Chance Me For Stanford Through Questbridge

<p>Thanks for taking the time to look at what I have to say, first of all!</p>

<p>I am a male living n Southern California. I was born in a small country in the Balkans called Kosova and moved to the United States because of war. My family income is less than $20,000, as can be expected from the available dead end jobs my parents have endured as a result of having elementary schooling only and not speaking English. I have an eye condition known as nystagmus which makes reading at times a challenge and tennis brutally difficult. I speak Albanian, English (obviously), Spanish (at an AP level), and have been learning Arabic.</p>

<p>Let me first place my academics.</p>

<p>In 9th Grade I took:</p>

<p>AP Biology
English 9 Honors
Algebra 2 Honors
Spanish 2
Health/Freshman Seminar (mandatory)
P.E. (mandatory)
JV Tennis</p>

<p>I earned all As in these classes. </p>

<p>In 10th Grade I took:</p>

<p>AP Chemistry (again, bypassed my counselor)
AP World History
English 10 Honors
Pre-Calculus Honirs
Spanish 3
JV Tennis</p>

<p>I received all As in these classes.</p>

<p>This year for 11th Grade I took:</p>

<p>AP U.S. History
AP Physics C (Mechanics)
AP Calculus BC
AP English Language
Spanish 4 (basically AP Spanish since I was in a class with the AP students and we did the same exact same just without the title)
AP Psyxhology</p>

<p>I received all As for these classes. </p>

<p>Next year I will take:</p>

<p>AP Statistics
AP English Literature
AP Goverbment/AP Economics (one class for each semester)
AP Spanish
AP Art History
AP Physics C (E & M, will have to self study as they stooped offering this course, even though I taught myself in all my AP sciences classes)
Varsity Tennia</p>

<p>SAT: 1900 (I know it is low but maybe it can be overlooked.)</p>

<p>My ECs:</p>

<p>Science Olympiad since 9th Grade, will be President next year, Chemistry Lab Regional Champion in 10th Grade
Tennis since 9th Grade
National Honor Society Since 10th Grade, tried for position but did not receive it
Speech & Devate from beginning if 11th Grade, forced myself to take it i order to improve my speaking skills
Robotics Club from beginning of 11th Grade, FRC Regional 2nd Place at San Duego Tournament
Unofficial member of ASB since last year (did not get voted in when I ran)</p>

<p>I am a 2013 Questbridge College Prep Scholar.</p>

<p>Basing As in my mandatory non-Honors/AP classes as counting for 4 points and Honors/AP classes as 5 points, I have a 4.9 weighted GPA and a 4.0 non-weighted GPA.</p>

<p>I got a 5 on my AP Biology exam and and a 5 on AP World History. Sadly I received a 3 in AP Chemistry. I am waiting on my other exams.</p>

<p>I want to apply to the Questbridge National Match program and hopefully be matched with Stanford. How are my chances? If you could please be a bit more insightful than Reach/Match, it would be appreciated, taking in my specific situation.</p>

<p>I think it’s a bit of a reach for Stanford, considering your SAT scores and how your honors are weighted. It would help if you had awards. However, your socioeconomic and physical background helps you, so you still have a fairly high chance. Plus, you got the College Prep Scholarship, so that’s definitely a BIG plus. I hope you are accepted in Stanford, considering how far you’ve come!</p>

<p>I’m applying to Questbridge too! Could you chance me back? My big is MIT, and then Stanford, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, CalTech, UPenn, and Rice.</p>

<p>Prospective major: Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Business</p>

<p>Some things to consider:</p>

<p>-Moved to current high school in 10th grade, I’ve moved 8 times in my life between America and Canada and several cities
-Qualify for free lunch (roughly $40,000 with 4 people and big brother right out of college)
-Full Chinese/female/Osgood Schlatters knee that prevents me from joining varsity sports
-First generation</p>

