Hey! New to the CC community. Would really appreciate a chance me for Stanford REA!
Demographics:
-Race: Asian (Pakistan)
-School: Private
-Class size: 280
-Income Status: Full pay
-Major: Biological Sciences
-Minor: Literature or History
Stats:
-SAT 1540 (M 790 EBRW 750)
-Unweighted GPA: 4.0
-Rank: In top 2%
-O/A Level Grades: All A’s
EC’s:
-President of Drama Society; partook in multiple productions as lead role, director and producer
-Sec General of the largest student led non profit in the country
-Author of a 5300 word research paper on gene editing
-College Prefect (1 of 10) in my school
-Editor in Chief of school magazine for two years
-Founder member of the first high school literary festivals in the country; did this thrice.
Honors:
-Top in class 2021
-Regional Distinction in Bio-journalism Olympiad
-High Achiever in O-Level Honor
Stanford included an article about admissions in the alumni magazine a few years ago. They said that 80% of their applicants are fully academically qualified to attend. You are in that 80%. Unfortunately their acceptance rate is closer to 4%.
Your ECs look good. Having all A’s and a high SAT should help. Being Asian will hurt your chances.
It is a reach or a high reach.
What do you intend to do with a degree in Biological Sciences? Are you premed? If so, can you afford eight years of university without taking on debt, with the understanding that the last four years are going to be expensive (probably over $80,000 per year at today’s prices, with prices increasing over time)?
You have superb grades and a very high SAT score for a reason. If you go to a less highly ranked and less famous university the very same qualities that made you stand out in high school will still make you stand out, and will help you get into a great medical school or a great graduate program if this is your goal.
I think that you are likely to do very well wherever you go to university. I think that Stanford is worth an application, but that you need to focus on universities where admissions is more likely. You should also be aware that you can do very well with a bachelor’s degree from any one of a few hundred very good colleges and universities.
Thank you! I’ve already applied to Stanford and while I am hoping for good news, I don’t have all my hopes resting on it. I also applied to two UCs, namely LA and Berekely, and am applying to about 8 more colleges in regular.
And I personally do not want to do medicine, I just have a very strong inclination towards Biology. I want to go to college and figure out which way this interest takes me.
Great you have such accomplishment. In general, bio jobs aren’t great paying or will require further schooling.
I’d suggest, to save from the financial sticker shock if you get into a private, making sure one of your 8 others is a high merit public or private. No reason to over pay for a degree that usually doesn’t have a great earnings path. Just because you can afford $320k doesn’t mean your family will want to when you can spend a quarter of that. Lots of great Honors Colleges out there that are cheap. Arizona for example.
Also, just a reminder the UCs are test blind.
I’m sure you’ll find a great home but make sure you have a school below the level of the three mentioned to ensure you find a home.
Like Stanford, UCLA and UCB are both reaches. Make sure to apply to some target schools and at least one, ideally two affordable safeties. Do you have safety options in your home country or elsewhere (it’s not clear to me if you are a domestic or international student)?