Chances for Stanford?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I'm new to these, so I'll try to include as much information as me as possible.
Anyways, I'm a junior at an elite bay area (california) private highschool (Harker, if that helps). And we don't have class ranks. Ethnicity: Half white (american) half indian. I am also a legacy at stanford (mother/aunt/uncle/grandpa/great grandpa). Also chances are I'll be applying for financial aid, if that changes the decision.
Languages spoken - English, some japanese (taking at school), some German.
(I'm learning German now for my internship in the summer)</p>

<p>Interests: Engineering (CS) and sports management. I know those are kind of far apart from each other, but I've always loved sports (mainly basketball, soccer, and football). I can't play in an organized manner because of a problem with my shoulder, but I watch them a lot, and am very interested in sports management.</p>

<p>Freshman year GPA - 3.6
Sophomore year - 3.9
Junior - first semester 4.2</p>

<p>SAT - 2120 (720 reading, 700/700 for the others), considering retaking
ACT - 33</p>

<p>SAT 2 Math - 780
Still considering taking SAT 2 in bio/chem</p>

<p>Course load this year:
Japanese 5 (one of my favorite classes, but I'm not great at it, B -> A- student)
US history (regular) (A)
AP CS (A+ class)
AP Calc AB (A)
Honors bio (A- -> A)
Honors English 3 (B range)</p>

<p>This is my first year taking AP Classes. While its not 100% certain, I'm expecting 5's in AB/CS AP's.
Next years course load - Data structures and another honors compsci class, Honors calc C, Contemporary Japan (AP like japanese class, but not as hard), AP psych, AP physics B/C (undecided).</p>

<p>Work experience
Summer after sophomore year: Worked in a silicon valley tech company doing software testing. Company is called Looxcie. Paid job, worked for a 8 ish weeks.
Summer after Junior year- Plan to work for a chemical company in Germany for 6-8 weeks. Unpaid internship, most likely in IT.</p>

<p>EC's
Everything I am doing now i plan to continue next year, except maybe programming club
NHS (11-12) - tons of volunteering hours for them. Volunteer at a charter school in San Jose mainly tutoring kids in math/science.
AYSO (9-12) - coach, player, referee. Lots of volunteering hours here. I volunteered at a summer camp for three years in a row now. Also I work with the disabled program helping children with mental disabilities play soccer and have fun.
Ultimate Frisbee Club(11-12) - Vice president at my school. Play 2-6 hours a week.
Model UN(11-12) - Co-captain next year, attend 3-4 conferences a year.
Tutoring club(11-12) An hour a week about of tutoring at a lower school/middle school.
I'm also the announcer for many of our home games at school.
Programming club(11) Considering quitting next year. I don't spend too much time with it. Probably leaving off the common app.</p>

<p>I think that's all of them, I'll add more if i think of anything else.</p>

<p>Also, what are my chances at UCLA (number 2 choice) and USC (number 3)?
Also Oregon's sport management program.</p>

2

<p>Thanks for the help, forgot to thank in the original post.</p>

3

<p>retake SAT</p>

4

<p>Retake standardized tests. What is your uwGPA?</p>

5

<p>Uh, I’m not sure of my uwGPA, but this year my grades were all A’s except A+ in CS and B+ in english.
Say I retook SAT’s and got a 2250, how much would that help(would it make a difference?)</p>

6

<p>No chance at all as of right now.</p>

7

<p>i am very well aware of Harker. however, i don’t think you stand out among your peers at Harker. i don’t think you are Stanford bound.<br>
i think you have a better chance if you were to transfer out of Harker and graduate in the top 2% of your class. in your case, you are competing against your classmates at Harker. you are at a disadvantage by attending a grade deflated school such as Harker. </p>

<p>your counselor should know a lot about your chances. i believe your school keeps a detail list of where the seniors end up each year.</p>

<p>you will for certain get in to both UCLA and USC.</p>

8

<p>@mrboby
Would it really make a difference if I transferred for senior year? At Fremont high/Homestead (local) I’m pretty sure I would go in top 2%. Also, do colleges such as Stanford know that Harker grades are much more competitive than a public school’s ones?</p>

<p>Also, let’s say i did transfer to a public school and graduated in top 2%. Would I have a better shot (if any)?</p>

9

<p>I completely disagree with myboby. Every high school sends a school report that tells admissions a little about the school, and it will let Stanford know that grades are deflated. I go to a school for gifted kids on the east coast. We don’t rank either, because the caliber of the student is so high it wouldn’t be fair to rank them when everyone is so above average. It sounds like your school is similar, and colleges understand that when evaluating applications. I was accepted SCEA and grade-wise there are plenty of people doing better than me at my school, and my counselor would have reported that. Definitely don’t transfer, class rank isn’t really that important when you go to an above-average school and you’re probably getting a much better education with better opportunities to excel. It’s not about being better than everyone else it’s just about following your passions, doing well wherever you are (which you seem to be doing), and doing what you love. That’s what Stanford likes to see. </p>

<p>Also 2250 SAT would make a difference, 2120 is a bit low for Stanford (although I got in with 2230 SAT and 33 ACT if that helps). </p>

<p>Hope this helped!</p>

10

<p>You have no idea how much I needed a pick-me-up. Thanks for that, and I do plan on retaking the SAT’s (2200 was my target).</p>

11

<p>You have a slightly-below-average chance. Your test scores are almost fine (foot in the door status). Maybe do one retake, no more. Your ECs should reflect at least one outstanding achievement that makes you memorable, which will make you stand out in the applicant pool.</p>