Chances at Stanford....

Applying to College
1

<p>Okay, I'm a pretty ordinary girl from the midwest... no one in my high school system EVER applies to any selective colleges... next year i'm planning on applying to Yale, Stanford, Harvard, Brown, Columbia, and Wellesley as my "hopeful" choices... (I did have one friend...the '06 val...who did this same thing, and he got into stanford, dartmouth, and yale....so he's helping me through this)</p>

<p>anyways, i reeeally want to go to Stanford, first and foremost</p>

<p>my stats:
SAT
V:740
M:700
W:720</p>

<p>GPA: weighted - 4.23</p>

<p>rank: as of now... 6/322... BUT, this will change when we get our reports back from last semester... (all A+s and an AP class...heck yes!) so i'm estimating 4/322</p>

<p>(i took the SAT twice because the first time was the morning before prom and i was a little unfocused...i was really surprised the scores came out so good.. but anyways- ...there's hope for improvement when my new scores come back.)</p>

<p>I've taken 2 AP courses so far...
stats (soph) - 4
bio - hopeful 5...the test seemed reeeally easy, and we have a reeeeally good bio program at my school.</p>

<p>i've taken all honors courses offered
next year i'll have 6 AP classes ....english, lit, spanish, calc, gov/econ, physics</p>

<p>this summer i'm taking classes out at Stanford with their high school summer college program... (calc, writing, and a piano class)</p>

<p>ECs...
i independantly study piano (so no big awards or anything set in stone)...but i am taking that class this summer, so hopefully they'll be impressed</p>

<p>i am captain of our school's swim team, cross-country team, and track team
(not good enough to be recruited or anything, though)</p>

<p>i race in triathlons over the summer and am the president/founder of the North Side Triathlon Club... (a tiny and somewhat unorganized ban of endurance enthusiasts...we're trying to bring more people in by organizing lots of fundraisers this year to curb the insane cost of triathlon racing)</p>

<p>secretary for the National Honors Society</p>

<p>executive officer of Student Council</p>

<p>Candy Striper at our local hospital</p>

<p>Awards:
numerous school awards for spanish, english, and ....typing... (big whoop if i want to be a secretary)</p>

<p>the Brown University "book award" (i have no idea what that one's about- but they gave me a really cool dictionary)</p>

<p>Student Rotarian</p>

<p>anyways, i would be very happy to hear any feedback, good or bad. </p>

<p>Do you think I have a chance if I get really good recommendations and come up with some cool essays?</p>

2

<p>you have a good of a shot as anyone else out there, just keep it up and take a tough senior year schedule...</p>

3

<p>what state are you in? Geographic hook is possible...</p>

4

<p>Indiana.... go hoosiers... lol</p>

5

<p>I think you have a 50/50 chance which is a lot better than most people. But your EC doesn't look spectacular. It'll probably depend on the rec and personal statement</p>

6

<p>hmmm ... hate to be discouraging ... I see you're pretty focussed on this Stanford/Ivy path. Why? As you say, you're an average high-achieving Midwesterner. Your grades are great, your SATs are fine, and you like to play sports. So are a million others' grades and scores. Stanford accepted 12% of applicants last year; it'll be slightly less this year. So figure half those admits, aside from impossible GPAs and 2400 SATs, had hooks (legacy, top athlete, URM, and/or whatever). The other half (okay, I'm exaggerating, but not by much) had also published a prizewinning novel, started a successful co-op for peasants in Somalia, invented a lifesaving medical device used by every thoracic surgeon in America, toured Euroope as concertmaster with the New York Philharmonic ... well, you get the idea.</p>

<p>Your friend the val -- how'd he do it? His granddad built them a library, right?</p>

<p>So ... every app to Stanford, Yale, etc., will cost you $50 to $75 for the app fee, another few bucks for College Board scores, a few more more financial aid documents, time and trouble for your guidance counselor, registrar, recommenders, and YOU!</p>

<p>Maybe you need to do this, because you can. Maybe you should, so you don't spend the rest of your life thinking what a difference it might have made. But it seems frivolous to me.</p>

7

<p>
[quote]
The other half (okay, I'm exaggerating, but not by much) had also published a prizewinning novel, started a successful co-op for peasants in Somalia, invented a lifesaving medical device used by every thoracic surgeon in America, toured Euroope as concertmaster with the New York Philharmonic ... well, you get the idea.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>HAHA. No they didn't. I love how CC people exaggerate. No Stanford does not accept 10 students every year. No it's not impossible to get into (after all Stanford does have students). No you don't have to win every national award you can think of, publish books, or do other things that most 40-year-olds cannot do.</p>

<p>I know plenty of people who have won no big awards, not recruited athletes, not legacies, their parents didn't donate a bajillon dollars, most of them aren't even minorities. They didn't have a job at the White House (most of them don't even have a job) and they didn't travel to Africa to build houses for the poor. They just did the work in school. They got really good grades, good SATs, wrote solid essays and got good recommendations. Maybe a few activities and maybe a leadership position. They got into Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Columbia, U Penn, Brown, Cornell, CalTech, you name it.</p>

<p>My point is, OP, you have an impressive resume and you have a good shot at many good colleges. I'm not going to say anything about Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc. because these schools are so random that it's hard to estimate your chances. Often it comes down to: they liked your personality, they thought you are a good FIT for the school, or they needed a Tuba player in their band. I'm just going to say you are qualified. Good luck in your ventures!</p>

