<p>Hi, I was hoping some of you who were accepted to Stanford with stats outside of the typical HYPS applicant could offer up a bit of advice. I'm a poor applicant (one working parent, making $30,000 a year) living in rural Missouri. I've had quite the unorthodox high school experience, and have been through some very rough times recently. Our family was hit extremely hard by the recession; both my parents lost their jobs and our income dropped from over 100k to almost nothing in a matter of months. My mom was luckily able to find a job, but my dad has been drifting about for years now with no luck (he was in construction).</p>
<p>In addition to all of this I've switched around schools three times, with a possible fourth this year. I started off as a freshman in our horrid local high school, but my mom pulled me out for homeschooling 3/4 of the way through the year for various reasons. Over the summer she procured a job at an upper middle class school district a little under half an hour away, and I attended there for 2 years. Now I may be reverting back to homeschooling through the University of Missouri online and Northwestern's gifted program. </p>
<p>This summer I was diagnosed with a learning disability in math, as well as depression, which has been plaguing me since freshman year.</p>
<p>Now, here's one of many potential kickers (and I'm extremely embarrassed to admit it), but I failed Algebra I twice and barely made it through Geometry. My parents simply thought it was a byproduct of all the personal issues, but clearly that's not the case, per the diagnosis. How will Stanford react to this? Would they allow me take a gap year and work on my math? I feel like such a fool...</p>
<p>Anyway, here are my stats:</p>
<p>Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Location: Rural Midwest
Intended Major(s): Either History, English, or Comp Lit
Intended Minor: Modern Languages</p>
<p>GPA: 3.1
SAT: 2260; CR: 780; Math: 680; Writing: 800 (I spent hours slaving over math reviews for that score)
SAT IIs: Literature, 780; US History 750
APs: US Gov, 5; Comp Gov, 5; USH, 5; English Lang, 5</p>
<p>ECs: Political Group (10-11); "Character Education Committee," per principle invitation, organized community events like Veterans ceremonies and so on (10-11); Renaissance (10-11); Peer Mediation/Tutoring in English (10-11)</p>
<p>Nothing special to speak of, huh? No leadership positions, as it's hard to accrue merit when your moving around.</p>
<p>Awards: Summa Cum Laude on National Latin Exam; AP Lang teacher nominated me for national writing contest, results will return in September; AP Scholar with Honor</p>
<p>Again, nothing special.</p>
<p>Recommendations: From my Latin and English teachers, will be phenomenal.
Essays: Will be excellent as well.</p>
<p>I received steady Bs and Cs throughout the AP courses I took, however I obviously knew the material as demonstrated by my scores. Would the university take this into consideration, what with personal issues and all? I also took AP Psychology, but we were unable to afford the exam fee for it. As we are not tax payers in the school district, they wouldn't help subsidize the costs of the exams. Will Stanford deduce that I had a mastery of that content as well from the scores in other subjects?</p>
<p>I love languages (both foreign and English) and history as well. I began self-studying French over the summer and was able to digest a years worth of work in a little over 3 weeks. I'm currently seeing how far I can go with the second year text. I would be perfectly content to do nothing but learn languages and immerse myself in history for the rest of my life, and certainly the rest of my college career. It would be a fantastic reprieve. </p>
<p>Do I stand any chance? I know Stanford is holistic, but how far they take it I do not know. Am I forever doomed to walk the halls of a community college because of fate's royal shafting? Please help.</p>
However, I caution you: don’t set your sights on Stanford just yet… There are other schools like Carnegie, Duke, many of the UC’s, UPenn, Princeton, etc etc that might be better suited for you. Don’t tie yourself down just yet, because from what I see, you’re bound for studies that Stanford is NOT renowned for. Maybe you should start looking around and considering other options? </p>