Chances at Stanford (Currently a Freshman; upcoming sophomore)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi,
First off I would like to state that I’m fully aware of the acceptance rate of ivy league schools, such as Stanford, and there is a high probability that I won’t get accepted (I do have alternatives). However I don’t like that mindset, and would rather work towards Stanford, even if I don’t get accepted, than against it. I’m leaning towards majoring in CS and minoring in business (I ultimately want to be running a business in my career; Stanford has a good business program however I’ve heard bad stories of people majoring in only business - thus the reason for a minor).
I haven’t really had anyone side by side to help me with college, so please excuse, and help me with, anything that doesn’t make sense here. (For the most part, everything is self-learned).

Anyhow, I’m currently a freshman (Although the school year is ending in a few weeks). However I completely screwed up my freshman year. I took no hard classes, just “laid back” and relaxed and got A’s and B’s throughout the year (Nothing below a 85). This is with me not even trying (For example, I barely even turned in homework this year) which is why I greatly believe I can get all A’s next year, even with harder classes. Near the end of the year I had a realization, and realized I was screwing up. I now plan to fix that.

Anyhow, with that in mind, I still have some decent accomplishments throughout my freshman year.
For starters I’m attending Regis University (online course) for a CS degree. I’ve been taking these classes at the end of my 8th grade year and throughout my freshman year. If I go at the rate I am now, which is rather slow (About 1 class a quarter), I will have a degree by the time I graduate high school. However if I take more classes (2-3 a quarter) I could have one before that.
I’m also a self taught programmer which has led into some interesting opportunities. (Regis University being one.), Knowing over 7 programming languages I decided to use these towards my advantage. I started doing freelancing and at the age of 13 (Again, 8th grade year/beginning of freshman year) I ended up creating a small online company (Yes, it was legally declared as a company) and I was generating around $5,000/month. This is when I realized I want to run a company when I grow up – I had a blast!
After I no longer managed the company, I moved back into freelance. This has lead me to working for actual companies, getting paid around $20/hour. (Not sure how much this would help, other than being able to say I have experience).
I got bored of being the employee, and wanted to be the employer again which is where I am now. I am in the progress of creating my own iPhone development company, and ironically just finished up the iTunes U Stanford classes on iOS development with Swift (I’ve been reading a few books alongside as well). And will most likely be publishing my own apps to the App Store in the summer.
On top of this, I have a special needs brother which has given me many unique app ideas which can benefit the parents of many special needs children around the world (Which are in development).

So with this in mind, am I on a good start to having the correct high school career to be accepted to Stanford (Not saying I would be)?

One mind set I’m trying to keep throughout this all is many of these colleges receive similar applicants; 4.0 GPA, volunteer hours, EC activities ect. Not saying these things are bad, however I want to make a unique impact on my application (Which is what I’m attempting to do with a kickstart on a career and app development)

Any suggestions you have would be great, especially programs, internships, school classes, and other things of that sort that would benefit me.

Extremely sorry for the lengthy post, hopefully you are able to read it all.
Thanks!

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Also, forgot to mention. I’m currently going to a small (Only 90 kids in my class) private (christian - they don’t teach evolution) school. The school itself calls themselves a college prep school, however as far as I’m aware they are not accredited with that. Would it be worth it on changing schools to go to a “fancy prep school”, so to say? Or even just a more publicly recognized school?

Lastly, I’m not a minority or a legacy.

3

The good news for you is that Stanford doesn’t look at freshman grades. The bad news is that they do count towards your class rank (assuming your school ranks) and a less than stellar GPA in easy classes probably puts you well out of the top 10%. That will be hard to overcome. Also, I am not sure how you can get on track for higher level courses at this point. Are you eligible to take the most difficult 10th grade classes at your school given your performance in 9th grade? You might have to do some sweet talking with your counselor. Needless to say, you had better learn some discipline and study habits; it’s somewhat concerning you have lacked that self-motivation before now.

Your app development is not particularly unusual for Stanford, but if you love it and take it places, it will be nice on your application. No more so than any other activity, though. Try to do some sports and/or arts, or something else that interests you.

Finally, remember that if you succeed in high school for the next three years and still don’t get into Stanford, your efforts will still have been valuable for getting into a better college than you would have otherwise. Not to mention that good habits will serve you well no matter where you go.

Good luck to you.

4

From a holistic standpoint, all your EC stuff sounds good for a school like Stanford, especially if any of your apps go somewhere. Stanford has some fun supplemental questions and it really does matter how you answer them/how you show your personality/what you offer to the school. Your GPA and test scores of course matter there, but having that extra something is essential for Stanford, and sometimes can compensate for imperfect stats.

You need to apply yourself and take more challenging courses + get stellar grades in them, but in all honesty I find it concerning that you attend a school that doesn’t teach evolution! Does that mean they teach creationism? Or just no evolution? Perhaps I’m just clutching my pearls too hard, but that sets off red flag. Double check they are legit accredited, period–if your HS isn’t properly accredited, you’ll run into roadblocks later. I don’t think it warrants going to a fancy prep school–kids at regular ole public schools get into amazing schools all the time–but if you don’t feel your current school is meeting your needs, you need to talk to your parents. The strength of your high school and the courses they offer CAN matter, not so much in that the school has to be fancy, but that a rigorous coursework that actually prepares you for higher education should be offered.

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@proudterrier
So it turns out my school is accredited by ASCI (http://www.acsi.org). At this point, they only teach creationism. They briefly touch on evolution, but barely enough to grasp the idea. I could see this being a problem, considering evolution is a major theory taught world wide.
I’m considering switching schools because of what you briefly toucher on; there simply isn’t any challenging classes as a sophmore that you can take. The most challenging class a sophomore can take is chemistry. On top of this my school is very poor in EC’s, with the best being forensics (Debate club), and our music program. Since my school is so small it is very hard to start a club myself, because I would need around 15 people to be interested in it (Which gathering 15 people with 90 people is hard.)
Thanks for the suggestions.

@LawMom6
The problem with my school is that it really doesn’t have very difficult classes at all until you become a Jr. The most difficult class I can take would be Chemistry, which I am already accepted into (Freshman had to apply to get in – Sophomore automatically got in). Although I completely agree, that with lower grades it will be harder to get into more difficult classes (Even if I did change schools). The main reason for my lack of motivation was because throughout my freshman year, I was making an upwards of $5,000 a month. Since I had created this business that was generating this much money my self, with self taught skills (I suppose I learned basic grammar and math from school), I lost the value of high school education (I still enjoyed college level classes, and in fact got all A’s in the courses I took at Regis).
I agree that I need some more EC’s for my application, and was leaning towards music since it is something I enjoy doing and could easily expand out to do different things with it.
Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll take them into account.

6

I’ve been reviewing possible options over the past few days, including different school options and other classes.
Amongst this time, I had a few opportunities arise with some local communities. With this in mind:

Would it be helpful/look good on my application if I have created multiple websites for local non-profit organizations? (Perhaps it shows I’m dedicated to my community and passionate about coding?)