Chances of me getting into Standford

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Hey guys, thank you for taking the time the time to read my all my information below. I know Stanford is extremely difficult to get into, and I'm applying to computer science where the applicant pool is really competitive but I'm giving it a shot.</p>

<p>Just some important background information:
1. Im studying in the British Education System. So we dont have AP's, GPA or any of those options other than our A level and GCSE certifications.
2. Im currently at the beginning of the 11th grade(year 12 in british system) I finish school by July 2015
3. Im Indian and a Zoroastrian, one of the world's oldest and dying religions in terms of members( I want to know if that will benefit me or make me stand out since universities try to have as much diversity as possible.)
4. I live on a very small island country called Bahrain, in the Middle East.
5. My father's highest degree of education was a bachelors and my mother never completed college.</p>

<p>Academics
-I received 7a's and 4b's at GCSE level, with Maths being a grade A, ICT being an AA<em>A</em>
-I got 1530 on my first try at SAT's without ever having done anything like them before
-I was placed in all the higher sets for my Math, Science and English classes
-I have been self teaching myself computer programming through code academy, learning programs like JavaScript.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars
-I started my own graphics class at school, teaching younger students graphic design, web design and many other things that are needed for them to excel at their GCSE exam
-Im part of my school's marathon team, running 3km, 5km and 10km at national level
-I have taken part in MUN many times and built the website for my own school's MUN
-Im an accomplished martial artist with more than 6 years of training
-I achieved grade 4 in classical guitar, with constant distinction grade(highest attainable result)
- I have an interest in poetry and even have a blog where that poetry is posted.
- I am a talented artist both in painting and sketch( I took Art at GCSE level and recieved an A)
-I have a passion for graphic designing which i do as a hobby
-I worked at a graphics firm for 1 week for work experience and was then asked to continue working for another month so that i could finish off a concept and design for an advert(That was used)
-I have successfuly completed my Duke of Edinburgh Award at Bronze and Silver level, and am currently working towards achieveing Gold(To achieve the award a student must do a certain amount of community service, a sport and a skill, as well as an expedition. The higher the level the more time needed for completion. For my expedition I went with my school for a 3 day mountain trek in Oman.)
-I was part of my school choir and sing at both tenor and bass level
-For community service, i work at my school library, for the last 3 years.
-I am part of the Sports Leadership Program
-I was the Head member of my school Media Council, in charge of running my own club, finalizing designs for newsletters and yearbooks and so forth.
-I was a member of the Economics/Business Blog group, where we write articles about happening news, tragedy's and economic issues in the world.
-I am the only international member of an environment protection organisation, that was started up by a friend in India, and has expanded across many states there. I have helped expand the organisation internationally by bringing it to Bahrain, and i hope to have it expand across the Middle East.</p>

<p>I dont have any recommendations written as this is something that teachers and counselors only start writing in our last year.</p>

<p>Thank you so much for reading all that. Please let me know what you think my chances are when i apply in a years time to Stanford. Are my chances realistic? If not, please specify what universities i should think about applying to instead.</p>

<p>I will be the first in my family to ever apply to the States, so my family are all counting on me to be successful. :)</p>

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<p>oh and sorry, forgot to mention that the 1530 is not my final score!! its just first SAT mock score, i plan on achieving at least 2300 when i do my real one.</p>

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<p>If that 1530 is out of 2400 then you have a <em>lot</em> of raising to do before you can even think about Stanford or any top American college. You can’t “plan” to get a 2300–1530 is far even as a base score. However, like you said, you still have time.</p>

<p>Can you provide a little more context into your GPA or try to convert into a 4.0 scale? What’s your class rank?</p>

<p>As far as I know, most colleges do not take religion into account when admitting students.</p>

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<p>We dont have class rank in the British system, although I im definetly amongst the top 10% of my entire year group. As, for GPA, still not done my a levels so i cant give a score.</p>

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<p>Colleges will probably not take religion into account, but they may take into account that you are an international student and that may give you an advantage.
Your ECs are pretty impressive, too, but need to be more focused toward computer science to show that you will really excel in that field.
At this point, focus on your SAT, keeping up your As, and getting a good rec letter.
It’s difficult to provide an accurate chance of you getting in because you haven’t completed your junior year (most important year that colleges look at) and all competitive schools, like Stanford, reject many AMAZING applicants every year, despite immaculate applications and transcripts because there are simply too many well-deserving applicants and not enough room at their school.</p>

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<p>Stanford ***</p>

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<p>If you have 1530 right now, then as what Amarenthine said you have a lot of raising up to do. As what these people said, there are many students that receive perfect scores on their SAT and ACT and they get rejected by top colleges such as Stanford because the acceptance rate is so low. I am not trying to discourage you, but getting a 2300+ from a 1530 your junior year is a really tough road, although you have little less than a year left.</p>

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<p>What do i need to do to show im more focused in computer science?</p>

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<p>Well, knowing how to spell the name of the school would probably help. ;)</p>

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<p>aha sorry my bad. I type rather fast sometimes :P</p>

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<p>Would just like to point out that brwnho is incorrect–international students are definitely not at an advantage when applying to colleges.</p>

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<p>For Stanford they are very selective, I think they are the 2nd or 3rd most selective university, behind Harvard. I would suggest working on your SAT score ALOT if you want to even have a chance of getting in. And I agree, international students have a harder time getting into these colleges even though they might claim to have a lot of international students attending they do not make up a majority.</p>

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<p>Already working on improving my sat score so hopefully i’ll do well when i do my actual SAT</p>

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<p>@jocan101…sorry to break the news to you…but…Stanford is the toughest/most selective school to get into…hope you know how to read simple statistics/graphs from the NY Times…</p>

<p><a href=“2013 College Acceptance Rates - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com”>www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/04/15/education/thechoice-2013-acceptance-rates.html?_r=1&</a></p>

<p>OP…good luck in your endeavors.</p>

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<p>@jocan101 did mention that it was very selective.
and thank you @gravitas2</p>

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<p>Ok so i have a SAT prep score now of 1890 are my chances any better?</p>

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<p>ok my pre sat score is now 1730, have i improved my chances slightly?</p>

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<p>^ Insignificantly.</p>

<p>Lack of class rank is not due to the British system. It is simply your school. I grew up with British system and has class rank all the way through high school graduation.</p>

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<p>^actually, its very hard to give rank as the british system cannot be converted to digits. Students have many varying subjects and grades. Not sure about ur experience, but I have yet to see a school under gcse that gives class rank</p>

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<p>@billcsho im pretty sure in the british system we dont have a class rank system.</p>