Chances at Stanford *Unique Applicant

<p>In the name of brevity, my question is simply what percent chance do you think I have to getting into Stanford as a regular applicant (I've already submitted my application, but my curiosity is biting). </p>

<p>Stats:
Sat 1: 1510 (780 Math, 730 Verbal)
Sat 2's Math 2c: 800 Spanish: 700 Writing: 700</p>

<p>GPA: 3.88 Weighted, 3.4 Unweighted <----**About the grades, I had a drastic personal situation my sophomore year which severely impacted my 10th grade gpa, However I've addressed the situation in the application under the "Extenuating Circumstances" essay. Also keep in mind that this is with the most rigorous coursework, almost all honors and ap's. </p>

<p>-I also have substantial extracurriculars, relating to engineering, and not, (e.g captain of varsity tennis for 3 years, etc. ) as well as extensive community service (including a foundation I started) . </p>

<p>-My recommendations should also be very strong, considering I got two teachers that know me very well, and love me, to write them
-I also had a substantial full time job, and had my former boss write me an awesome recommendation for the optional one. </p>

<p>Assuming that my essays are extremely well-written (which I've been told they are), do you folks think i have a good chance at getting in? Give me a rough estimate in percentage of what you think my chances are, and please feel free to elaborate.</p>

<p>**Keep in mind that I'm applying as a Mechanical Engineering Applicant, which puts a higher emphasis on my math scores.
Thanks in advance!!</p>

<p>....sry but i don't see how ur a 'unique applicant'. unless you're trying to say having a drastic personal situation is unique. </p>

<p>since u don't really name all of your extracirriculars, its not easy to judge how 'substantial' or 'extensive' they are. </p>

<p>look around this board. look at how many people say they have not so strong recommendations. so if everyone has strong recommendations, it shouldn't really make a difference. </p>

<p>essays...unable to judge, but people tell me my essays are good, but when i read them, i cringe because they suck. different points of view. </p>

<p>since I have a lack of knowledge about you, I'd say you're just an average joe applicant. applying for mechanical engineerin isnt gonna help u that much....so after throwing out the 15-20% of applicatns who can't do the work, maybe 20-30% chance? </p>

<p>maybe others will say im wrong. but its a crapshoot at stanford ne wayz</p>

<p>hey I have a question. do you know what kind of spanish 2 test u took? cuz in common app application where u put ur score, there are three different kind of spanish test.one is with listening(which I didn't take it), others are spanish reading test and spanish writing(or language?) test or something like that. weird thing is, I thought there were only two kind of spanish test, with/without listening...seems like collegeboard does not even specific them either. do you know exactly what kind of test you took?</p>

<p>I believe there are only two spanish sat II's, the listening, and the non-listening (which is the one I took). Unless you are reffering to the AP exams, in which they make the distinction between the Spanish Literature test, and the Spanish Language Test.</p>

<p>I don't wanna be rude, but you seem like a rather overly-confident person. If that quality showed through in your app, no matter how "unique" you claim to be, you're screwed.</p>

<p>Given that, your stats are pretty average for Stanford applicants. Your ec's are better than average, but again, I really hope you presented yourself as a more humble person than you did through your post.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>but then again, a large # of stanford graduates are complete overconfident asses. my argument? ever greet one of them?</p>

<p>you: Hi, my name is ***
him: Hi, stanford, class of 19**.</p>

<p>Ouch.</p>

<p>But I suppose any 'elite' university comes with its fair share of conceited 'elitists'.</p>

<p>*not saying that you are one, bluevelvet!</p>

<p>people come onto these websites thinking that theyre a shoe in already, and just want affirmation. 'what are my chances' posts are just opportunities to get your ego stroked. no one could possibly know what the ops chances are, because we arent college administrators.</p>

<p>your GPA will kill you, unless the personal circumstance is VERY VERY convincing.</p>

<p>i agree with filmxoxo17 <em>_</em></p>

<p>bump^...................</p>

<p>Just trust me, the personal circumstance is VERY convincing, not something that i'm prone to divulging on a public forum.</p>

