Chances at Stanford or UC Berk (Long story, but I'm a different kind of kid)

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>Ok, I know you guys probably see hundreds of these a day but I just signed up for CC about an hour ago and looked at this thread for the last little while.</p>

<p>I won't bore you with academics, as personally, those alone would probably never get me into Stanford or Berk, but I'll give a quick overview.</p>

<p>Class rank: School doesn't rank as we're a fairly competitive HS (not trying to sound arrogant by any means)</p>

<p>ACT: 31 Composite
Math: 31 Eng: 30 Reading: 30 Sci: 31</p>

<p>SAT: Didn't take</p>

<p>However, plan on taking Math 1 & 2 subject tests in the fall as Stanford likes those. My guess is I get ~700 on each of them, I'm not going to say higher as I don't want to overdo it, but 700 is easily achievable and more practical.</p>

<p>APs taken: Econ (4)(4) Psych (4)</p>

<p>Aps going to take: AB Calc and AP Lit</p>

<p>I'm in accelerated in math and science and have been in a handful of honors classes but I don't consider those anything major.</p>

<p>I would call my grades high to average, I hit honor roll (above 90.5 average in all classes) all quarters last year. I shoot to hold A's in all my classes, that's about it.</p>

<p>I've played hockey since I was a little kid, and love it, I've been on Varsity for two years, but in all honesty don't want to go to school to play it. It's just something I've done for a while. Also, played HS golf for two years, again, not a huge deal if I go to school for it. </p>

<p>Anyway, like I said, my academics are really not what I consider 'special' by any means. So now I'll tell you what really drives me and what I hope I can possibly use for going to these west coast schools, I live in Western NY by the way. </p>

<p>Prerequisite: I swear by no means am I trying to come off as bragging or stuck up with the numbers below. I've explained this same thing to many friends and they ALWAYS ask for specific data and numbers, so I figured I'll just straight up share them with you guys...
Again, not trying to brag here at all, just want to share what I've done so you can chance me accurately. Even I admit the data is insane for a 16 year old kid in high school, and sometimes I even don't like to acknowledge it, as it's too surreal. Ok, well that's out of the way, here goes.</p>

<p>So, when I was in 9th grade, well, actually the summer after it, I started an online business when I realized there was an opportunity to make money from a specific thing people were looking for, yes, by myself and have been running it ever since. It was slow the first year and I didn't have a website, but I established some connections online (YouTube, other sites, blogs, etc.), and also decided to finally code up a site. After my sophomore year it actually started to take off, and I'm not talking take off like I made a couple hundred dollars in the summer, I mean 25K site visitors in one summer and I made ten thousand dollars in profit, yes, 10K into my bank as a 15 year old, like I stated earlier, surreal.</p>

<p>Anyway, I did the same business this summer (it only runs from June until mid September each year), just redid the website, and worked on some more backend stuff. Long story short it's the beginning of August and I've netted 45,000 dollars in profit, yeah.... I'm 16 and it shouldn't even be happening. Once more, sorry guys for the numbers but I figured people would just ask if I used words like: a lot, large amount of dollars, etc.. I added analytics site tracking and I've hit over 100,000 site visitors this year, and haven't spent a dollar on advertising. </p>

<p>I know everyone will be wondering what this 'magic business' is, so I'll describe it very quickly without trying to bore people. Simply put, I created a website that allows people to sign up and use beta versions of upcoming mobile software on their respective devices. That's a very barebones description of it, but this post is already incredibly long, so I don't want to drag it on. If you really want to know more about it feel free to message (if that's what it's called on here?) me and I'd be glad to get in touch with you and share my URL for the site, and talk more about it.</p>

<p>So basically what I have is this business I created from the ground up, me, one person over three years, that pulls in way more than any 16 year old should ever have (even I admit that), and gets visited by over 100,000 people in one summer.</p>

<p>I wrote up a 6 page summary of basically "The History of (insert business name here)" over the past few weeks, but obviously couldn't submit that for any admission officer to read. I think I could try and portray this thing in an essay (curse you 650 word limit) but it would be challenging to capture it all in a non-arogant way. </p>

<p>Basically, does this give me any leverage at these schools? My deep and driving passion is technology, computer science, and business (ha, what better place than the west coast?) and Stanford is a dream. I visited it a week ago and sat in on some sessions and instantly realized everything there interested me, all the computer science, business, tech, all of it. It's so far up my alley I honestly don't think I could find a better school to suit me. Not to mention, the entrepreneurshipy vibe of Palo Alto only strengthened that feeling.</p>

<p>Should I apply early decision there, or not? I've heard mixed things, like that the applicants then will all be very academically equipped, with myself not even coming close to them from an academics standpoint. </p>

