Chance me for Stanford

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

Hi, I know some people don’t recommend chance me threads, but I’m just curious.

I plan on applying REA though I am open to suggestions/advice.

For context: I am an Asian Male from Las Vegas, NV; I go to a public school in a suburbs/rural fringe area, nothing special about my school. Asian female got into Stanford from my school. Other than that, there aren’t many people who have gotten into top schools or out of state schools in general.

My academics:
AP, Sophomore year: Calc AB (5); World (4)
AP Junior Year: Calc BC (5, AB sub 5); APUSH (5); Lang (5); Psych (5); Physics 1 (4)
AP Senior Year (Planned): Stats, Literature, Government, Chemistry, Japanese (unsure about Japanese, AP Class not offered but I can self-study/take the exam)
I have also taken Algebra 2 Honors, Biology and Chemistry Honors, Sports Med/Health Science, etc.

Awards: nothing major; scholastic silver key, several school awards (academic and athletic). Possibly a NM semifinalist

ACT Score: 34, willing to take SAT and SAT Subject tests (math, japanese, and a science)

ECs: Volleyball (1 JV, 2 years Varsity, expected to play senior year), also played club volleyball; Captain
Science Club (junior year, possibly senior year); Treasurer
Tutoring/Volunteer Service: (sophomore, junior, and most definitely senior year)
NHS (Junior and Senior year)
Job (Junior Year, around forty hours a week during the summer and expecting to work during the upcoming school year)

Activities I like to do: Writing, Reading, Cooking, Watching Youtube

Definitely need Financial Aid

Interested in applying for the following majors: Public Policy, MS&E, or Science, Technology, and Society

2

Forgot to add, current gpa is 4.0 Unweighted, 4.8 Weighted. Class Rank 1

3

Unfortunately, nothing in your application demonstrates anything that gives you an edge over the high achieving masses. Unless you absolutely have your heart set on Stanford, I’d use your SCEA/ED bullet somewhere else (take your pick of a top 30 school). Stanford even says that applying REA doesn’t help the unhooked applicant.

4

@Studious99 thanks for the honest answer! I know Stanford is a reach. I’m also interested in Yale or Upenn, but still those are reaches. Quite honestly, I just want to go to a school where I’ll enjoy the education & experience and get a good paying job afterwards. I realized that I don’t want to be chasing money for the rest of my life and that I want to travel the world and experience life’s offerings. I’m thinking about Berkeley, UCLA, USC, Michigan, UNC. Perhaps I should go the ED route with Upenn (Wharton, I know it will be difficult as well!) while also applying to some EA school (I believe Upenn allows this). Perhaps my application will be better in the Stanford RD pool, as I come from a relatively unhooked background (other than I guess where I live).

5

As a non-resident of California, you will not receive any financial aid from the public colleges of California. The fees for non-residents are $60K per year at the UC’s. California is out of money and does not fund OOS students. So, you may want to look elsewhere for schools that have merit dollars and are affordable for your stats.

You can go to any college and enjoy the education and experience and get a good paying job; it’s what you do at the college level that will get you there. You don’t have to go to Stanford to to do that.

Without hooks, and as an Asian male, Stanford is a huge reach.

6

You have about a 1 in 20 chance of being admitted.

7

You shouldn’t waste an early application on Stanford. Being an Asian male, your chances are very low even in regular round. Since paying tuition is a concern, you might want to consider a top 50 school where you stand out enough to get merit aid. You have a healthy attitude about what you want out of your college experience. More students should think like you. There would be less heart-break every spring.

8

You are not URM, Questbridge or first gen, recruited athlete or anyone else that Stanford selects as someone they want to give their opportunity to. Therefore your chances are less than 5% the regular admission rate.

9

I agree with the “less than 5%” guess at your chances. Your stats clearly put you in the 80% of Stanford applicants who are academically qualified (numbers from a Stanford letter sent to alumni). However, after that Stanford seems to care primarily about diversity (from the same letter), and I don’t see you having any particular advantage there. If you take the 4.8% acceptance rate for Stanford admissions overall, removing the 20% of unqualified applicants puts your chances up to 6%, removing the slots doled out to “hooked” applicants should reduce your chances to something like half of that.

Thus IMHO you have some chance since you stats are superb, but not much.

10

@tt8082 You need to find something that you are passionate about and work at it. Right now, your application looks very generic. Are you good at Science or math? Computer? Social justice? Then you need to demonstrate your passion in one of these areas. In addition, you should ask the classmate who was admitted for her advice. Do not let the naysayer discourages you. In addition, the fact that you live in a rural area in Nevada may help you because Stanford does try to be inclusive geographically.

11

@ganbatte I would say math is my best subject. I’m passionate about helping the environment (I helped start a hydroponics project at school), writing (mainly for myself), and Japanese. I will have taken Japanese for four years and my experience in that class has really opened my mind to what I want to do for the rest of my life (explore the world and learn about different culture and people, career in engineering or medicine).

12

@tt8082 For math, you need to be a winner of some math Olympiad, and you are not at that level. Is the hydroponics linked to your Japanese study? Did you go to Japan and study the Japanese approach to environmental sciences? What impact does the hydroponics project have? How does it relate to the geology of Nevada? Does it have a larger implication on global warming? Can this be part of a Regeneron Science project?