Chances at Stanford

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>Junior Male Asian Indian
GPA 3.75
SAT 2010 (retaking hoping around 2200)
Future Major: engineering
Classes very good: some notable classes - took AP Physics B as a freshman and got a B in it. Took Honors Precalc as a freshman and got an A, took AP Calc AB and got 5 on it soph. year.</p>

<p>EC's </p>

<p>I want to go into business (with engineering) so my ec's are all business and community service related. </p>

<p>Very very involved with this community service club at my school. I live in Michigan and I helped register people in Downtown Detroit to vote for the recent election by going door to door. I also helped sell brocures to people in a Detroit Lion's football game. I help low-income kids do their hw most weeks throughout the year because their families don't know how to help them. I also help set up our yearly walk that occurs at our school. I help get donations from stores in the area, set up the walk, and publicize it. The walk appears in the FOX news every year. This year I was selected by a committee to travel to Mali to help build a school there in a very impoverished village where the overall majority of the people can't read or speak english (like only 1% in the village can, if even that). I will be staying there for two weeks and helping to build the school and teaching citizens in the village how to speak english. I am def. going to write my essay on this. I am a boardmember and VP of community service of the club.</p>

<p>I co-founded a chapter of Future Business Leaders of America at our school. We have already had guest speakers from companies like Merill Lynch and we have had popsicle sales in our school where we have raised money for the club. We have our own website and departments. We are also involved with the community, where we organize and manage events that benefit the public. </p>

<p>I cofounded a non-profit organization that pubishes a paper with community service opportunities for kids to do. It will start to appear in the Detroit Free Press soon in the next few months. Currently, it just appears in local papers and in the school paper. This basically combines my interest in business management and community service. </p>

<p>I am very outspoken about business and how community service is essential to business leaders. I will mention this in my essay about my trip to Mali. </p>

<p>My dad got two fellowships from Stanford and I used to live there. </p>

<p>Do I even have a chance at Stanford? Should I consider applying there?</p>

2

<p>bump bump bump</p>

3

<p>anyone bump bump?</p>

4

<p>Anyone please?</p>

5

<p>Well, for starters, get your SAT score up. A lot (at least 2200, preferably above 2300). Remember that Stanford doesn't look at freshman year, so you should recalculate your GPA to reflect only your sophomore and junior year grades. Also, have you taken SAT II's? As for EC's, I like the community service. If anything, that'll be your hook. You certainly have a shot, but you never can tell. You say that you want to pursue business and engineering. Penn has a combined program (Jerome Fisher) which offers a dual degree from Wharton and SEAS that you might want to look into.</p>

6

<p>Isn't there a Co-Term program at Stanford that does Management and Engineering? I think it is MS&E?</p>

7

<p>Inuendo, can you send me a link that talks about that program? It sounds really cool!</p>

8

<p>I am not sure about the Co-term programs myself tennispro2388. I only heard about it when speaking to a current Stanford student who told me that he is enrolled in this course. This is all I could find on the website:</p>

<p><a href="http://cs.stanford.edu/Degrees/undergrad/CoTermFAQ.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://cs.stanford.edu/Degrees/undergrad/CoTermFAQ.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

9

<p>thanks inuendo!</p>

10

<p>tennispro2388,</p>

<p>Stanford's MS&E program does sound quite perfect for you if your interests lie in both business and engineering. Stanford does have a Business Adminstration major nor an undergraduate business program, but most students who wish to go into business major in Management Science and Engineering, which is quite an extensive major, since it's in the school of engineering. ALso, there are coterm opportunities in this department. The way coterms work is, during the end of your junior year or up through winter quarter of your senior year, you apply to coterm in a department (doesn't have to be one you majored in, but I think it has to be similar, i.e. Econ major can coterm in MS&E, ChemE can coterm in BioE, Bio Major can coterm in Biophysics, etc.). You then get your master's in 5 years. That's the general trend, though some do it in 4, and I personally know one econ major, econ coterm master's who finished everything in 3, but that's exceptional. </p>

<p>As for your chances for getting into Stanford, your EC's are fine. In fact, they're great! As has been mentioned before, recalculate your unweighted GPA without your freshman year grades and hopefully come out w/ >3.8 (the higher the better, of course). As for your SATs, you're a junior so you don't have much time left. Be strategic. With a 2010, definitely retake. A balanced 2150 to 2200 is probably a good, realistic number to shoot for. SAT II's? </p>

<p>co-founding organizations looks great, but be sure to talk extensively in your essays about what you did with fellow students and the community, not just that you founded the club.</p>

<p>FInally, the best advice I can give for any college application is: Don't be afraid to brag, but be humble about it. As many great sayings go, there's an innate oxymoron in that, but my suggestion is, make 2-3 things sound spectacular, and the rest sound like they complement your personality well, though they don't have to be directly related.</p>

<p>Given your ECs, I'd say your chances are decent, if your uw GPA's >3.8, your SAT I >2150 (w/ no subsection below 700), and SAT II's >750.</p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>Edit: So, was your father at one time a member of Stanford's Faculty? Any legacy status there?</p>

11

<p>My dad is not a member of the faculty, but he knows a few professors there. I'm gonna go down and meet them this summer before I apply. One of them was the chair of the medical department for Stanford. He is now retired, but occasionally gives lectures.</p>

12

<p>BTW my trip to Mali is not some paid trip or something that you have to be rich to do. Its fully paid because I applied and was selected as one of ten kids or so from my state. This is what I am definitely going to write my essay about because its such a cool experience!</p>

13

<p>What do you mean by "chances are decent?" Does that mean more like 10% or 30%?</p>

14

<p>no one really knows...it's really not about a percentage. I'd say you have a good shot (50%?) if you get your stats up and get a glowing personal letter from some big shot Stanford prof...</p>

15

<p>the aforementioned joint degree program at penn is called the jerome fisher program in management and technology. here is a link to the website. <a href="http://www.mandt.wharton.upenn.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.mandt.wharton.upenn.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>Thanks a lot unctous. Is this program really hard to get into? Would I have a shot at making it?</p>

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<p>yeah, it's really competitive...as or more so than harvard, stanford, etc. i was accepted to the huntsman program, which is the other really competitive joint degree program at penn, and all the regular decision admits i talked to were choosing between huntsman and princeton, harvard, yale, etc. what i will say is that it seems to be a huge advantage to apply there early because they know the rd yield rate is going to be 50% or less due to the competitiveness of the program and the choices kids will inevitably have. they therefore take more than half the kids in the program early decision. as for if you have a shot at making it, i don't think anyone can tell you anything other than just give it a try. i got into the two schools that i applied to that were the hardest to get into (harvard and huntsman - both around 5% acceptance rate rd) and i got deferred and rejected by yale, so who knows with these things. feel free to ask any more questions or pm me if you want to talk further.</p>

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<p>I think you have a chance, but a rather slim one to be honest</p>