Thanks for the replies earlier. If you don’t mind, I have some more questions (hopefully they haven’t been asked before):
How would you say high school impacted your college experience? As in, what about high school mattered in college?
Is it hard to get straight A’s in a premed track at Stanford? I’ve read that it can be hard to manage straight A’s (4.0 GPA) at any college, but I usually hear that about social sciences or subjects like that.
With the use of AP credits, it is feasible to complete a premed track in 3 years (at Stanford, or any college) and go to medical school on the fourth year?
My question mirrors his… My dream school is Stanford and I really hope I get accepted but I’m not sure how feasible it is to maintain a 3.9+ GPA. What was your GPA when you applied to medical school?
How is the grading/competitive culture of Stanford? Not to toot my horn, but where I’m at I’m the top of my class (decent size high school in the middle of nowhere lol) and 36 ACT so I’ve had a pretty good time here. I hope I’m not at the bottom of the pack at a place like Stanford.
How did you study for the MCAT? Length of time, when did you take it, books you used?
How many premeds do you think there are at Stanford?
High school didn’t impact my college too much other than that I happened to find my intellectual passion and favorite hobbies in high school, and continued to pursue them in college. That said, many people go into undergrad “undifferentiated,” and you should expect to find new passions and hobbies and be open to changing majors.
GPA: Straight A's is not too difficult as long as you prioritize properly and don't overcommit. As I believe I mentioned earlier, the root of the vast majority of my friends' and dorm residents' academic and even most non-academic problems at Stanford arose from students overcommitting; listen to your seniors, and don't take more than 15 units that first quarter. If your grade happens to be very important to you, then you can maintain a 4.0+ so long as you prioritize. Since you are asking, my weighted GPA was above 4.0, and unweighted (AMCAS counts an A+ as 4.0 in their recalculation) was 3.99, with that one A- in a conscience class. Quite frankly, my main priority in undergrad was to enjoy life and relax in preparation for the storm that was to come, so the only classes and commitments I took on that were not the bare minimum were the ones I truly enjoyed and wanted to do, which allowed me to maintain my grades without too much difficulty compared to my friends who were taking things like PHYSICS 60 and CS 107. The real challenge for most will be learning to not feel the need to overcommit; this was something I struggled to help a lot of my residents with during my time as dorm staff.
We had one of the least competitive and most collaborative undergrad cultures I know of in general, and the premed culture was no different than the overall culture. When I compared notes with med school classmates, they couldn't believe how different it was at Stanford, and I was equally surprised to hear about their own experience with overt premed sabotage at other undergrads. For anyone interested in medicine, this is honestly one of the most compelling reasons to attend Stanford over any other institution IMO. I haven't even heard of a single example of premed sabotage at Stanford--maybe one of the other students/alumni can chime in if they have, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised if no one could come up with one--and the norm among pre-meds here was to share notes, peer tutor, study party/work on psets together, help each other get into desirable research labs and other extracurricular positions, and mentor underclassmen.
I do not recommend going to med school after 3 years of undergrad for any reason personally, with the sole exceptions of if the delta financial burden is unjustifiable, or if you absolutely hate your undergrad (which hopefully should not be the case at Stanford). This is something to be discussed on a one-to-one basis personally with an advisor or upperclassmen, so I'll refrain from saying more on this.
No clue about # premeds. I think 200 showed up to the frosh "maybe premed" meeting my year, probably 50-75% of those end up deciding against it.
You shouldn't worry about MCAT yet. I took a summer to study. When you take it is a personal decision that depends on whether you plan on gap years, and when you end up taking the prerequisites. What books I used is no longer applicable because you will take the new version, so all study materials have changed and you will be consulting an upperclassmen years from now when your time comes.
@Era991
Wow, thank you so much for the detailed response! You’ve just made me even more convinced that Stanford is my number one choice! Just out of curiosity, if one student from my school (athlete) has already committed to Stanford, would that hurt my chances of being accepted or does Stanford not care what school you come from?
If you don’t mind me asking, what’d you get on your MCAT and where did you end up? Also, were there sufficient opportunities for you to do research and get pubs/LORs if you’re willing to put in the work?
@Era991 you mentioned that Stanford’s adcoms are looking for that applicant with something special that they will bring to the campus culture. Why do you think you were accepted?
Doesn’t matter we had >4 students from my high school go to Stanford most years. MCAT was something >40. Went to my top chooce med school somewhere in California. Stanford labs are always looking for free undergrad labor and happy to give authorship if you put in the work to deserve it.
@socaldad2002 I had a fairly unusual high school passion and pursued it to a fairly unusual degree as a high school student. I also had a rather unique hobby which I doubt they’d seen before, but it’s doubtful that that was a main consideration, though it may have been a memory hook that made my file more memorable…then again who knows what goes through their minds.
