Because there's always room for one more chances thread ;)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>I figured I'd post this for a few of the schools I'm looking at, because I succumb easily to peer pressure and because I'm curious what others might predict. But, mainly because of the peer pressure thing.</p>

<p>SAT: 2320 (Math 790, Critical Reading 760, Writing 770)
SAT IIs: Math IIc 800, Physics 730, U.S. History 760
10th: AP World History 5
11th: AP Calculus AB 5, AP Computer Science A 5, AP English Language and Composition 5, AP Physics B 5, AP U.S. History 5
Weighted GPA 98.125
Rank: 18 of 330</p>

<p>This year, taking AP Chemistry, English Literature, Physics C, Spanish Language, and U.S. Government.</p>

<p>In terms of what my school offers, that's pretty much the top, by the way. Courses like Calc BC and Comp Sci AB weren't available to me...</p>

<p>My application focused heavily on my passion for astronomy, and research in that field. I have been working with a post-doc at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC for a bit over a year and have done two projects with her which I'm currently working on writing up for submission to two of the top astronomy journals (for the astronomers here, one will be to PASP and one to ApJ, which is probably the most prestigious astro journal out there). I'll be first author on both. The first project won me highest honors at the Long Island Science Congress and NY State Science Congress, and the second project has won me 1st place at the Middle States Regional Finals and 3rd place at the National Finals of the Siemens Westinghouse Competition. I would say that's probably my bigger award though....</p>

<p>Other awards/ECs include...</p>

<p>Newspaper - Assistant News Editor (11th grade), regular contributor (all four years)
Winter + Spring Track - Ran all three years, although not...you know...well
Wrestling: 9th grade</p>

<p>AP Scholar with Distinction
National Honor Society, National Spanish Honor Society, NYS Science Honor Society
National Merit Commended Student
Science Olympiad - 1st place in Western L.I. in Astronomy, 1st place in NYS in Compute This, Events Coordinator (12th grade)
AATSP National Spanish Exam - 3rd in Nassau County (9th), 2nd in Nassau County + 3rd on Long Island (10th), 5th in Nassau County (11th)</p>

<p>They're decent, I guess.</p>

<p>Only paid employment was $2700 for my research this summer.</p>

<p>No community service, sadly. My motto has always been, "Ask not what you can do for your community, ask what your community can do for you." Ironic considering I go to John F. Kennedy High School. :p Fine, kidding, but research has taken up most of my time and I just never really thought about community service...I spent my time doing what I really love.</p>

<p>Both recommendations (+ guidance counselor's) were excellent and my science research teacher said she wrote (for colleges and Intel) one of the best letters she's ever written. Ah, and my mentor at the AMNH wrote me a letter too which I would imagine is glowing?</p>

<p>Essays are probably pretty good too. Most of them have been checked over, revised, and approved by the English teacher (who wrote rec. #2). Did a great job, I think (hope?) of conveying my passion for astronomy--how it came about, what it means today (with my research), and what it will mean in the future (my near-definite plans to continue with astro in undergrad and grad school, get a Ph.D., and become a professor of astrophysics, teaching/researching).</p>

<p>So my rank probably hurts me a bit (my freshman year grades were subpar relative to the rest of my class, I did great in 10th grade and then in 11th, my being the only junior taking 5 APs set me back a good deal as well...), but otherwise I think everything else is at least in the range. Any thoughts? </p>

<p>Thanks for actually reading all of this (or at least just skipping straight to the bottom)!! :D</p>

<p>Adam</p>

2

<p>I'd say you have a pretty good shot if your essays are good.</p>

3

<p>geographically, i think ur at a disadvantage since there are so many qualified scientists coming from NY</p>

4

<p>Yeah, that's the big issue I can see (well, that and my rank). My hope is that I can be seen as one of the better scientists (for example, I won the Siemens region which covers NY and a few other states). They can't reject all of us ;) Even better if I'm looked at as an astronomer, instead of a generic scientist, because I'm probably one of the most qualified HS astro researchers in the country right now...at least judging by what I'm seeing at competitions, conferences, etc. But, who knows? :)</p>

5

<p>wow, looks great! hahaha, I started giving you advice for the essays, but then I realized "hey, this kids already turned in the app..."</p>

<p>Yeah, I hope you get in! I applied early, so maybe I'll see you there next year.</p>

6

<p>haha yeah, like 3 weeks ago :p Thanks though!! Maybe we'll see each other next year, who knows? ;)</p>

7

<p>dood. you have nothing to worry about. i'd say shoe-in for almost everywhere, but sometimes adcoms are crazy. you'll def get into at least some of your top choice schools- there cant be that many crazy/drunk/stoned adcoms running around. and since you did so well in siemens westinghouse, you'll def place in intel, which is awesome for college, and just plain awesome. that is if you entered intel. whats your project anyway?</p>

8

<p>Oh man, well, I hope you're right! Deferred EA from Harvard (but I'm making a strong effort towards getting in RD) and the Ivies/Stanford/MIT/Caltech are so unpredictable that you just never know! Hence this thread, out of my curiosity :) I entered Intel and I find out semis next week, finals sometime the week after (if I make semis). If I make Intel finalists then yeah, I like my chances at just about any school. That's the best thing that could happen to me right now. Otherwise, I'll have to rely on the other stuff :p Long project short, I studied the spectra of light given off in the optical and near-infrared by brown dwarfs--small, cold failed stars that are not massive enough to fuse hydrogen into helium. So I found that certain spectral features in the near-infrared spectra of these brown dwarfs seems to be strongly affected by age, which is very nice since age is extremely tough to measure in these objects.</p>

9

<p>you look good to me. what else can i say?</p>

10

<p>if u don't get in, i'll cry, cuz that means i definitely won't get in</p>

11

<p>eeeeeeeeeeeeey you're a harvard boardie
stay off our stanford board </p>

<p>:) :) :)</p>

12

<p>haha hey, hey, hey, where's the love? :)</p>

13

<p>ahh lonely days these weeks have been!</p>