Brutal Honesty Pleeaaasse!!!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>Ok, maybe not brutal but honest/accurate criticism is definitely welcome. And don't just say I have no chance at Stanford- I ALREADY know that!! Tell me specifically what's holding me back and how I might remedy the problem.</p>

<p>Applying to: (*Shrug. This might be important. ranked in order of preference)</p>

<p>Reach: Stanford, Caltech, UPenn
Mid-Reach: Cornell, UWSTL, UC Berkley, UCLA
Match: UCSD, UCI
Safety: Local community college. ITT Technical Institute (God, I hope it doesn't come down to this.)</p>

<p>Stats:
GPA: 3.78 (piece of @#%$) UW and 4.13 W. At our school, we don't weight GPAs so that ugly 3.78's going on my app. =(
SAT I: 1600
SATII: 800 MathIIC, 780 Phys, 710 Writing (@#$%. Missed 12 questions on grammar, rofl. Retaking Dec)</p>

<p>ECs:
I'm pretty average here. I'm not in 10^ridiculous clubs and don't have any nationally recognized leadership roles</p>

<p>Sec. of Leo's Club <--Eh. Kind of bland. I help spearhead diff. service activities. Recently did a car wash + boba sale during lunch. Gonna do a toy drive in a few weeks.</p>

<p>Senior Men and Women <--we act as "ambassadors" to the school. You have to do an interview to get in. Only 40 members per year (seems like a lot, but we have 800 seniors and pretty much every one of them applies) Supposedly we represnt the "best/finest/leaders" at school. Participate in many school events, like organizing dances, charity events, food drives, helping out during graduation(I got to pass out diplomas to last year's class. Fun as hell!!!), and introducing new students to the school. We get to walk around in spiffy blazers too, lol. They become a pain though during the summer when it's 100 degrees outside. And they're hella expensive to dry clean. =(</p>

<p>--NAME OMMITED--<--business I founded w/ a couple of friends. We act as contractors and hook up potential tutors w/ students for a fee. Also sell educational supplements on the side (books, calculators, test prep, etc.)</p>

<p>Programming? <--Not even sure if that counts. I like tinkering w/ computers and have made a few browser games. Currently working on a VERY crude RPG with like...block figures for graphics. lol</p>

<p>Basketball<--Played for 3 years(9th,10th,11th). I sucked pretty bad. Aside from my height and decent atheletism, I had no other redeeming qualities. I started for a while on the JV team, but became backup foward for Varsity. I quit 'cause it was so depressing getting dunked on everyday =(. Maybe I shouldn't even include this on my app. Makes me look like a quitter.</p>

<p>Other:
Uhh...decent essays/recs? Based on my writing score I think I'm just gonna have ok essays. Not sure what my teachers are gonna say about me. It'll prolly be the usual "works hard, shows interest in learning" line. Nothing bad, but nothing inspiring either. Maybe even a bit boring. Hope the ad com officers drank plenty of coffee =D. </p>

<p>National Merit Semi-Finalist. Haha, my ONLY nationally recognized achievement. Yay, I'm not a total loser! Someone thinks I'm elite!</p>

<hr>

<p>So yeah. I pretty much look like everyone else who's applying. How the heck do I stand out among all those people with staggering stats? It's like everyone here has a freaking 6.78. Please dear God don't say I'll need amazing essays! Frankly, my writing score just crushed all hopes of that.</p>

2

<p>Oh right, forgot courseload:</p>

<p>1 AP/1 Honor 10th grade (AP Physics, Honors Eng)
3 Aps 11th grade (US Hist, Calc AB, Eng)
5 Aps 12th grade(Calc C, Eng, Comp Sci, Stats, Chem)</p>

3

<p>you're either joking or just extremely annoying. if you aren't joking then you need to relax. looks great, scores are great, GPA is fine. You might be interested in why its annoying though: because you are trying to overachieve and don't sound like you care much about your accomplishments which actually seem pretty good. You have the highest score you can get on the SATs and you claim to have no chance at all. There is nothing more annoying and irritating than someone who whines and complains when they have good stats.</p>

4

<p>Yeah, seriously. 1600 and complaining? I'll trade! No, your ECs aren't as good as many other students, but they're not exactly bad either. I say you have a very good chance. I mean, seriously - 1600 and local college? I don't think so. At worst, you'll end up with UPenn or Cornell, which is excellent. Also, what's your class rank? If you're first, you really can't complain.</p>

5

<p>OK, if you really want my opinion, your scores just plain old suck. I mean, its really not that hard to get a 1600, or an 800 on IIC. And that 710 on writing is just abominable and being sarcastic is healthy on occasion. Anyways, the only thing holdin ya down is your attitude...theres no need to be pessimistic with those stats.</p>

6

<p>If you look at the Stanford website, SAT scores aren't looked at heavily. The most important things are : GPA, rank, and recs. Of those three, I'm pretty sub-par (our school doesn't rank, but if they did i don't think i'd even make top 10%). Then following that are tests scores + essays + "personality." My essays are prolly gonna be average and from what i gather, i have an irritating personality. lol. So out of the 5 "very important" critieria for admission, I only excell at one. </p>

<p>Wouldn't you be pessimistic also?</p>

7

<p>Ha ha, it's okay stressingout. Your personality may seem fine on your essays. Did you apply EA? That may help. And the SAT IS important. Don't think 1600s don't get a special look. And again, there is no such student as a "perfect" candidate. I think that you have a fair shot, but if as you say, your GPA is below par, that may be challenging for you. However, I think that at UPenn and Cornell are excellent matches. And it depends on your high school: If you go to an elite school and are barely in the to 10%, well that's okay. If you go to an average public school, that's more of a problem. But everyone arguing is not going to solve the problem: Write good essays and play up your ECs. Good luck! I understand your paranoia.</p>

8

<p>I guide you to about a quarter of the way down this page</p>

<p><a href="http://www.stanford.edu/home/statistics/#academic%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.stanford.edu/home/statistics/#academic&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Notice how it says "Standardized tests scores" are "Very Important"</p>

<p>and there is a lot of control over another three others of high importance: Character/personal qualities, Essay, and Recommendation(s)</p>