Chance an upcoming senior from Montana... does hope remain for stanford?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
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<p>Me:
Female
Rural Montana
Full IB Diploma candidate
White</p>

<p>Stats:
SAT: ( low yet will retake once more; hopefully all my hours with The blue book will prove to be beneficial!)
CR: 620
Math: 620
Writing: 680 (essay: 12)</p>

<p>ACT: (ABSOLUTELY HORRIFIC! I predict/want/hope it will be at about 30)
English: 25
Math: 28
Composite: 26</p>

<p>Will take all IB tests next spring...</p>

<p>Top 10% of class</p>

<p>GPA: 3.897 unweighted</p>

<p>12th Grade Schedule:
Theory of Knowledge 2
Biology 2 IB
Calculus IB
20th Century Issues
Music IB
Symphonic Band
English 12 IB
French 4 IB
Also am taking Mandarin Chinese at local community college</p>

<p>EC's, volunteering, etc.: </p>

<p>Music:
Pep Band 4 years principle player
Jazz Band 4 years: principle player
Community Band 3 years: principle player 2x week
Board Member of my high school band council
Lettered as freshman, Minor and Major pin as Sophomore
Superior at State in all performances every year
Attend three band camps every summer</p>

<p>Other:
Speech and Debate: went to state, didn't place top 10. varsity squad
Varsity tennis: four years
Leaders of Tomorrow
Active member of National Honors Society
President of Swing Dance Club</p>

<p>Volunteer:
Recycling Club: 10 hrs/week
Local Library: 5hrs/week
Tutor students at local elementary school</p>

<p>My essays will be strong along with extremely well done recs. I expect. </p>

<p>Do I have any chance at places such as Stanford or Brown?</p>

<p>I am planning on applying to University of Washington (Seattle), University of Virginia, Boston University, Brown University, University of Montana, Stanford University. </p>

<p>Please reply; I am eternally grateful to all who do so. I apologize for the length/boring nature of this post, but some comments/help would be greatly appreciated! Merci.</p>

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<p>Help… anyone??? S’il vous plait.</p>

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<p>As a comment, most people might not have responded to this post because the standard answer is “apply and find out,” and that there are no guarantees. I happen to sympathize that you’re a fresh applicant, and are naturally anxious, so I write a little bit below.</p>

<p>Typically, those accepted to Brown and Stanford would have better SATs, and quite good grades and test scores; you can improve your SAT with a little work, I’m sure, but either way don’t worry about it.</p>

<p>The only advice I have realistically found trustworthy on CC about applying to schools is that it is about what the school perceives you’ll do for it. Will you bring a talent, perform some service to it otherwise, enrich some aspect of the extracurricular life there, and the list goes on…that and that for top schools, having a profile that one sees a lot of isn’t going to help. For instance, ECs like varsity tennis come up all the time. Speech/debate, possibly even more. A school like Stanford with various talented applicants won’t need too many of those, and probably will look for a diversely talented class.</p>

<p>Be true to yourself, develop all aspects of yourself that you can, and apply everywhere, making it your #1 goal to communicate what you bring to the table to the schools, and then let them do the choosing themselves, and you’ll be fine wherever you go. Just have lots and lots of schools that you’d like to attend on your list to apply to, because there aren’t any guarantees for specific schools.</p>

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<p>hey mathboy98, I have this EC which I really enjoy and have had an exceptional experience playing it. For the essay, if I write about my passion about that EC and how it has changed me, how could I possibly write about what I can bring back to the Stanford community?</p>

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<p>Your passion for some out of school involvement can be something you bring to the school. Note that there are plenty of essays to write about yourself in. And also note that your passion for an out of school involvement might be more compelling if you’re actually going to do something with it once you get into the given school.</p>

<p>This is why, while some students complain about athletic recruits, well it really only makes sense for a school with very good sports to do some recruiting of good athletes. </p>

<p>This whole “what can you give to the school you’re applying to” is more of an attitude to have when writing essays than an essay topic.</p>

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<p>I apologize if I seem mean. Your class load seems pretty good, but your SAT and ACT scores are surprisingly low. At my school, normally kids have lowish gpas (like 3.7) but really high SATS (like 2200-2300). But I guess my school is weird. But your ecs seem pretty good. Did you have any national ranking as a band? Are you sending a supplement with your app? You’d definetely have to bring up your SATs for sure. If you don’t it’ll seem like your school just grades really easy, but you arent truly intelligent. and thats never good. </p>

<p>How many people went to stanford last year from your school? compare their stats to yours and that’ll give you an idea. But keep in mind stanford rejects people that harvard has accepted.</p>

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<p>“How many people went to stanford last year from your school?”
Haha that’s funny. Do you realize how many people go to Stanford from Montana as a State? I think there are four in my entire Stanford class. On that note, geographic diversity will help out a little, especially if you’re able to emphasize how unique it is just to try for a school like Stanford coming from your background. The high schools most applicants will be coming from did not focus on FFA over APs.<br>
That said, your scores really do need to get quite a bit better.</p>

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<p>Your scores are very low for Stanford and Brown.</p>

<p>Coming from rural Montana will help only if you can show that this background shaped who you are. (And even then I doubt that it will be enough to overcome the low test scores…)</p>

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<p>Your score/GPA is very low for Stanford. However, Stanford always view an applicant holistically. They look for a well-rounded student, so your essay can play a crucial role. Best of luck. -Current Student, Stanford Class of 2010-</p>

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<p>^her GPA isn’t low…it rounds to a 3.9.</p>

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<p>@mathboy98: oh rite now I get it…but what my passion is outside of school is playing a sport which I really love. Will writing about that give me a disadvantage? Because I can’t relate it to what I am going to do with that passion in school because I am not a recruited athlete. However, I’ve had some wonderful experiences playing that sport and it has changed me and has taught me a lot of things. Any suggestions?</p>

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<p>I understand that my SAT and ACT test scores need to be much higher than are currently standing, and have been working in a multitude of study books every day this summer, which will hopefully help in raising my scores. I plan on taking each test twice more as well. </p>

<p>Another question. What SAT subject tests are recommended to take? Do the universities regard any particular subject test higher than another?</p>

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<p>^ not really just make sure you do WELL on the subject tests</p>

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<p>Why do you want to take the tests two MORE times? I thought sitting down to do the SAT ONCE for 3 hours and 45 minutes was enough torture. Simply try to do really really well this time. I know that colleges superscore but I mean constantly retaking a test to get a better grade can’t possibly look too good. Retaking once is enough imo.</p>

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<p>In regards to SAT Subjects you should take Math II and one science, like bio or chem. The third one is purely optional and maybe used to show your wide range of skills by taking a us history or literature.</p>

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<p>Take Math II + one where you will score the highest (does not have to be science)</p>