<p>Already put this in the Stanford forum but..
Stanford is seriously my dream school. I live around 20 minutes away and I am so in love. I would love to stay in California and near my family for college and I simply adore the Bay Area - no place I'd rather be. Plus, Stanford is so awesome! Love the culture, the opportunities, everything. I couldn't imagine anything as fulfilling as getting my acceptance letter! (a little obsessed, I know!)
However, I don't know exactly where to start in order to improve my chances of getting in.
I'm a sophomore at a good private Catholic school in CA. Indian, female. No hooks.</p>
<p>I took the SAT as an 8th grader and got a 2080 on it.. I'll take it again as a junior. I'm waiting on my PSAT scores. I took 3 honors classes as a freshman (the most offered by my school) - my cumulative weighted GPA was a 4.41 and my unweighted was a 3.98 I think (I had one A- first semester). I got a 770 on both the bio (E) and math I SATs. I'm currently taking 2 honors and 2 APs and I'll take the chem and math 2 sats this june. Projected GPA after first semester sophomore year is a 4.49. (max is 4.55).
I have been doing classical Indian dance for almost 10 years, and I've been a violinist for almost 5. I've passed with distinction in 3 levels of violin exams and have participating in countless programs for dance. I'm an editor for my school newspaper, and I'm on the board of my schools future medical students club. I'm also part of the international club, human rights club, research club, etc - not important because they're not leadership roles. I am most likely going to a board member of the human rights club next year.I have ~45 volunteer hours so far in the year, hopefully more by the end of the year. Will be a part of CSF second semester. Also going to join MUN next semester.
I really want to get started on some kind of lab research but I have NO idea where to begin <em>(any tips would be greatly appreciated!!).</em></p>
<p>How can I improve my chances over the next two years? Also what are some good summer programs?
I know, there's no one way, but I'd at least like to get some advice on where to improve!
Thank you!</p>
<p>Also what are my chances at Berkeley or UPenn? </p>
<p>So I got rejected RSEA so I may not be the best person to answer your question but I’ll give it a shot.
Here are my stats:
4.25 weighted (19th out of 619)
3.89 UW
34 on the ACT
710 on Chem
720 on Lit
AP Scores: World history and Comp (5), Chem bio us history psych (4)
EC’s:
Mock Trial(10-12): Highest individual award in the county and two time MVP
Soccer(9-12: 4 years of high school and my travel team was in the top 70 in the nation
Robotics (11-12): team was like 20th in the state and I’m the captain of scouting and PR director and an Exectuive
150 hours at my local children’s hospital (11-12)
75 with my school’s sped department (9-12)
100 with Key Club (9-12) and service coordinator for 10 schools
Science olympiad (9-10)- third and fifth in the state in my events
Director and founder of an indoor soccer tourney</p>
<p>Letters of Rec were kinda generic unfortunately even though my teachers love me but they had like 35 to write so I think that hurt me a bit. My outside one was from my boss (I refereed youth soccer for four years) which praised me but the poor guy can’t write to save his life so I don’t know how that affected my chances. Counselor rec was probably great though cause she loves me.</p>
<p>Essays: I thought they were good, some people thought they were phenomenal others thought they were bad so I really don’t know.</p>
<p>Anyways, the point is that I thought I had a good shot (and I very well may have) but only one kid from our school got in out of 7 or 8 RSEA. If I had any advice for you it would be to take something and run with it and keep your grades and test scores at Stanford levels. The girl who got in from my school had slightly weaker EC’s than me but her grades were perfect (straight A’s and I think she was 7th in the class) and her SAT II’s were better. Her letters of rec were probably better too because her outside one was from a senior partner at a law firm in town and our AP chem teacher who writes phenomenal letters of rec but wasn’t my biggest fan to put it mildly. REgardless of how well you do in high school getting in to HYPSM is an absolute crapshoot barring a truly incredible achievement. To maximize your chances you need to do something as meaningful or spectacular as possible (like national champion spectacular or raise a million for charity) and get at least 2100+ on the SAT and try to keep the B’s to a max of three or four. Form really good relationships with teachers too as letters are extremely important to these schools. Lastly, be introspective and slave over your essays to make them as heartfelt and well-written as possible. Good luck!</p>
<p>@soccerboy10 Thank you so much! I’m sorry about your rejection, but I can tell you’re a phenomenal person and student so I have no doubt that you’ll do great wherever you go 
Good luck with the rest of your applications!!!</p>
<p>thank you and just stay focused on doing your best and enjoying high school. This is incredibly hypocritical cause I’m still in mourning but don’t get too set on any one school. You can check out some of the threads on here. Some kids got into Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Columbia, Amherst etc… and were rejected from Stanford. Just work as hard as you can and be a genuinely good person and you’ll end up at a phenomenal school, whether it be Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley, or U Chicago. </p>
<p>I got into Stanford with the following stats:
2100 SAT
- 730 CR
- 680 M
- 690 W
800 Spanish SAT II
760 US H SAT II
730 Chem SAT II
32 ACT
4.706 GPA W
3.846 GPA UW
19 out of 347
AP Scores: 5 US H, 5 Euro H, 4 Chem
Mock Trial Team - Captain, 6 years experience, MVP in 10/12 rounds
Model UN Yeam - Captain, 3 years experience, Best Delegation, Best Delegate in Committee, and Most Knowledgeable Delegate Awards
Middle School Mock Trial Coach - 1 year
International Club - Officer, 3 years experience
Beta Club - 5 years experience
Young Democrats Club - 3 years experience
Palmetto Boys State
American Legion Boys Nation
National Technical Honor Society Member
AP Scholar
Tutor, paid and free, 6 hours a week
Boy Scouts - Life scout, 10 years experience
Swim Team - 10 years experience
Youth Group - 4 years experience</p>
<p>Application
Essays - excellent
Recommendations - unknown, I waived my right to read them, but I imagine they were fairly good
Time spent on application: approximately 10 hours</p>
<p>Grades aren’t everything. I believe my grades and extracurriculars are what pulled me through.</p>
<p>@ER022597 Congratulations! How did you find inspiration for your essays? </p>
<p>I just figured I had to show them who I was. I know that sounds cliche, but I made a point of writing exactly how I speak. So I dropped any overly sophisticated or ornate language. I wrote one funny essay (the letter to my roommate), and then made the other two essays serious and truthful. I only had to think for a while about what I really wanted to write about. Usually, the inspiration would come to me outside of my house, and, wherever I was, I’d try to start writing what I was thinking.</p>
<p>@ER022597 thanks!</p>