Chance me?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>Uncompetitive high school in North Jersey
Top 10% out of around 400
GPA (on a 4.0 scale) 3.6
SAT: 2200
Math: 800
Reading: 670
Writing: 730
SAT Chemistry - 800
SAT Math 2 - 680 ( I have no idea what happened here)</p>

<p>AP's taken Junior Year
Chemistry - 4
Lang& comp- 4</p>

<p>AP's taken Senior Year
Statistics
Calculus
Lit& comp
U.S Gov</p>

<p>All other classes taken in high school are Honors classes</p>

<p>Activities:
Community service - Volunteering at local hospital for month, many few-hour volunteering activities facilitated by clubs i am involved with (totaling upto about 100 hours, doing more this summer)</p>

<p>Looking long and hard for a job to carry me from now till november, if i can't find one soon, i will be training underclassmen throughout the fall for my highschool swim team</p>

<p>Starting a JSA at my highschool this year
National Honor Society
Swim team 4 years (Going to be named captain this year 99%)
Rowing Team 3 years
R.E.A.C.H. (peer to peer group) 3 years
Consumer bowl 3 years
Club Swim team 1 year
E.R.A.S.E 2 years
International Festival - tables for 2 years</p>

<p>Honors:
National Merit Nomination, the only one in my school to receive it in the past few years
Academic excellence 2 years</p>

<p>Misc:</p>

<p>Nike Summer Swim camp 2011
Lead For Diversity summer camp 2011
6 years of annual, week-long summer youth retreat at my temple in upstate new york (atheist, but i go for the quiet)
People to People Ambassador to Aus, NZ, and Fiji, 3 weeks summer '08
National Youth Leadership Conference summer 2012</p>

2

<p>your GPA, SAT composite, and AP courseload are all a little below average. good job on the math SAT I though! have you considered take SAT II tests? those will make your stats a little more appealing (you’ll probably get 800 on math II, also try lit).</p>

<p>with these stats you HAVE to stand out in your extra curriculars somewhere. make sure to portray your commitment to a few certain things rather than just throw on a bunch of clubs on your app. show more leadership and initiation by starting fundraisers, doing independent study, doing internships, etc. get REALLY good teacher recs and write spectacular essays, and that should make up for some gaps.</p>

<p>tldr: reach because of below average stats and scattered EC’s. focus on making your application show what an amazing person you are! :slight_smile: good luck!</p>

3

<p>If there’s one thing I learned about Stanford’s admissions during my time on CC and elsewhere, it’s that they look for signs of intellectual curiosity. You do not stand out with either your academics nor your ECs. That does not mean your chances have decreased to 0 - it simply means that you need to write spectacular essays. Display your voice. Show your passion.</p>

<p>Seemingly highly qualified applicants on CC have been rejected whereas “lower qualified” (though still well qualified in context) have been accepted. It all comes down to the essays and recommendations. Essays and recs.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

4

<p>Stanford is my dream school, but I am not sure if I have the qualifications to be accepted. My parents don’t want me to apply because it is so far away, but I am so in love with the school and am trying to decide if I should apply or not. I would apply to the engineering school, please chance me! I am from northern Virginia (very competitive and high performing region), white male.</p>

<p>Stats
SAT I: 750 math, 740 writing, 710 CR (2200)
SAT II: Physics 700, Math II 760
ACT: 33 Composite
GPA: one A- sophomore year but all others are A’s, 4.4 W
AP: Phsyics B 5, World History 5, English Language and Composition 5, Calc BC 5, Calc AB subscore 5
Senior course load: multivar calc/matrix algebra dual enrolled at GMU, AP Physics C, AP Spanish, AP Gov, engineering drawing, English 12 honors, orchestra (viola)</p>

<p>Awards
National Merit Scholar Commended Student
AP Scholar with Honor
Scholar Athlete (multiple sports multiple years)
Optimist Club Youth Awards of Excellence – Science
Academic Letter
Varsity Letter (multiple sports) </p>

<p>ECs
Sports: cross country (4 years), indoor track and field (2 years), outdoor track and field (4 years), swim (4 years) – competitive in all
Clubs: NHS vice president, peer tutor and manager at school’s writing center (presenter at the National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing in Chicago), chamber group quartet (plan on auditioning for some group in college)
Personal: Competitive triathlete (qualifier for USAT Nationals 2012 & 2013), mentor to elementary school orchestra students, mission trip to Costa Rica with church youth group (still active in), private lessons for piano & viola over 10 years, team leader of a local reforestation project through nonprofit org.
Work Experience: Swim team coach during the summer (been on the team since age 6), certified life guard/first aid, soccer referee for the region</p>

<p>Writing
Common App: personal essay about running, I love this one, shows my positive attitude and ability to face adversity. EC statement about coaching swim team, very personal.
Recs: Physics B/C/Multivar teacher and AP Lang teacher – both should be very good, counselor is kind of quirky but he has told me I am one of his best students so his should be very good as well (although he is not a fan of big-name universities)</p>

5

<p>You’ve done very well but one of the things I noticed as a student at Stanford was that everyone was special and possesed a special spirit. I’m not seeing what makes you special based on what you’ve sent me bit it is possible your essay’s and rec letter show how awesome of a student you are.</p>

<p>SAT scores are fine. Whoever said they were low is stupid. GPA may be a little low tho for an uncompetitive school. Depends on your rank and average grade of your classes.</p>