Chances at Stanford : Please~

Colleges & Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>Hello, my name is Sarah and I was hoping for some advice on my chances to the following universities. I am a female Korean, currently a junior studying in a private school in the Republic of Panama.</p>

<p>Early decision: Stanford University
Reaches: U of Penn, Johns Hopkins, Washington U St. Louis, Northwestern, UCLA, UC-Berkeley, Brown, Emory.
Matches: UM-AnnArbor, UW-Madison, UCSD.
Safety: UT-Austin, UM-College Park.</p>

<p>GPA:
10th: 4.4
11th: 5.1
Rank: Valedictorian</p>

<p>SAT I:
Math: 800
Verbal: 600
Writing: 720
Total: 2120</p>

<p>(This was my first time; therefore, I plan on taking it two more times)</p>

<p>SATII:
Math IIC: 700
Spanish: 780
Writing: 720
Chemistry: 750</p>

<p>My classes are IB classes. I took/taking:
IB Math HL, IB Chemistry, IB Biology SL, IB English A1 HL, IB Spanish A2 HL, IB Psychology SL.
(I still haven't taken any AP tests. I plan on taking them this year. My practice exams were pretty good)</p>

<p>ECS:
-Layout editor and chief in school magazine
-Layout editor and chief in school newspaper
-MUN press
-Volleyball team
-Plenty of community service (Orphan house: 160 hours)
-Tutoring service
-Summer internship at Samsung Electronics-Panama
-I am also equally fluent in English, Spanish and Korean. I also know French and Mandarin as my second languages. (I?ve lived in Korea, Brazil, Colombia and Panama).</p>

<p>RECs: My chemistry, math and English teachers promised me to write excellent recommendation letters. I also have an awesome recommendation letter by my advisor during my internship in Samsung Electronics.</p>

<p>Essays: I think I have very good essays. They were all approved by my English teacher.</p>

<p>I thank you SO SO much in advance for your time and advice. Any recommendation would be grateful.</p>

2

<p>Wow. It is unbelievable that you are even mildly worried. Seriously. I've seen worrying before, but damn. Someone with your resume should have an excellent chance anywhere you like. I think Stanford's Admission Office would be pretty idiotic if they DIDN't accept you. I can attest that your SAT IIs are def higher than mine were, at the least. And I only speak 4 languages, so you're one-up on me there too. :-P</p>

<p>Anywho, the slightly tricky part will be your essays, since I've seen a lot of well academically qualified nerds get turned down. The rest of your application will show that you're brilliant academically--i.e. let the numbers handle the convincing (you have fantastic scores, believe me, there are plenty of people here who didn't/can't do what you've done), and focus on showing your other strengths. A lot of people make the mistake of saying stuff that's already been mentioned and not saying why it's significant to them. Talk about something significant to you and why. It might be an extracurricular. It might be that internship. It might be some other experience. It doesn't have to be something you want to do for the rest of your life. It doesn't have to be how you're going to save the world. Take something that you're passionate about and show them you mean it. Heck, I wrote my main essay on my dad always telling me when I used to take things apart that I should always be able to put it back together properly. Related it to a few other things, but you get the idea. I also mentioned somewhere in the application that despite the fact that I'm Asian I dressed up as Santa (beard and all) for little kids to raise money for the Salvation Army. Just quirks and thoughts that make you you--the unique person that you are.</p>

<p>Hope this helps, feel free to ask for more help!</p>

3

<p>You stand a good chance. Please apply!</p>

4

<p>wow, thank you for the replies.
I'll make sure I take your advice on the essays jwj</p>

5

<p>There's a thread around somewhere where people posted their essay topics. Take a look at that, it might give you a general feel for what people wrote about. I should add a note on what I said about essays: there are a good number of people who wrote about something superbly nerdy, so choose a subject based on your academics if you wish, but again, it should not be just a listing of your various accomplishments. Since Stanford does not conduct interviews (I think they were considering it at one point for this year, but I believe the idea was dropped), the office relies heavily on your essays to see what kind of person you are. Your voice should come through clearly in your writing. Make it personal. It should probably be to some degree insightful/thoughtful. Whatever you do, you want to stand out as someone they're not going to find anywhere else. High SAT scores/AP scores/grades in general they CAN find elsewhere. It's the different motivations, personalities, goals, experiences, etc. that are looked at closely. Your grades are just what give you the confidence to knock on the door and know that they'll pay some attention to you. Getting a key to the community, well, that requires the most work, IMO. :-) Have some faith, I think you ought to be fine.</p>

6

<p>thnku soooo much : )
i rly appreciate ur advice and help</p>

7

<p>Everything looks good except the 600 in the verbal section of the SAT. It's true that good numbers won't get you into a school like Stanford. I doubt this would keep you from getting in, but sometimes you've got to have the high gpa AND sat before they will give your application a second look (that's basically the purpose of high gpa and sat at HYPSM; they get your hypothetical foot in the hypothetical door). Do your best to get that score up while you still have time.</p>

8

<p>I agree with Vissanik. If you have the time, try to pull up the CR score. On the other hand, maybe being an international student who doesn't speak english as a first language (I'm assuming this though, since you didn't say anything about this :D) is a mitigating factor.</p>

<p>EDIT: Hmm I just saw that you said you are fluent in english. My bad.</p>

9

<p>Hmm. I'm somewhat outdated on this argument, as I took the SAT when it was still scored out of 1600. I'd agree that 1400 would be somewhat of a low score then, but I would think that statistics showing how much harder it is to get a perfect on the new exam graded out of 2400 would mitigate this factor. Dunno. But either way, I guess it really wouldn't hurt to try for a higher score one more time. Prepare well, though, since there's no point in taking it if your score stays the same or (hopefully not!) drops. If it doesn't happen on the second time, I would probably just take what I have and run with it. :-/</p>

10

<p>Since nobody has told you yet, Stanford is SCEA. I wish it was ED...</p>

<p>As for your chances, there's nothing I can say that nobody else has already said. Write sweet essays =)</p>

11

<p>heh, thx a ton everyone. I'll make sure to get that SAT score up. ;)</p>

12

<p>Republic of Panama.
That will be a hook</p>