Okay… I’ll nuance my question a bit. I’m not sure if you might know the answer, but what colleges does Stanford Medicine usually accept med students? Is there a preference of accepting students from other prestigious universities or large state schools – or is consideration only given to the strength of the individual’s application (the essays, the MCAT score, the GPA, the recommendations, etc.) without too much regard for the undergraduate institution they attended?
@Era991 @riley2 hahah thanks!!
wow it’s great to hear they have a classical music scene too. I play the violin and was pretty good, top of my graduating class ever since middle school all the way to senior year. but I’m kind of scared I won’t be as good as other students since they’re probably higher income and have taken private lessons or have more expensive instruments or have been in youth conservatory groups… (but this insecurity stems from my high school district-wise honor orchestra days where i was well aware of how other students in our school district were able to afford all of that fancy stuff and to play beautifully…my music teachers always offered to let me to rent a violin at school because my own was really below my level). do these orchestra/classical music groups allow students to rent instruments if they don’t have one or if the one they have is just not up to standards? do they offer any private lesson programs?
does stanford have any animation or voice-over facilities/studios? what about video game development?
Hello, I am a current high school student, and thanks for this awesome thread! It’s 2017 so I’m not sure if it is still open for questions, but, I’ll give it a shot!! Which classes did you take in high school? Also, I understand that Stanford is a school that emphasizes S.T.E.M.
I would like to think that the fact that I am a female coder, have been interviewed and have worked with M.I.T., and have taught coding for numerous years would give me an advantage in the admission process… except for the fact that my real passion lies in English and writing, and will probably be applying as a Communications/Journalism major. Is this a turnoff for the school/ how does it affect my application?
@otoribashi
I can add a little bit. Re competition for ensembles, yes there will be a lot of advantaged kids competing for spots…but there are also a lot of options. I’m sure you can find an opportunity to play. There are private lessons offered as a course for credit. These do carry an additional cost, but financial aid could cover it. Finally, there is a musical instrument library with rare and fine violins from which you can check out an instrument for use for up to a year, I believe. You will want to look into that. Otherwise, there are several shops in the area that rent violins.
@IsabellaMai It’s not very meaningful to characterize us as “a school that emphasizes STEM” because we excel across all departments, and admissions accepts an appropriately diverse student body. Personally I’d be interested in seeing an unusual candidate with passions in both CS and English, but as I’ve said countless times I’m not a reader and no one really knows what goes on in their minds.
@Era991 How prevalent is opioid or drug (not sure whether to include alcohol here) addiction among Stanford undergrad students? If there are, I am sure they hide their addictions pretty well, so it would be hard to tell . . . but was wondering based on your experience.
As a side issue, I don’t know what the big deal is about Stanford being better known for their CS and applied engineering departments. I mean, Stanford’s non-STEM departments are still among the tops, just as Harvard has some top STEM departments even though most people view Harvard as a non-STEM college. I mean, for a large national university, Stanford comes as close as well-rounded as possible imo in STEM, Social Sciences, Humanities and athletics. I actually like the fact that my kid will be pursuing a non-STEM field at Stanford because that will mean less number of students for each professor.
@websensation This is my experience, though it’s possible it’s changed since I graduated: True addiction to non-alcohol drugs was exceedingly rare. I actually never knowingly encountered a student with one. There were many frequent users of marijuana, but I didn’t know any who fit the clinical criteria for addiction. There were probably a handful of smokers with nicotine addictions somewhere, but cigarettes were so uncommon on campus that I practically never saw them. Even simple use of non-alcohol/marijuana/nicotine substances was pretty uncommon, really. Opioids themselves were exceptionally rare, and stimulants were also very uncommon; hallucinogens were somewhat more common, but even then fairly infrequently used or spoken of.
Alcohol use, on the other hand, was much more common, but I’m sure there are no surprises here. Alcoholism did exist, but it was uncommon enough that it generally did not affect dorm culture or campus culture at all. Where it did exist, staff kept on top of the issue.
So in short, Stanford really doesn’t have a “hard drug” culture. Alcohol and marijuana were the only substances with enough of a presence on campus to be noticeable in any meaningful way, not unlike many other colleges.
My female cousin’s white female daughter:
- is a rising high school senior
- thinks she wants to be a doctor and specialize in pediatric cardiology
- Is a solid student and has about a 3.77 gpa unweighted
- ECs are cheerleading, and significant involvement in special olympics and helping special needs kids.
- Modest income. He is enlisted in the military. A Staff Sargent, I believe.