8

<p>Just went to the stanford admissions presentation and i say looks good as long as you can distinguish yourself with your essays/recs. Also: unweights gpas and only considers academic classes from 10th and 11th grades</p>

9

<p>^That's pretty common info, they put it on their site.</p>

<p>But when they say distinguish yourself, they aren't playin'. Soooo many people are going to apply with the hope of distinguishing themselves, but according to Stanford, the strongest essays are the most genuine. That's what you want to go for.</p>

10

<p>I really got into the whole triathlon thing this year-(I started the club) and- this summer while I'm out at Stanford I'm going to be training with their team. (maybe that could be my little 'niche'?)</p>

11

<p>Also, celloguy... my friend the val is just another normal kid. He's a boy scout and one of our drum majors... but that's about it. He's just a normal overachiever like me.</p>

<p>and I'm not so much focused on the Ivy path as I am the Stanford path. I think the school would be a really good match for me- I'm one of those "smart, but you would probobly never guess it" kids. -halfway between class clown, slacker, and overachiever (if that makes any sense.) I know Stanford has a reputation for being very laid-back, yet studious.</p>

<p>I still haven't decided about applying to those other ivies yet. Yale seems like a good match, but I doubt that I'll get in (although, my friend the val did...which makes me want to apply) Brown and Columbia would be my next choices for "fittedness" then probobly Wellesley... Harvard doesn't really show up in there, I just figured I'd jump on the bandwagon, but maybe I shouldn't waste 75$ on a school I don't want to go to.</p>

12

<p>^That's the spirit! Pursue what suits you!. </p>

<p>I myself am applying to Stanford and resisted the tempation to apply to tons of ivies just for the sake of applying. (I am applying to two though, Cornell for all around great engineering and Princeton for aeronautics.)</p>

13

<p>no interesting extracurriculars, whats your unweighted GPA? Bad SAT scores, no chance of getting into stanford, mind ANY IVY LEAGUE</p>

14

<p>^You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, unfortunately.</p>

<p>Last year, 71% had over 700 on the verbal.
Last year, 76% had over 700 on the math.</p>

<p>690-780 Math (25-75%)
670-770 Verbal (25-75%)</p>

<p>Yet somehow 700 verbal and 740 math is bad? You need facts to back up your assertions.</p>

<p>And second of all, ECs don't have to be 'interesting' to you, they have to demonstrate passion or interest of the student. The poster is captain of like, 3 things, and founded a club. I doubt admissions will deny this poster admission because the ECs are uninteresting (which they aren't).</p>

<p>On top of that, you had the audacity to claim this person has no chance at any ivies. Who are you to make that kind of judgement cosidering this person's stats?</p>

<p>Where do you even get this stuff? It's as if you read a different person's stats.</p>

15

<p>Thank you, Murasaki!</p>

<p>and by the way, triathlons are VERY interesting. </p>

<p>I've kind of noticed some negative comments over the years from those individuals uninterested in athletics towards the sports-enthusiasts such as myself. Personally, I think an interest in athletics almost outweighs a bunch of awards in academics. (so long as the person also shows a great deal of success on his or her transcript and standardized scores.) I mean, think about it, an athlete spends at LEAST (minimal) 2 hours a day, 6 days a week runnig around like a madman trying to improve himself for the sake of the team. Athletics are a huge time commitment and a big way for a student to discover what is most important to him- especially if athletic performance doesn't just flow naturally like some of you olympians out there. I really admire the JV runner more than anyone else out there. These kids run their hearts out every day for four months in order to compete for their little "worthless" JV conference meet. Why do they do this? Because they love it, and they love their team. It takes a lot of guts, I must say.</p>

16

<p>The stats are good on paper. They'll take a serious look at you. It's up to your own self-presentation, however, to prove to them that you're worth accepting. Pour your heart into your essays, get good recs, and you'll do fine.</p>

17

<p>Yeah, I kinda went off on a tangent there- but my point of interestingness still stands...lol</p>

18

<p>My real reasons for wanting to go to one of these schools is to really distinguish myself from the town I live in and the people I've grown to know over the years. I don't know, but I feel like there has to be something bigger out there. Going to one of these colleges- where the undergraduates are ALL some of the most amazing people you could ever meet (they have to be to get in, right?) seems like such an oppertunity to really break out of the norm and learn from a rediculously eclectic delegation of overly interestintg kids. I hate walking around school every day knowing that over half of my class probobly won't even leave our city for their entire lives. No one ever reaches for anything bigger... </p>

<p>Why have you guys started to consider the top-tier schools?</p>

19

<p>

People do it all the time, especially in the "What are my chances" forum... I suggest you take a look at that some time</p>

20

<p>^I suggest you answer my entire post.</p>

<p>Just because other people do it doesn't mean it's right. On top of that, I gave several reasons for discrediting your analysis, and that's the meat of my post, not one statement.</p>

<p>I claim you can't make that judgement because of the parts of my post you chose to ignore, including this one:</p>

<p>
[quote]
Last year, 71% had over 700 on the verbal.
Last year, 76% had over 700 on the math.</p>

<p>690-780 Math (25-75%)
670-770 Verbal (25-75%)</p>

<p>Yet somehow 700 verbal and 740 math is bad? You need facts to back up your assertions.

[/quote]
</p>