<p>Berkeley is also an awesome school and going there would be equally as satisfying.</p>

<p>One last side note: since I can work from home as a 16 year old, I had a lot of free time over the last two months so I started doing Habitat for Humanity downtown and have racked up 100 hours of community service from that. I figured my site is generating revenue almost around the clock, so I wanted to give back to my community and I freaking love going to Habitat every morning, learned some awesome life lessons there. Also, I made a YouTube video for a friend of me dropping some phones to see how strong they were, and it pulled in 3/4 million views.... Yeah that was just for pleasure in my free time and it's fun to tell people I made something almost a million people have seen :D haha</p>

<p>I guess then, just let me know your thoughts if you made it this far, haha. Sorry if I offended anyone or am coming across is really snotty, but I was trying to share what I've done in the most honest way, and really don't mean to be snotty at all. I mean, c'mon look at me, my grades are almost laughable for applying to Stanford...</p>

<p>Anyway, thanks for reading this and any advice, and any chancing you can do would be very appreciated :)</p>

2

<p>Dude honestly, if you’re legit. You don’t need stanford or berkely, they need you. My friend does something similar and he rakes in 1k a month. I think you have a chance at these schools, but i feel like you’re the type of person that would succeed no matter where they went to college.</p>

3

<p>wow. um. yeah I think you’re fine. I mean your scores are a little lower but those schools would be ridiculous not to accept you</p>

4

<p>…honestly you sound so brilliant that you don’t even need a stanford education, you could not go to college and make millions just by using the money you would spend on tuition, to grow your business. if you’re really dead set on going to college though, they would be absolutely stupid to reject you, and if they do, it’s honestly their loss because you’re brilliant.</p>

5

<p>This is the streamlined answer, k? Basically, does this give me any leverage at these schools?
You still have to work it. The tipping point would come from how well you present yourself in the app package- that’s a combo of your academic rigor and performance and the personal qualities that come through. Not all about one primary enterprise you threw yourself into. Have you looked at the CA and their supp? They like entrepreneurial kids, plenty will apply, many with measurable success. - But they particularly need kids who can take on and master the very specific challenges at Stanford, stick with it and fit and thrive in * Stanford’s* environment. Kids who will achieve academically, make friends, influence each other and make the most of all that. </p>

<p>This is not meant as discouragement, more as a big hint. Try to look hard at what S presents about itself and the sort of kids it looks for, not just winners at this or that, but the real kids behind the image.</p>

6

<p>You should apply ED based on your preference, not based on what other people’s stats may or may not look like. Since you have something unusual in your profile no one can chance you accurately, and for reach schools no one can chance anyone accurately at all. They can only say if they are in range stats-wise and you can check that yourself.</p>

<p>Pay attention to details. Stanford doesn’t want you to submit Math 1 and 2. They just like to see Math 2, if you are prepared for it. For your other SATII, you should take something in another area.</p>

<p>I think you should pay listen to lookingforward and pay attention to all the parts of your application and how you present yourself as a whole person.</p>

<p>You can certainly explain your business in 650 words. No one needs technical details. It might be more interesting to see the chain of thoughts and deeds that brought you to where you are now with it. I don’t know why it has to sound arrogant. It might if that is your personality. If you reread what you wrote above, you can see how repetitive you were and how many unnecessary asides you made, and you don’t want your essay to come off that way. Writing well and succinctly and insightfully would be something they want to see. Think of how to make it interesting, rather than a blow by blow account, and how to reveal what kind of thinker and doer you are and why the project interested you. Work on developing an honest voice and have that come through in your writing.</p>

<p>Finally, there are a lot of very good schools. Take some time to get to know them. Decide what your safety school is. Then look for a good mix of other schools so you will be happy with your choices come next Spring.</p>

7

<p>The UC schools are known for looking at quantitative data (GPA, ACT scores) more than qualitative profile. Boosting up your test scores would help you a lot because you already have a hook and a great EC. Add with your essay and you have a good of chance of getting in. Stanford is a reach for everyone, no matter how greatly you performed in entrepreneurship. Again, boosting up your test scores would certainly hike your acceptance rate. I don’t think you need to take both SAT Math 1 and 2 because they’re pretty much the same tests. Colleges won’t give you extra points for taking TWO math tests. Just make sure that you really show what you’ve done in your essay and you’re set. Good luck!</p>

8

<p>Hey, youre a great inspiration! I think I agree with all the people above^ in that you just need to portray yourself we in your essays, spend a lot of time on them, and try to bump up your scores a little in the meantime. Good luck!</p>