- May be first gen. My cousin attended college, but I am not sure she finished.
- Has taken no AP's, but "might consider trying it Senior Year, but Stanford does not require them."
- Has not taken any subject tests. "Stanford doesn't require them."
- Took a recent SAT for the first time. Her mother did not share the score, but I would be very surprised if she scored over 1350.
The daughter apparently “…has pretty much decided on Stanford”, and her mother claims that the guidance counselor told them that “she has an excellent chance.”
She is a great kid and I did not want to discourage them. However, I was concerned about the narrow application approach, so I told her mother that she has a shot, but the odds of getting in are small like everyone elses, so she needs to apply more broadly.
The parents agreed to let her apply to 4 additional schools “just in case”. That relieved my concern for a while and I suggested that Washington and Washington State could be great in-state pre-med options for her to consider.
Then, last week I see on Facebook that they drove from Washington to visit Harvard. (I am not kidding). I sent her a text suggesting that applying to Stanford or Ivies is fine, but she needs to be sure to apply for some safety and match schools too.
I have to think that many Stanford grads come into contact with this situation all of the time where students and parents really have no idea about the level of competition for a seat at a top 10 school. How do you go about trying to guide them so they have a good chance to end up somewhere that is a good match for them, without being overly discouraging?
I’ve heard many times that the culture at Stanford is very Silicon Valley, entrepreneurial and startup-oriented. My son is hesitant about applying to Stanford because of this, he’s a “quiet scientist” type and wants to work in research. Will he feel out of place if admitted, or is this an oversimplification?
Visit campus. You’ll see it’s a gross oversimplification by people who know nothing about the school and likely never visited once. Again, I was pre-med, and even my humanities and social sciences friends never “felt out of place.”
@Era991 In fact, he did visit Stanford and this was one of the things the tour guide seemed to emphasize 
@yucca10 Ha did they really? My tour guide buddies were always careful not to overemphasize that. As an example, you can see by how large the undergrad, grad, postdoc, and faculty percentage in biology & related life sciences depts that your son will be in very good company. Or just look at all the Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine, along with in Chemistry and Physics.
@Era991 I’ll be a freshman at Stanford this fall and I have some questions about college life.
- How many THINK/Introsems do most people take?
- Is there anything awesome about Larkin House in Stern?
- What’s a good number of units to take fall quarter? Stanford recommends 12-15 for incoming frosh, but I’d like to get a more personal viewpoint. Because I went to a high school where it was relatively easy for me to do well, it’ll definitely take me some adjusting (thinking about 15 units right now).
@theglowingdragon Sorry for the concise response, life is quite busy right now, but I wanted to respond to your questions promptly, if only briefly.
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One THINK is required if I’m not mistaken. Most people took one introsem.
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I always tended to like the Larkin staff. One of my best friends who I still remain in touch with was Larkin staff (and I was not). I think their RFs do a good job of attracting and selecting student staff.
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I think (?) I explained this in much more detail earlier in this thread, see if you can find that post. Sorry if I’m misremembering. Short version is please do listen to your staff and not taken more than 15 units no matter what. Nothing wrong with taking just 12. Even though theoretically 1 unit = 3 hrs/wk, this conversion does not hold true for many classes. Talk to your Larkin staff for details on how much work your classes that you’re planning on taking will be.
Just another voice. My son (Stanford 2020) took 12 hours in his first quarter and I think it was a good move. In the first quarter there is so much going on - so much change. No need to take 15 or more.
My daughter and I will be traveling from Florida to visit Stanford in September. She is interested in engineering but all of the engineering tours are full. Just wondering if you have any suggestions on how to make the most of our visit. Should we meet with an admissions officer? Could we try to meet with an engineering professor - or is an information session and touring the campus adequate to get a feel for the environment and determine if it seems to be a fit?
@Era991 I just applied REA. I go to online school, which is based out of a city 4-5 hours away from where I live. On the Stanford website, it states that they assign alumni interviews based off of school location. Should I contact Stanford to tell them that I live further away so they assign me an interview that is nearby? It would be a huge inconvenience to drive 10 hours just for an interview, what do you think?
I would probably wait until you get assigned an interview. It might be easier to have the local alumni chapter leaders reassign the interview to a closer alum, if necessary, than to have the busy admissions office do it.
Okay, thank you so much!
Does each interviewer interview multiple people from the same area? Is it possible that I will get the same interviewer as one of my classmates who applied REA?
Also, do I have to submit IB predicted grades?