<p>Now on to other things:</p>

<p>GPA: 3.9 (or 3.8, our system is confusing) UW, 4.5 W. Took a lot of honors, but they are not weighted.
ACT: 33 (not sending SAT)
SAT: 2050…ouch. Yeah that’s not going anywhere.
APs: World History, Composition, Literature, Physics C, Chemistry, Biology, Psychology, Environmental Science, Computer Science, Calculus BC, Econ
Fluent in English, Chinese, Spanish</p>

<p>Clubs (most ECs are only this year unless otherwise noted. I didn’t include other years of other ECs):
-FIRST Robotics (Director of Communications, probably going to be Director of Electronics and Programming). Team consistently reaches semis/finals, went to Championships in St. Louis this year
-President of Math Team
-Science Fair (9th grade), Honorable Mention
-Science Olympiad (10th grade), 3rd in Robot Arm
-Key Club (prob VP)
-Computer Science (prob VP, currently secretary)
-CSF all years
-Crime Stoppers’ Youth Advisory Board Member 12-13
-Speech and Debate
-History Day</p>

<p>-300+ hours volunteering, 300+ hours at robotics in less than 6 weeks
-Started up several FLL (kids robotics) teams and a FLL tournament, managed two more tournaments
-Several art awards, including Best of Show and 1st place for my photorealistic artwork
-Learned Java, C++, HTML, CAD in Creo 2.0
-Part of t-shirt cannon project for Fresno Grizzlies team, some of my own projects in generating environmentally friendly electricity
-Judo (blue belt), avid lover of tennis and badminton</p>

<p>I absolutely love love love my robotics team! I spend all my time there, learning new things realting to STEM and teaching all I can about electronics and programming. I support FLL, robotics for kids in elementrary school, and I manage some tournaments and start teams. I also create other outreach events, including a robotics tour at elementrary school carnivals to spread STEM to young students, and I wrote an Engineering Documentation binder that helped my team win the Engineering Inspiration Award this year. I will probably become the Director of Electronics and Programming this year.</p>

<p>Love photorealistic color pencil drawings. I’ve won a few awards through those, but I discovered my love of design through art and robotics fusion! I love both, but now my art talent is just a hobby.</p>

<p>I also moved several times. Born in Ithaca, NY, I moved to Ottawa (Ontario), then Windsor (Ontario), then Toledo (Ohio), then Windsor (Ontario), then Waterloo (Ontario), then Clovis (California), where I moved within the town three times and moved schools again and again.</p>

<p>Link: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1521968-cant-pay-all-admission-fees-will-chance-back.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/1521968-cant-pay-all-admission-fees-will-chance-back.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Thanks for the response! I’ve looked at several posts on here about students wanting to go to Stanford and have seen their posts as well as other students’ posts. Before I came on this site, I thought I was most likely to be accepted to any college. That being said, I have had an eye opening experience and have seen other dedicated students all worthy of being admitted. I have read that chances are a crapshoot at top schools. Is there any way you can be a bit more specific on my chances? It would be a true American story for a refugee to go to Stamford. If I HAD remained n Kosova I would have been nothing more than a small farmer struggling to have enough water. I thank my uncle who managed to pull me out of war. I am grateful that you would like to see me be admitted. It means a lot! Maybe I can truly show my determination in my essays (which I have heard are a very important part and thus will give to my English teacher next year to look at as I am not the best writer). I believe I am where I am now because of my competitiveness, from scholastics to sports and to video games. Starting in elementary, I refused to be at the bottom. Maybe I can show this determination in my essays with all that I have taken on. Do you believe my SAT score will destroy me? I hope it doesn’t, but be honest and just rip of the scab. </p>

<p>I honestly wouldn’t be the best to ask about chancing as I can’t even chance myself, but you have a great GPA, nice standardized test scores, plenty of ECs, and have a remarkable background. It isalso great that you have done things outside of school that complement your intended major. I would say you have an excellent shot, especially considering you are going to be applying through Questbridge.</p>