Another SCEA, another new CCer.

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>I know that as a first post a "what are my chances" question is probably looked down upon. But this tradition of CC seems intriguing, and seeing as I already have my sights set on Stanford (failing that, Harvard; failing that, a full ride that will hopefully stem from National Merit Scholarship) I may as well see what the rest of the college seeking crowd thinks of my transcript. I read a post, though I can't remember where or when, that suggested everybody who made a "chances" thread spend some time at the beginning of their post explaining their college choice. So here goes.</p>

<p>Stanford stands out to me most for a couple of reasons. 1) It's west coast. Having spent (wasted) most of my education in Indiana, the sun and surf and varied culture of California really appeal to me. 2) It's not a specialty school. While I'm most interested in physics right now, I want to be in a place where I can feel comfortable taking courses in any discipline, possibly working towards a minor or second major in philosophy or linguistics or anything, and know that my professors are top quality. 3) Even if the professors aren't that great, you can't beat good name recognition. 4) Given my parents income and Stanford's financial aid policy for undergraduates, mom and dad won't have to pay a cent for my education. We're stretched pretty thin money-wise right now, especially with the less-than-complete scholarship from my current ritzy private school, and a good policy here is a huge consideration for me. </p>

<p>That's why I want Stanford. And here's why Stanford either will or will not want me back:</p>

<p>Grade 9:
Algebra I honors (credit from 8th grade) A/A
Algebra II honors A/A
Biology honors B+/A-
Physics honors A
English 9 honors A/A/A
Spanish 1 A/A
Orientation to Life and Careers A
PE A
Keyboarding A
Communication Enterprises A
Health A</p>

<p>Between 9th and 10th grade I moved to Oman and started at a small private school that operates on a semester system. The "A+" is given for having 97% or above in a given class, and the GPA is weighted as 4.3. Any AP designation, assuming a C or higher is earned, adds .5 GPA points to that class. </p>

<p>Grade 10:
Pre-Calc A/A+
Geometry A+/--
Chemistry A/A+
English 10 A/A
World History II A-/A
Arabic I A+/A+
Choir A+/A+</p>

<p>Grade 11:
AP Calc AB A+/A+
AP Chemistry A/A
(online: BYU) Physics A+/A+
AP English Lang A+/A+
US History A/A
Arabic II A+/A+
Publications A/A
(self study) AP Calc BC</p>

<p>Summer:
(online: BYU) Lifetime Weight Control A+</p>

<p>Grade 12:
Multivariable Calc (as a one-on-one tutorial with a competent teacher, will be heavily proof-based)
AP Physics C
AP English Lit
AP Comparative Gov
Arabic III
Publications</p>

<p>GPA (for only 10th and 11th grade core subjects, as per Stanford's system):
Weighted: 4.29
Unweighted: 3.99</p>

<p>SAT I: 2400 (of course 800/800/800, but the writing breaks down as 80 and 11, for the MC and essay respectively)
SAT II: Chem 780
Math II pending
Literature pending
AP: Calc BC, Chemistry, English Language---scores pending, but I expect and (of course) hope for 5s. I broke down and called on July 1st, but my scores weren't available, and 17 days later I'm still hearing the same automated phone message.</p>

<p>Class Rank: Not calculated by my school. But for the sake of completeness, I'm 1 / 23. Yeah, not the biggest pond.</p>

<p>ECs, sports, the like:
-Knowledge Masters 9th grade
-Tree Huggers Club 9th grade (an environmentally inclined community service group)
-Varsity Basketball 10th-12th (starting center)
*1st place TAISM Invitational int'l tourney in Muscat, Oman, grade 10
*5th place ISAC Varsity int'l tourney in Kuwait City, Kuwait, grade 11
*will attend ISAC Varsity int'l tourney in Abu Dhabi, UAE, grade 12
-Festival of Choirs, participant, 10th grade (int'l choir event, singing and concerts and all manner of horrible things...this was before I discovered that Publications counts as a fine art credit in my school)
-International math competition in Mumbai, India 10th grade (finished 4th of 38)
-Taught BC calc material to another student in 11th grade without help from teaching staff
-Will teach BC calc to several students 12th grade, same situation
-Writer for school newspaper 11th-12th
-Copy editor for school newspaper 11th-12th
-Intern for Herald News newspaper in Cayuga, IN 9th-12th (mostly in summers, but had assignments during the school year as well)
-Minor landscaping and house maintenance jobs 9th-12th summers</p>

<p>I’m planning to apply to Stanford SCEA, for whatever that’s worth.</p>

<p>I suppose the fact that there is no enforced drinking age in Oman and I spend most weekends "crossing cultures" with the Brits and South Africans and all other ex-pats and Arabs who frequent the pubs won't help my application. But that is a major part of the ex-pat culture in this country and is, I think, worth mentioning here.</p>

<p>Extraneous (I hope) information:
17 year old Caucasian male from a lower-middle class family. Starting grade 12 in the fall. Speak only English fluently, though am falling in love with Arabic. Have dreadlocks. Just stopped skateboarding avidly to spend more time on basketball. Far prefer the term “friends with benefits” to its slightly more vulgar counterpart that ends in “-buddies.” First word of preceding phrase rhymes with buck and chuck. Love being in the relationship that both terms describe. Am finding myself with lots of dead time this summer (seeing as it takes my hair about a week to dry) to surf the web and find new websites and forums.</p>

