Any chance in hell?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>I am a Hispanic male Senior from southern California. Here are my stats.</p>

<p>Current GPA: 4.0 uw, 4.5 w (GPA 4.58 sophmore+junior year)
Rank: 1 of 529</p>

<p>AP/honors courses taken:
Freshmen (Eng.1 honors, world hist honors)
Sophmore (AP Bio, AP World, Eng.2 Hon, Algebra 2 hon.)
Junior (AP Chem, AP US, Eng.3 Hon)
Senior (AP Gov, AP Calculus)----currently taking</p>

<p>ACT Score: 30 comp. (33 math, 27 english, 30 science, 29 reading)</p>

<p>Will take SAT I and SAT II's in Oct/Nov.</p>

<p>AP scores: AP Bio (4), AP World (4), AP Chem (4), AP US (4)
AP scholar with Honor award</p>

<p>EC's: (crap, trust me)
Chess club (10th-12th), Positions: Co-founder 10th, Vice-President 12th
Junior Statesmen of America (11th-12th)
Creative Minds (art club) (11th-12th) Positions: Treasurer 12th
National Honors Society (12th)
Playing Electric Guitar (2-3 hours daily since 8th grade)</p>

<p>Other stuff:
MESA National Champion 8th grade (2nd place)
MESA Regional Champion 9th grade
Honor Roll (9th-12th)</p>

<p>My scores could be better, but I don't think I will top the ACT 30 even though it was my first time taking it. I didn't start my EC's till way late, thus they aren't great. Thanks for your input.</p>

2

<p>This is really frustrating, if anyone can understand why.</p>

3

<p>I know what you're getting out, but I think the OP, whether they realized it or not, might be more right than they thought. While the GPA and class rank are both excellent, there is a glaring hole in your stats: EC's. Your standardized test scores could ding you as well, unless you get a good score on the SAT.</p>

<p>Your EC's really don't communicate any sort of passion to me. Hopefully you'll be able to make yourself come alive in your essays, and that will give your application as a whole more life.</p>

4

<p>Well its sort of hard to determine passion from a basic transcript. I pretty much play guitar all the time (2-3 hours a day). In a world where I leave at 7 get home at 4, that gives me about 4-5 hours for homework,dinner, and everything else in life, considering I try to go to bed at around 11. I am sorry you feel this way, but that is all I can offer. I am not too smart compared to the rest of my class, but my work ethic trumps them all. That's why I have an ACT score of 30, while everyone else in the top ten has a 31-34 range yet still can't top my determination. That's what I plan to show Stanford. I work hard, love music (as a self taught musician), and plan on continuing my studies.</p>

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<p>lol dood you can live in any fantasy you want, but docketgold is stating fact.
music or not, ec's matter.. and i mean real ec's.</p>

6

<p>Metallica,
give it your best shot (write good essays, get great recs), and see what happens. Your URM status will help you. Just make sure you have a back-up plan.</p>

7

<p>Suggestion: send a cd or dvd of you playing the guitar. With that kind of time in, you must be awesome by now. And, just for good measure, send your version of "Master of Puppets." I'd give it a shot anyway...</p>

8

<p>since you're valedictorian AND a URM, that will be a huge boost. However, you need to win some awards and concentrate on your ECs to truly make yourself stand out, because at a place like Stanford, great grades simply won't cut it.</p>

9

<p>You're valedictorian? Wow that's pretty terrible. No shot in hell. Go study some more.</p>

10

<p>I'm sorry you took my comments the way you did, I didn't mean them to offend, I was merely giving you my opinion of the information you gave us.</p>

<p>I wish you could get admitted to a college based at least in part on your work ethic, but unfortunately that is not the case. And with an ACT score of 30, and several AP's with a score of 1, no amount of work ethic will be able to tip scales so heavily weighted against you. I think if you score well on the SAT you can at least counterbalance a low ACT score. You'd probably want to score in the ballpark of 2300+ in order ot do that. And of course, your status as a URM will help you.</p>

<p>But your second post also made clear to me what your passion is - music. I think you should be sure to emphasize that in your application. Write an essay about it, and if you've ever done anything even halfway organized involving music BE SURE to include that - it lends a lot of substance to say the least. Good luck!</p>

11

<p>His AP scores are all 4s, not 1s. ACT of 30 isn't great, but it's not an automatic rejection either, especially for URM...</p>

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<p>i hope you get your SAT score and get in
once ur in hell, ur done lol
maybe the minority stat will give you advantage
ya rly 1/529... go study more</p>

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<p>You guys have a point, but then again you don't go to my school, so you don't know what its like. My educational opportunities are so limited, you could never understand. 8 AP classes in the entire school, only, while most transcripts I see people have 6 AP's just senior year, so... that's all I can say. I am not as smart as others, but I work hard, and that counts for a lot considering 30 is still within the Stanford average of 28-33 (based on College Board figures). I am not too worried about my scores or grades, just my EC's at this point. And if I went to your school (Jdorian/alohasam89) I would still be valedictorian. Scores don't really mean **** anyways. Grades show work spent over many years, while a test shows work spent over the course of 4 hours, it just doesn't show anything true about the person besides how good of a test taker they are. </p>

