@“aunt bea” No offense, but you’re wrong on a lot of things. My family did not buy their opportunities; they earned them. Income plays no role here at all. I’m not sure why you’re adamant on bringing that up.
Secondly, you’re wrong about research. I have many friends that pursue research at local universities - - some of whom have done so since sophomore year.
I do appreciate your advice on my EC’s but I hope you realize that there’s no way I can possibly fit all of them into my common app, as it only allows for 10. I plan on incorporating only the ones that I find to best show the type of person I am.
Two things you need to understand that I think your lack of understanding is hurting you:
- Nothing you say or do gives you a “good shot” at getting into Stanford or any other elite college. You don’t have anything that no one else applying there has. There is no formula that gets you into honestly any school. We are not the admissions committee, so asking “if I do this, do I have a better shot” is pretty similar to taking the dart from the chimp and giving it to the gorilla and hoping that their chances of hitting the bullseye goes up.
- You don’t need to waste your time clarifying your plans for us. Explaining to us how our comments are actually so misplaced doesn’t get you into Stanford. You have posted your information for advice - we are taking it on face. If you actually knew about the fact that you can only put 10 things on your Common App, you would have picked the 10 most compelling ones and presented us a story to try to replicate the decision making process.
I think the worst possible thing you can do to yourself is convince yourself that the perfect version of yourself is the real version of yourself, because you will be disappointed when the replies from the college come in.
@daywave Thank you. I see what you’re getting at.
Your chances at Stanford, HYP are pretty low but you can improve them a little by a compelling essay or really unique recommendations. You’re better off applying to places where they don’t have soft quotas for Asians - MIT, Cal Tech, Berkeley for starters.