<p>I guess that's everything I can think of, and I better stop before I lose my entire reading audience to boredom. So...what’re my chances?</p>

2

<p>Assuming you are US citizen, your chances are probably very good.</p>

3

<p>Here's what I can tell you:</p>

<p>You're an engaging writer, you sound like an interesting person, and your academic record is about as good as they get. ECs are not spectacular, but my guess is that, providing you allow yourself to shine in your essays, Stanford would love to have you.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

4

<p>...First place in an international competition isn't spectacular? Wow, I guess everyone else's ECs might as well be worth absolutely nothing then. </p>

<p>Anyway, skatearabia, with those stats you probably have a very good shot. Of course, nothing's certain when it comes to Stanford since they still rejected 65% of all their 4.0 GPA+2400 SAT applicants last year, but you still have a better chance than most.</p>

5

<p>Lifetime Weight Control?</p>

6

<p>Wow, a "what are my chances post" that was actually enjoyable to read. Your extraneous information is extremely important--Stanford is well known for its preference in terminology.</p>

<p>Your academic record is stellar, your list of activities/accomplishments beats the hell of my resume when I was an applicant last year (in fact it beat the hell out, and put it back in just so it could beat the hell out of my resume again), and the fact that you're taking Arabic is freaking cool (I wish I had that oppurtunity at my school). Just get a good set of recommendations and kick ass on those four tortuous, yet extremely fun essays, and I'd say you have a great shot.</p>

7

<p>i second what everyone else has said. academically and extracurricular-ly (is that a neologism, or an actual word?), you are excellent. and you seem to have an interesting personality and background. supported by good recs and essays, i would say that you would are pretty likely to be accepted scea.</p>

8

<p>First of all, as a potential physics major why isn't SLAC one of the reasons you want to go to Stanford? </p>

<p>How big of a deal are the international tournaments? If someone really knows high school basketball would they be impressed? Honestly it might not even matter I'm just curious. </p>

<p>Make sure you write good essays that really show who you are and don't just try to tell them what you think they want to hear. You can tell you've written a good essay if you think "Wow, that's so me!" after you write the essay or if you might have a friend read it if you want to quickly explain who you are and what's important to you. </p>

<p>How do the students at your high school normally do in terms of college placement? Have many students gone to Stanford?</p>

9

<p>Thanks a lot to everybody for your encouragement. This was the first time that I'd ever looked at my academic stats as a whole, and it's nice to get positive feedback from total strangers. </p>

<p>nngmm, I am a US citizen, and I should have put that in the initial post.</p>

<p>The ECs: if the list is good I think it's only because all the competitions are international. I'm lucky to be in a place where that's the norm---if they were only local events, I'd agree with Tetragrammaton that the list is sub par because there's no demonstrated leadership, etc.</p>

<p>2boysima, Lifetime Weight Control is maybe the easiest online high school course offered anywhere on the internet. As a cake class it probably doesn't look very good on the transcript, but I needed a half credit of PE before senior year (gotta keep my free period!) and it was the only one that didn't require an 8-10 week diet and exercise log.</p>

<p>somebodynew, what do you mean by "Stanford is well known for its preference in terminology?"</p>

<p>marlgirl, SLAC isn't in my reasons because for undergrad I'm looking for a really strong theoretical education. Any serious research, and the accelerator is a definitely a serious piece of equipment, should I think be done in graduate school. The international tournaments I've been in are pretty small affairs. My team would be killed by any half-decent stateside team, so if the person really knew high school basketball, they wouldn't necessarily be impressed by athletic ability. Hopefully though, the international flavor will work to my advantage. My school is quite young (next year will be its eighth) and they haven't had many students go on to good colleges. Mostly state schools and the like, and nobody to the ivies, Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, etc. A girl last year got into Boston College, and that was a really big deal for the school.</p>

<p>Thanks again to everyone. If you could answer me another question or two in this thread, I'd appreciate it. When the admissions essays are read, will it be as a set of four by one person, or will they be split up and read separately? And is it true that Stanford tends to either accept or reject, not defer, most early applicants?</p>

10

<p>Several people will read your entire application. Essays are a set that allows you to show different sides of your personality, so they will get an idea of what kind of person you are.</p>

<p>Stanford rejects about 50% of SCEA applicants (approx 20% are accepted and 30% deferred).</p>

11

<p>I must say, I love the way you write. Truly engaging.</p>

<p>Clearly, you're articulate, intelligent and motivated; I think your chances are excellent.</p>

12

<p>Stanford: Slight Reach</p>

13

<p>nngmm, I believe only 20% were deferred last year, so they reject roughly 60%. </p>

<p>Anyway, yeah, Stanford rejects a LOT more people EA than other schools like say, Harvard. Supposedly Harvard only rejects 5% of the EA pool outright and just defers everyone they don't accept (I'm not sure if the rejection rate is really that low, but that's just what I've heard).</p>

14

<p>
[quote]
somebodynew, what do you mean by "Stanford is well known for its preference in terminology?"

[/quote]
</p>

<p>'Twas a joke refering to "friends w/ benefits vs. the one that ends in buddies".</p>

15

<p>Aha, I see, I see. And now I have that sinking feeling one gets when one sees the tail end of a joke flying over one's head.</p>