Chance for Stanford

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm...
- junior @ public high school
- asian & male
- washington resident</p>

<p>Schedule
9th grade: spanish3, english, honors science, honors world geo, Int Math 3(one below pre-calc), Orchestra
10 grade: honors bio, honors eng, honors world studies, span4, Orchestra, pre-calc
11 grade(current): ap bio, ap calc, ap psych, standard english, leadership, span 4,
12 grade: ap chem, ap physics, ap stats, ap comp(english), us history, leadership</p>

<p>GPA: All As except for 2 A-s so far.
APs: This is my first year taking APs, and i'm taking 3 (bio, psych, and calc). I'm going to take 4 next year (comp, stats, chem, physics).
SAT: i haven't taken it
SAT 2: sat math level 2=800 ; sat bio M=780</p>

<p>Extracurricular Activities
- volunteering at Swedish hospital since Feb 2008
- Science Olympiad for 2 yrs; currently President
- FBLA 1yr; currently v.p.; State qualifier
- SHAPE(giving HIV/AIDS lessons to all students at my school) 2yrs
- NHS 1yr
- Amnesty International 2yrs
- Biotech Expo 1yr; currently V.P.
- Tennis JV 2 yrs(Captain & Coach's Award), and Varsity 1yr
- Currently Junior Senator; next year ASB Treasurer
- Northwest Orchestra Festival 1 place in 2007 & 2008
- founder & president of "We are Tennis Fanatics" local organization (not school related)</p>

<p>My Dream goals(haha):
Get all 5s on my APs
Get over 2250 on SAT 1</p>

<p>CHANE ME please! I'm interested in Stanford right now.</p>

2

<p>One tip: don't fall in love with just one highly selective school; even for top candidates, that's just too likely to lead to disappointment.
Your grades and scores are very good, and your ECs are good.
On the other hand (sorry for the bluntness here) you're a science-studying, tennis-playing, Asian male violinist (or cellist?). You will be competing against quite a few very similar candidates. You need to construct a good list, and it can certainly include highly selective schools like Stanford. But it needs to have more than one or two of them, and it also needs to have match and true safety schools.</p>

3

<p>ya i understand what you mean.
first, i'm acutally interested in Stanford, Brown, and U Chicago.
but i just wanted to know my chance for Stanford since it's the hardest to get into.
What do you think my chances are for those?</p>

<p>plus ya my stuff can be kinda typical, but i realized many asians are really passionate enough(not trying to be racial). I wanted to show my passion through organizing a local tennis group, and through my essays. I personally learned a lot about being passionate of my interests, and i just have other personal stories that i really value. </p>

<p>anyway, so my chances for all the colleges that i'm interested in? </p>

<p>thanks so much</p>

4

<p>At this point, you can't tell yet how much of a reach those schools will be. Stanford is more selective than Brown which is more selective than Chicago--but they're all pretty selective. Look for other schools like them, but not as selective, to include in your list. For example, if you like Brown, you'll probably like Tufts.</p>

5

<p>i see... but you keep saying that those colleges are selective
do you have any tips or can you at least tell me what they are selective for or against?</p>

6

<p>So those are dream goals and not realistic? That's problematic... especially if you are an Asian applicant to Stanford, man.</p>

7

<p>so you are saying i don have any chance to get into any of those colleges that i listed?</p>

8

<p>No, you have chances at all of them, I'm just saying that if you think "getting over 2250" on the SAT is not likely to happen because it's a "dream goal," for you then that might be a problem since most people who would be accepted, especially asians, will have at least a 2250. I'd say you would have the best shot at Chicago though.</p>

9

<p>Some impressive stats. SATs are going to be a factor. I would suggest checking here: myCollegeSTAT</a> - Stanford University and comparing your stats to other students.</p>

10

<p>When we say that a school is more selective than another school, that essentially means that the first school accepts students with higher grades and scores and more impressive other achievements than the second school. You can get a rough idea by looking at the middle 50% of SAT scores. The tip is to keep your grades up, get the best scores you can, participate in ECs that you are strongly committed to, and create a realistic list of schools.</p>

11

<p>Those are reach schools for any applicant.
As an Asian male, you will want to really focus on identifying your activities with a passion that is visible. You may even want to not list some of your activities that are less important so it would look more focused.
As someone said before, if you think 2250 is a dream goal, you will definitely want to reconsider other schools as well; even students with 2300+ are rejected by Stanford and Brown.</p>