Hello, I am a rising Junior from a decently competitive schools (10 people to T20s), and I am thinking of applying to Stanford REA. I know Stanford rejects a lot of applicants in its early round and heavily favors hooked applicants, so is it even worth applying early?
Demographics: Asian Male from Ohio, income > 400k
Intended Major: Symbolic Systems
Stats: 3.98 UW (4.0 on Stanford scale), 4.6 W, 36 ACT
Subject Tests: Math II(800), Physics(800)
APs: Psychology(5), CSP(5), CSA(5), APUSH(5), Gov(4), Macro(5), Micro(5), Calc BC(5), Physics 1(5), Physics 2(5), Physics C: Mechanics(5), Physics C: E&M(5), English Lang(5), Stats(5), Chemistry(5)
College Courses at T20: Calc 3(A), Calc 4(A), Probability(A)
ECs:
Chess Club: President, played for 10 years, won various state titles, certified master, taught at many schools, organized tournaments in school, volunteered in camps.
Debate: Senior Captain, done for 7 years, invitational and regional awards, extemporaneous speaking, taught younger students.
Business Startup: Founder and CEO, sports sharing social media platform, organized development team, legalized, full stack developer in Python and IOS app developer, in beta phase.
Physics Club: Vice President, helped prepare students for the annual physics bowl competition, studied Mechanics/E&M/Optics/Thermodynamics/Modern Topics.
Physics Organization: Founder and Executive Director, hosted physics competitions for students to make up for the lack of physics opportunity, allowed schools to register chapters, hundreds of students and 10+ registered schools across the US and Canada.
Math Volunteering Organization: COO, registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, spreads STEM in local schools, partnered with local university, in a decent amount of schools and taught a lot of younger students.
Physics Research: Machine learning in quantum mechanics research with professor at T20, used machine learning to do DFT calculations in order to approximate properties of a crystal structure based off of its crystal defects, not published yet (hopefully soon).
Business Club: Committee Member, competed in economics and finance related events, placed for various events at the state level and qualified for nationals.
Tennis: Varsity
Math Honor Society: Participate in math competitions such as state competitions and AMC, placed in various math competitions (nothing special), ARML competitor.
Awards (kept vague):
Top 20 in some international physics competition (not insanely prestigious tho).
State chess champion for K-12.
Placed nationally in statistics competition.
Some state math competition award.
Qualified for national for financial math in business club
Recommendation Letters:
Counselor (8/10)
Physics Teacher (10/10, done all 4 physics APs, very good in class, talked to teacher a lot)
Latin Teacher (9/10, had for 4 years, did research project on philosophy with him, very close)
So, I think I have a pretty clear STEM tilt, but obviously it is not going to be good enough to rely on in order to get into Stanford REA. I have always done a lot of social science classes and I think it is smart to portray myself as somebody who is good in STEM but also very interested in philosophy (I have read a lot of philosophy, and did a philosophy project with my Latin teacher). My essays mainly focus on my world view of combining philosophy and physics to construct meaning in obscure things, and I think they are really unique. I am also thinking of doing Symbolic Systems if I go to Stanford, so I think highlighting my philosophy/psychology learning in combination with physics is a good idea for that.
I am also getting my Latin teacher to write a separate letter just for Stanford in which he highlights my philosophy project and mentions that I am a good fit for the Symbolic Systems program at Stanford. Idk how much that will help tho.
Conclusion: I am trying to carve out a niche as an Asian who is strong in STEM but also very interested in subjects like philosophy and psychology. This should come through in my essays and my recommendation letters. So, do you think I have a shot as an unhooked applicant at Stanford REA, or should I EA/ED to a different school?