Are My Freshman Grades Good Enough For Stanford?

I go to a small Catholic private school. I’m a little worried about my grades and schedule.

Algebra 1: A
English 9 Honors: A-
Physical Education: A
Biology: A
Spanish 1: A
World Geography/Financial Literacy: A
Theology 9: A

Could I get rejected from Stanford if I took Algebra 1 as a freshman and got an A- in English?

Here is my sophomore schedule

AP US History
Precalculus
Chemistry
English 10 Honors
Theology 11/12 ( I have to take this because Theology 10 doesn’t fit into my schedule)
Spanish 2
Art 1A/1B

With a 95% rejection rate, most people will not be accepted, in the end. Your grades are very good, just keep doing what you’re doing.

Why do you particularly want to go to Stanford?

I want to go to Stanford because of their oncology program

Stanford does not have an Oncology program for Undergraduate education. This is a specialization you would do after Medical school in a Residency program.

https://oncology.stanford.edu

http://med.stanford.edu

You realize you need to do to your Undergrad degree first, then apply to Medical school and even attending Stanford as an Undergrad does not guarantee you admission into their Medical school.

Here is a link on how to become an Oncologist:

http://doctorly.org/how-to-become-an-oncologist/

Yes, I do realize that.

Thank you so much.

So you can go to any college to get your Bachelor’s degree to apply to Medical school. What sets Stanford apart from the rest of the excellent colleges where you could achieve the same goal? I think you are too early in the process to be thinking about any specific colleges especially one like Stanford where the your chances will be low regardless of an exceptional application.

Just continue to work hard, make sure you do some ACT/SAT test prep, find some EC’s where your passion shows through and enjoy HS.

Would I be able to do cancer research as an undergrad?

BTW, Stanford does not consider Freshman grades for the application review although a transcript with your Freshman grades is needed for your application.

From the Stanford website:
Transcript
We will focus our evaluation on your coursework and performance in 10th, 11th and 12th grades, primarily in the core academic subjects of English, mathematics, science, foreign language and history/social studies. We want to see that you have challenged yourself by taking accelerated, honors, Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate courses if they are offered at your school.

It is way too early to think about specific colleges (especially the hyper-competitive ones). You don’t even have one full year’s GPA and you have no standardized testing. You also need to recognize that HS should be an experience in and of itself – a time of learning and growth and not just a 4 year college application prep experience.

It is good to take school seriously and know that college will be on your horizon, but it is too early to start planning for specific colleges. I would highly recommend that you get off of CC until your junior year.

For now you should focus on:
–Working hard, learning, and doing as well as you can in the most challenging curriculum you can manage.
–When the time comes study for standardized tests.
–Continue your involvement in activities you care about and work towards making meaningful contributions to those activities.
–Enjoying spending time with your family and friends.

I’d strongly recommend that you give up the idea of a dream school. Stanford’s acceptance rate this year was a ridiculously low 4.28%. That means there was not enough space for all of the wonderfully well qualified applicants. The school must be considered to be a long-shot for any unhooked applicant.

When the time comes (junior year) work to create a solid college list that includes reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (find out your parents’ budget and run the net price calculator for each school) and that you would be excited to attend. The people I see who get hurt by the college admission process are the ones who focus on one or two hyper-competitive schools and then don’t get in. You need to expand your horizons and recognize that there are many wonderful schools out there where you can have a great 4 year experience and get where you want to go in life.

I’m a sophomore now

You are a rising sophomore. Its summer break. Its still too early. Focus on your extracurricular so you don’t look like a serial joiner.

You have not started your sophomore year. I stand by every one of my comments except that you do have ONE year of a high school GPA. It is too early to get your heart set on any one college. And IMO your time can be much more constructively spent at this point in your life than focusing on one specific college.