Chances at Stanford and Brown?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I’m a current high school senior and am wavering between submitting an ED app to Brown or a REA app to Stanford. Listed below is all my relevant info—what do you think my chances are at either school?

Personal Info: White, male, non-lgbtq, no need for financial aid, oldest sibling of 3 boys, English only language

Parents: Father went to UC Berkeley undergrad and Stanford for doctorate, Mother went to Brown undergrad

High School Info: Elite NYC private school, 180 kids in grade, no official GPA released to colleges (but calculated internally for college counseling comparison purposes: avg. unweighted = 3.31), avg. ACT = 33 composite, 21 AP courses offered, max. 3 AP courses allowed/year (only for 11th and 12th graders), max. 5 full credit courses & 2 half credit courses per year

My Academics:

Unweighted GPA (again, my school only calculates this for internal purposes): 3.78
ACT: 35 Math, 35 Science, 35 English, 34 Reading, 24 Writing (yikes?), 35 Composite
SAT2: 800 Chemistry, 800 Math II
AP: 5 AP Computer Science, 5 AP Latin, 3 Physics I, 4 Physics II (unsure if i’ll send in the Physics scores)

11th Grade Coursework: Precalc BC, Honors Physics, AP Latin, AP Computer Science A, English, Music History, Wind Ensemble
12th Grade Coursework: AP Calc BC, AP Chemistry, Latin 5 Honors, English, Classical World History, Wind Ensemble, Music History (a different one from 11th grade)

–> I have taken all the most difficult courses in the areas I’m interested in, and have always taken the maximum of 5 full credit and 2 half credit courses.

Extracurriculars: Robotics team programmer, programming club member, varsity soccer goalkeeper, first trumpet in wind ensemble (have played in numerous other ensembles and summer programs), community service club (teach robotics and programming to local kids), former member of JV baseball team (9th and 10th grades), co-founder and co-EIC of technology publication at school (started up in senior year).

Intended Major: Computer Science or Computer Engineering
Other Interests: Applied Math, Chemistry, Classics, Music (esp. classical)

2

I’m not sure exactly how a school could let you in without knowing GPA or class rank… but besides that.

As you probably know, both Stanford and Brown are extremely difficult to get into especially in computer science.

You’ll have a better chance at brown than Stanford.

Stanford ED Acceptance Rate: 12%
Brown ED Acceptance Rate: 22%

Great ACT, but ECs are weak besides the technology publication. Legacy status should help you.

The most important thing is how will you pay?

Do you qualify for financial aid? If not, can you afford 60-70k per year?

If you enjoy both schools equally, I would personally apply to Brown. The chances are much higher to get accepted to one if you go down that route.

3

Yeah my school’s a bit unusual in its lack of class rank or gpa, but it is not unusual among NYC private schools (I think they figure the kids are competitive enough already without having to deal with class ranks, etc.).

I realize Stanford’s quite difficult as a CS major, especially during the current tech bubble, but I have done some considerably involved programming projects and have attended a summer course at Columbia.

In terms of money, I won’t qualify for financial aid and the tuition should thankfully not be an issue.

I’m leaning toward Brown, but I’m still fairly confident in my chances there for regular and think I should maybe just throw my hat in the ring at Stanford (after all, I’m more impressed by it).

Also worth noting: my college counseling department makes data available indicating some admissions stats at various schools for kids who applied in the past 4 years. At Stanford there has been a 48% early admit rate (with around 30 having applied in the last 4 years) and a 6% regular admit rate (w/ around 70 having applied). So it seems I have a decent shot for early simply based on how other kids from my school have been fairing, whereas regular is essentially a lost cause.

4

I do think that you’d be able to get into Brown RD, but maybe not Stanford. I think REA to Stanford would be a better choice. Plus, you’ll get to see where else you get in. If you apply ED to Brown, would you be ok with not knowing where else you could’ve gotten in?

5

@ap012199 That’s exactly my thinking — I’m pretty confident in Brown RD (but not Stanford) and I’d certainly always wonder whether I could have gotten in there if I never ended up applying. Furthermore, I’m perfectly happy with other schools I’m considering for RD — places like Penn, Yale, Northwestern, Pomona, Berkeley, etc.