Still, I always try to find these memory hooks and report them in my interview writeup to help the students I interview. That’s one reason why it’s silly to turn down an alumni interview because of this CC-propagated belief that “interviews can only hurt you, not help,” when you are assigned someone laid-back who only wants to help you. Which, in my opinion, describes just about everyone at Stanford in general, not just with respect to interviews. Remember, none of us are paid for putting in several hours each year to interview teenagers. I’ve never met a Stanford interviewer who volunteers their time in order to act as a gatekeeper or weeder. We love our alma mater, we want help convince the best students to matriculate, and–if you convince us that you would have made a great classmate–we will write you glowing reviews on the report form.
Hi @Era991 I am going to be applying to Stanford REA this year. Am I correct in saying that you apply to the university as a whole and not a specific school/major/department? Also, from your experience, when people declared a major before their junior year, did they usually get in to the major they wanted? Specifically, would you say most of the engineering applicants got into the major they wanted? I just want to get a feel for how difficult it is to declare an engineering major. Also, what are the requirements? I know you have to take certain classes but what else is factored in when applying to declare a major (specifically engineering). Thank you so much!
People declare late Frosh/early sophomore year, sometimes late sophomore year. One of my close friends declared mid-junior year, although her advisors were getting nervous. Nobody is denied from declaring a major. No clue about engineering.
Since it’s interview season and I’ve been getting these q’s a lot, quick PSA/FAQs. A few other interviewers have been active on the forums, including on page 3 of the c/o 2033 thread, so I recommend reading their posts too.
Regarding interview invitations, please do respond promptly. I recommend checking your email every day, at least during interview cycles if not throughout the year. Your first email to your interviewer should be composed formally, complete with a salutation and valediction. After that, a general rule of thumb is to match the formality of the interviewer's email; if they drop the salutation and valediction, you can too.
There really is no dress code, and interviewers are all informed that you are encouraged to dress casually. They also encourage us to dress casually, though that's not always possible since many of us are coming off of work. I recommend dressing in whatever you feel most comfortable in, and your body language and behavior will reflect it. It will be apparent if someone doesn't regularly wear and feel comfortable in a necktie/blazer/suit.
It is generally not necessary to send a thank you card or thank you email. The only time I might advise considering sending one is if your interviewer is from an older generation and regularly conducts graduate school/professional school/job interviewers, where they are used to receiving them from those interviewees.
If meeting at a coffee shop, you do not need to offer to buy your interviewer a drink, as we are to decline such offers. Either they will offer to buy you one, or they will offer to wait while you buy yourself one if you would like one.
Lastly, relax. We are not admissions staff, we are volunteer alumni. I’ve never met a Stanford interviewer who signed up in order to act as a gatekeeper. We are all volunteering a total of about 1-2 hours per interviewee, time which could be spent instead with friends & family or billing for work. When you meet your interviewers for any school, ask them why they are volunteering their time; I think the answers you get will be telling.
Have you ever had to write a negative report on a student interviewed? What cases would you decide in favor of writing a more negative report than a positive one?
Never had to write a negative report yet, only above neutral to glowing. Really hard to get a bad report from most of us without being rude (either to us or other people in the vicinity before or after sitting down with us), overly shy to the point of not talking or maintaining sufficient eye contact, saying racist/sexist/otherwise intolerant things, having a sailor mouth, appearing close-minded, acting arrogant or entitled, etc.
That question isn’t off-putting if you phrase it the I meant it. You can preface it appropriately to make it clear you are appreciating the time they are freely volunteering.
I also have never written a negative report… There’s a limit on how long the reports can be, so I’d rather write about the qualities and give benefit of the doubt for any weird behaviour since sometimes people are nervous or have the wrong expectations going into the meeting or need some time to warm up properly.
Also unless it’s something really glaringly awful like you tell me you cheated off your friend on all your exams, or you blame all your teachers for your difficulties in school, it’s hard to really write bad things about someone after a 1h talk. Communication skills are important, so I look for that, but I’ve never had an interview where I saw something negative that I thought was worth mentioning. Maybe I’m a particularly nice interviewer and I’m still pretty young, but I don’t expect students to act really professionally or formally or anything like that. I’d rather see that they’re comfortable in their own skin and leave the interview having a positive attitude about Stanford.
I’ve talked with interviewees about why I volunteer several times… it just comes up in conversation somehow pretty naturally.
If you’re an overall strong applicant, how much weight is given to a positive interview? I just had my interview last Wednesday and had a very nice conversation with the alum. She told me to not worry about the report and that’ll it be very positive. How much weight is given to that?
How hard is Econ major compared to other non/STEM majors based on your experience?
Also, my kid (freshman) said his advisor is not helpful, although upper class students are. Is it hard to change advisor? What is your advice when a student doesn’t find advisor helpful?
Not sure if the process has changed from 2016, but a student’s first adviser is assigned. What you want to do is get one that is more aligned to your personal needs. Advisers are easily changed - just find one that you like, is in your area of study, and/or has something in common with you. As the quarters pass by you’ll most likely change advisers a couple of times. Upper class students are both helpful and knowledgeable - engage, ask questions, and benefit from their experience.