<p>Proof: the 2nd ranked guy at my school got a 28 on his ACT. Ranks (3-7) got scores ranging from 31-34, and ranks 8-10 got 30's. What does that show, nothing? Does a 28 mean this kid can't do work, no it means he sucks at tests. Its such **<strong><em>. How can someone who got a 28 and someone who got a 30 pwn everyone else, ranks 3-7 who all got scores ranging from 31-34. Hard work, not brain power dumb *</em></strong>s. Just because at other schools high grades means high scores, that doesn't hold * here. Me and rank number 2 aren't as great of test takers as we could be, yet in class we can't be topped. We just study more and don't let those who "think" they are so elite beat us. So you shouldn't judge based upon anything. I hope you learned a lesson today, but you probably didn't cause you are in disbelief. I am just an "anomalie" in your supposed perfect equation. I am also Mexican too, not white or asian. Putas. lol.</p>

<p>Here are the other schools I am applying to for those who want to know my backup plan.</p>

<p>UCI- Safety, UCSD-Safety, UCLA,USC, Pomona- Reach
(All in Southern California)- less than 75 miles from my house</p>

<p>Stanford- Big Reach. (Palo Alto)- 400 miles away.</p>

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<p>That's all well and good, but what you seem to be failing to understand is that the people who will be reading your application, seeing your test scores, etc. do not go to your high school. More importantly, they do not know you, all they see is what's printed on the paper - so whether your a hard worker in real life doesn't matter, it showing through on your application does.</p>

<p>At this point, you need to be making absolutely, positively sure that your college counselor will be sending a school profile along with your application. This will describe to Stanford exactly what opportunities you had available to you and will basically ensure that they don't hold whatever limited opportunities you had because of the high school you attended.</p>

<p>As for the diatribe on test scores, I'm sure no one here would disagree with you that in an ideal world standardized test scores wouldn't be a part of college admissions. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and so the fact of the matter is that the system is unfair for people who 'test poorly'. No one's disputing that either. I think peoples' point is that unfortunately for the vast majority of applicants, scores like 30 or 31 on the ACT just aren't good enough. If you become the exception to the rule, good on ya, and certainly don't let us keep you from applying by any means, but recognize that the people on this forum see student profile's day in and day out, and there are damn good applicants with a lot higher scores who have gotten rejected.</p>

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<p>You keep saying that you are not that smart, but you are a hard worker. I really hope that you are under-estimating yourself, because to be successful at a school like Stanford you really, really need to be both smart AND hard working, especially if you plan to pursue a major in hard sciences.</p>

<p>Your URM status will help you in admissions, but not after that.</p>

16

<p>The facts are that the college admissions process is too uncertain to guarantee chances. That's what I have learned. There have been people who have been accepted to Stanford but denied by UCLA, and vice versa. The world of college admissions is too randomized in many ways, all depending upon the current years' applicants. Docketgold you are right on many things, and it is true that it will be hard for me to get it. Others higher have been denied and other lower have gotten in, but it is a slim chance, I know this. And in reply to (nngmm) I am smart, but not as test-taking smart as others. I am more of a hard-worker than a genius, and I believe that will better predict college success. Yes you need both, but its not like a severly lack in either. I am not "as good" as I can be, which is about a 32 on the ACT, but I am close. So I am not underestimating myself, I am just honestly representing my strengths and weaknesses in comparison.</p>

<p>Thank you for all the information. I have found that this site is helpful somewhat, but the truth is that no one knows the chances of any applicant. Not to diss the site, because it is great for helping stressed out kids about college, but I think we have to stand back and realize what matters and what doesn't. I have a chance at Stanford, a slim chance in hell, but nonetheless a chance. The funny thing is I am still debating whether I will apply due to locational issues.</p>

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<p>being a hard worker will raise doubts in your application about whether you will be able to handle the work at Stanford along with activities. There is not much to you than schoolwork is what you are showing. Work ethic means very little. Natural Intelligence is key to doing well at any top school.</p>

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<p>you should read this article, collegehopeful:
<a href="http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2007/marapr/features/dweck.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2007/marapr/features/dweck.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>
[quote]
but the truth is that no one knows the chances of any applicant

[/quote]
</p>

<p>of course not! But if you realize that, why did you start this thread???</p>

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<p>If Stanford is your dream, throw them an app. Put your all into it. You have some safeties and matches, and if you are happy attending them and the $$$ works out, then you have nothing to lose by applying to Stanford. The ECs are an issue, but what will your recs and essays have to say? A 30 is nothing to be ashamed of.</p>