Hi,
My son will graduate in high school in 2019. I had him take the act with writing this year and he scored a composite score of 32 and an 8 with the writing. His grades are mostly As (math and sciences) with a few Bs (English lit ) . What are his chances of getting admitted for freshman class 2019 if he’s going to compete with seniors for EA? Does Stanford give credit to younger applicants?
Thanks for any info
I’d definitely recommend applying as a senior – Stanford requires nearly impeccable grades, so he’ll need to get straight A’s with rigorous classes in order to make up for those B’s. His ACT score is decent but I think he should consider taking it one more time after some additional practice. Getting in that 34-36 range can certainly be beneficial.
Also, keep in mind that Stanford has a less than 5 percent acceptance rate among some of the world’s brightest students. Decent standardized test scores and grades are no where near sufficient. He needs glowering letters of recommendation, some very, very impressive extracurricular achievements, high SAT subject test scores and an essay and interview that reveals strong, unique characteristics.
Feel free to DM me if you have additional questions on what he can do to improve grades and standardized test scores, as well as other components of his profile. I was rejected by Stanford, but was accepted into Harvard, Columbia and a couple other schools, so hopefully I can be of at least some help.
“My son will graduate in high school in 2019. I had him take the act with writing this year and he scored a composite score of 32 and an 8 with the writing. His grades are mostly As (math and sciences) with a few Bs (English lit ) . What are his chances of getting admitted for freshman class 2019 if he’s going to compete with seniors for EA? Does Stanford give credit to younger applicants?”
I am confused. Are you intending to wait approximately a year and a half from now and have him apply EA to Stanford at the beginning of his senior year in high school? If so this makes sense to me (although as @inevitablewinner said, the acceptance rate at Stanford is very low, and many applicants only have A’s with no B’s at all – therefore consider other options carefully in addition to applying to Stanford).
Alternately, are you intending to have him apply earlier than this? When the smartest and hardest working kids in the country go to Harvard or Stanford or MIT, then suddenly go from being the smartest in their little world (high school) to being average. One in four go from being in the top 1% to being in the bottom 25%. This is not easy. IMHO there is no way any kid should ever go to a top university before graduating high school at the normal age.
An ACT of 32/8 in grade 10 isn’t exceptional,. Is that the question?
Zero
Stanford won’t give credit to kids who graduate young, just for being a little (or a lot) younger. They’re looking for a standard of excellence, in thinking, accomplishments, and experiences, that has no shortcut.
Learn what they look for. It’s far more than a 32 and “mostly As.” Until you get a grip on that, you can’t plan. Really, you can’t even dream.
To answer your question, applying as a junior or trying to graduate early is a disadvantage not an advantage. Colleges would rather have kids who are more mature and do not want minors on campus if possible. The only kids who are sometimes given a pass are bonafide geniuses (aka Terry Tao) which your son has not demonstrated that he is. Mostly As usually doesn’t cut it for top schools but if he has offsetting accomplishments or hooks then perhaps he has a chance as a senior applying. Best of luck with his college admissions!
@littleboy2001 Check out http://cty.jhu.edu/set/eligibility/ if you want to know what exceptional standardized test scores look like for younger students. There are only about 400 kids in the world every year who score over 700 on at least one portion of the SAT before age 13. Of those, in most years, fewer than 30 score over 700 on both reading and math. “Students qualify for SET by taking the SAT before age 13 and scoring at least 700 on either the Math or Verbal (Critical Reading) test. Students who take the SAT after their 13th birthday may qualify for SET by scoring an additional 10 points above 700 for each month after their 13th birthday, up to the maximum SAT score of 800 at 13 years 10 months.” A 32 on the ACT for a 10th grader doesn’t even come close to that standard.
Your son sounds very unexceptional. Good but not exceptional. Stanford is looking for exceptional applicants.
“A 32 on the ACT for a 10th grader doesn’t even come close to that standard.”
I think that there are two questions:
Does a 32 on the ACT for a 10th grader, and mostly A’s in high school, imply that the kid is so smart that he can get accepted early to Stanford, and start there when he is 16 or 17. The answer is an emphatic NO.
If the kid is so smart that he can get accepted to Stanford early and start when he is 16 or 17, should he do it. IMHO the answer is an emphatic NO.
Note that I did start at MIT within a few weeks of my 17th birthday, and this was definitely at least a year too early.
@DadTwoGirls Agree with you 100%. I started UPenn at about the same age. Skipping multiple grades in elementary school was “policy” in the school system I attended. In retrospect it was probably based on a forlorn hope that bumping very bored bright kids up a few years might make them a bit less disruptive in the classroom. Trust me, it didn’t work.