Chance me for Stanford REA

School: Private, one of the most competitive private schools out there, average SAT scores rank in the top 4 of all schools
State: CA
UW GPA: 3.82/4.00 (LOTS of circumstances during sophomore year, wrote about it in add. info section)
Rank: Not given.

Senior Year Classes:

AP Physics 2 , AP English Literature & Composition

Honors Multivariate Calculus, Honors Differential Equations

Honors Analytical Chemistry, Study of Organic Chemistry

Honors Advanced Research, AP Computer Science A

Test Scores:

SAT 1: 1560 (770 WR / 790 Math)
SAT Subject Tests: Math II 800 Chemistry 790 Biology 760 US History 760
AP: AP World History Score, 5 AP Chemistry Score 4, AP Calculus BC Score 5, AP Biology Score 5, AP US History Score 4

ECs:
Research internship at Stanford neurology lab for past 4 years. (9.10,11,12(paid) ) (1,000+ hours)
California State Science Fair

  • Honorable Mention (5th) in my category
    Region (don’t really wanna specify, but competitive region)
  • 1st award in category, qualified to CSSF
    Siemen’s Semifinalist.
    Cofound Club, in charge of communication and experiment design, that goes to local schools and teaches fundamentals of science through experiments
    1 submitted publication (co-author)
    My research has been used by the lab for applying for a grant.
    Current applying for Regeneron STS

Volunteering:

Local Hospital (9 summer, 10 summer, 11 summer, 12 summer) 3 hrs/week, 20 wk/yr
Local Medical Clinic (10 summer, 11 summer, 12 summer) 3 hrs/week, 8 wk/yr

Essays:

Feel really strong about these, had well qualified people helping me with these

Recs:

Developed a really strong connection with my research mentor, my other recs are from my research teacher (known him for 3+ years) and my bio teacher (performed well in that class)

Obviously you’re a strong applicant, but you’ll be up against many other applicants just like yourself. Do you have any hooks?

Your GPA is low for Stanford, and your extracurriculars seem pretty similar to many other top 20 applicants I’ve seen on here- that’s not to say they’re not impressive, just reasonably prevalent in our nation’s best students.

I wish you the best- I definitely think you would succeed at Stanford!

Thanks!

bump

I must be missing something. How is a 3.82/4.00 unweighted GPA average low? That means mostly As and some Bs, right? With a student taking mostly honors classes and a few AP classes, how is that a low GPA?

^^ Just going off the Harvard freshman surveys which one would assume would be similar to Stanford in terms of the numbers, 54% of the class reported that they had a perfect 4.0 in HS. Just eyeballing the charts and graphs provided in the survey a 3.8 gpa would be on the low end of the gpa range.

Your academic stats are really strong hence your application to Stanford.
Know that science competitions should not be the only validation of your research. The fact that you are a co-author on a published paper really legitimizes your work. Is it common for students to have this honor in your area?
My only concern for you is your story. In your essays, did you tie your research into a specific passion you have. Do all aspects of your story fit? If you have answered these questions in your essay you have a strong chance, at least in my opinion. Good luck!

My common app essay tied in my research and club.

My honest advice is all the parts of your story should not fit, but show how varied and multi-faceted you are.

Your achievements speak to the hard work and discipline, the time commitment and community involvement, and your gpa is but one factor that will be considered. Your additional comments section having been utilized to speak on what it is that you felt put a little drag in your momentum should have found you speaking to whatever presented itself as challenge to you, and indicate that through it all you continued to work and meet your various commitments. Hopefully you gave a picture of what you did to face the challenge and hold on to your forward movement.

You’ve done a great job. Good luck to you.

Hi,

I was wondering how you were able to get a paid internship at Stanford, I am looking to do unpaid research at a local University. I am a sophomore currently, how did you go about getting your paid internship?

please circle back when you get your results and let us know where you’re going. I’d say you have a better than even chance! Good Luck!

I think you’re good :slight_smile: Who cares about GPAs when you can show that you can put in the work for research for years on end. Best of luck!

Did you get in?

Your accomplishments are amazing. From my perspective, the main reasons they wouldn’t accept you is 1. GPA 2. If your an Asian male. Otherwise, I would say that you have a good chance.

I was wondering how you ended up doing an internship there. I’m looking to do one at my local university.