusing, so it seems like it’s some kind of guaranteed admission program? It looks pretty interesting. Thanks again!</p>

5

<p>bump bump bump bump bumpp</p>

6

<p>Yes, you are on the right track. Remember with EC’s, its about depth, not breadth. </p>

<p>One more thing, I know you have very high standards for yourself (which is a good thing) but take some time to also have fun :slight_smile: It’s important. You don’t want to slog miserably through high school; find a balance between work and play. I wish you the best of luck! :)</p>

7

<p>You are a well accomplished and obviously talented person. But to summarize–you are a populous state Asian with top scores; piano, badminton, and science competitions as major EC’s.</p>

<p>Your challenge is that there is probably no more stereotypical description of the high performing applicant to the uber-selective schools than what I have just described. There will be many hundreds/thousands of applicants just like you in broad terms. The trap for you is that the better you do at these things, the more stereotypical you become. To paraphrase a New York Times article, the recent rise in application numbers means that ad coms are finding themselves rejecting multiples of the same kid.</p>

<p>So how do you stand out? That is your challenge. If you could win a major competition, that would help. But if you can find something you are passionate about that is not so stereotypical, that would help.</p>

<p>Please do not have your heart set on Stanford. Of all the super-selective schools, it is the most unpredictable in its pattern of acceptances. There is a school out there that will challenge and reward you, and for you–as with everyone–it is probabilistically not Stanford.</p>

8

<p>I think you have great chances, especially when applying to MIT, since there are not at as many girls as guys applying. Stanford wants their applicants to have great personalities (they do not emphasize the vitality of the SAT as much as Harvard or Yale does). I would recommend to make your essay reflect who you are as a person and not as a rocket scientist :stuck_out_tongue:
Don’t take my words as facts, since I am from Sweden and I probably don’t know as much about Stanford as you do ;)</p>

9

<p>@ AudreyH, true… that’s what I felt like sometimes. I love to learn, and there’s so many things I want to learn about, yet sometimes I feel like I’m killing myself.</p>

<p>@ UT84321, thanks for your feedback. I really don’t know if I would win a major competition, but I’m aiming for Outstanding in the HiMCM contest and possibly Semifinalist at Siemen’s. Hopefully that will help? Also, non-academic-related, I trained badminton with competitive school teams (members are to-be professionals) in Taiwan pretty much every single summer (when I’m not at summer camp or anything like that). Before high school, I can easily play up to 7 hours day without even thinking about it, and this summer, I still average about 4~5 hours a day. I know I probably won’t be accepted solely on this since badminton is not a major sport in the US, but I guess that shows how much I love this sport and how hard I’ve worked for it. Would that help in terms of standing out?</p>

<p>@SwedishChris, I would definitely be very happy with MIT too! I really don’t care too much about the SATs; just looking at the practice tests is painful. I think if I can get a 2250 superscore, I should be fine with most Ivies. I’m not very sure about this though, so…?</p>

10

<p>Try to get into one of the prestigious/competitive summer programs. You need to be applying this fall/winter. PROMYS and RSI for math/science and TASP for humanities are highly regarded.</p>