<p>I don't know. Sometimes these extenuating circumstances come off as excuses or whinning. Depends on what it is though. For example, being in the hospital for chemotherapy treatment would excuse a year of lackluster performance, while, though tragic and if that is what happened, my heart goes out to you, the death of a family member might not.</p>

<p>dude, that is cold.</p>

<p>Extenuating circumstances ... Samp0320 puts it perfectly. Sure, it's tough. But the original poster needs to hear how college admissions officers are going to be assessing his or her application.</p>

<p>Even if you had an eating disorder or psychological issue (say, anxiety or depression), Stanford is not likely to be that sympathetic ... because such conditions are sometimes viewed to be the person's own fault. Put it this way - if your condition shows too much personal weakness, the very top colleges will be less likely to admit you because they are looking for "emotionally resilient students" who can effectively deal with the highly competitive environment. Yes, college admissions officers will probably feel bad for you if you have an eating disorder or depression (or something else that could be viewed as self-inflicted), but they will not give your application the truly sympathetic read that you might expect.</p>

<p>On the other hand, if you had leukemia or a brain tumor, and you were hospitalized for weeks, any person will immediately think that you are an incredibly persistent person who was cursed with a horrible disease, yet managed to get back on top of things with your community service efforts and strong engineering related extracurriculars. Plus, you seem to have strong test scores, which will make you a stronger contender if this situation is the case.</p>

<p>Please don't take this as an insult to anything you may have gone through. But in the highly competitive world of Stanford admissions, only the most poignant and compelling "heartstrings" cases are going to be admitted.</p>

<p>Joey</p>

<p>Yeah if you have depression or an eating disorder and you say it on your application, that is going to be a huge red flag for the admissions officers, because they first and foremost are looking for people who will graduate. Conditions like that make them very wary of accepting someone.</p>

<p>hey, why not make assumptions? who knows, it might be something horrible as rape or witnessing parents' murder...
hehe, everyone's unique, btw</p>

<p>ok, let me tell you about my circumstances, </p>

<p>i came to the US 3 years ago, but I outperformed most ppl on SAT and stuff (700 in verbal).</p>

<p>i thought i am unique, too </p>

<p>but stanford, and even UCs (Santa Cruz included) rejected me. all told, I got rejected from every school i've applied because I had a 3.5 GPA</p>

<p>I think you may have a chance in Stanford, but not very big.</p>

<p>All these speculative, cynical, posts centered on the nature of my circumstance are a bit irritating. For all of you who assume that I would be dramatizing an eating disorder, or psychological disorder, and hoping that the admissions officers would commiserate some benign media-catalyzed "circumstance" of mine, then you are horribly wrong. All i asked was for the opinions of informed individuals, as to my chances of acceptance, acknowledging that my circumstance justifies far more then simply a slight drop in my sophomore year grades (which remarkably is all that occurred), and the fact that a slight drop in my GPA my 10th grade year (in the hardest classes available) is ALL that occurred as a result of my drastic, and excessively impairing past, is testament to my sheer determination. And for those of you that have somehow concluded that this circumstance is a result of a "weakness" are utterly wrong, for it occurred as no fault of my own, but instead was the result of an external situation, of which I had no control.
However, I can understand why some individuals would resent a thread like this (myself included) because it represents a morbid desire for reassurance, and for those of you, that seem so eager to extrapolate a weakness of mine based on my post, please do not ASSUME you know what my situation is, but rather simply berate the fact that I am insecure enough, or rather self-concerned enough, to desire some internet forum's encouragement.
Having said that, those of you that are properly informed, please continue to respond with what you predict my chances of admission are, taking the intentionally vague information (I'm not comfortable with needless public revelation) that I've provided at face value. Also understand that the foundation I've created, (which is in the process of going public) came as a result of my "circumstance" and raises money to help those that have the misfortune of having to cope with similar situations, and it is a fairly substantial organization.</p>

<p>Thanks in advance.</p>

<p>What annoys me is that you post this thread about your chances, which largely, I would argue, do hinge on what you call your extenuating circumstances. And then you don't tell us what they are.</p>