<p>Korean male from Northern NJ, very good public school
Came from Korea (obviously ;]) 3 years ago</p>
<p>GPA : UW : over 4.2 (close to being straight A+)
W : 4.61
supposedly the highest in our school's history if my 12th goes well. Is there any way to imply this on my resume? Also, should I write "valedictorian contender", "valedictorian", or just let my guidance counselor indicate it in her evaluation/recommendation?</p>
<p>SAT I : 2400 on one sitting.
SAT II : MathII: 800
Chem : 800
Phys : 800
Bio : 800
US His : 780 :/
May also take Spanish and literature. Hopefully i get 800s on both of them.</p>
<p>APs:
US Gov (5) - 10th
Calc BC (5) - 11th
Physics B (5) - 11th
Euro Hist (5) - 11th
Statistics - 12th
English - 12th
Spanish - 12th
Chem - 12th
US Hist - 12th</p>
<p>Our school does not provide AP courses for freshmen, and only one for sophomores. </p>
<p>Extracurriculars:</p>
<p>-photo editor of our high school newspaper. Our newspaper won national awards.
-Varsity fencing
-Math League (consistently the top scorer in our school)
-Science League (consistently the top scorer in our school)
-Science Olympiad Team
-Volunteering in Valley Hospital since Freshman year (every week)
-Quiz Bowl (several interscholastic contests)
-Freshman Literary Magazine - Production Editor
-Debate (although no particular recogntion for this one)</p>
<p>Awards & Recognition</p>
<p>-Participation to the NJ Governor School In The Sciences
-Columbia Science Honors Program (started since Junior year)
-2008 AMTNJ School Winner - honorable mention in state
-2006 AMC 10 School Winner in 9th
-2007 AMC 12 School Winner in 10th
-2008 AMC 12 School Winner in 11th
-2006, 2007, 2008 AIME participant
-2008 NJ Science Olympiad (planned)
-2008 Merck State Science Day - 1st in county, 15th in NJ, honorable mention
-2008 Bausch & Lomb Science Award</p>
<p>Essays : I will try my best
Recommendations : Probably good</p>
<p>lol no ■■■■■■■■ here
guys i certainly am a person matriculated to Stern this year… but this is the spec of my closest person who is possibly the smartest guy i know… he wouldnt post his spec on CC, so i did it for him… he is fairly happy with the comments, though. thanks guys. =)</p>
<p>As crazy as the story sounds, I think it’s true. At least, in my high school there are definitely kids who are very, very, close to that. So yeah, from what I know about the super-staters at my hs, the OP’s friend may not get into Stanford per se, but I think he has a great chance at Stanford and is probably bound to get into a top school.</p>
<p>His academics are undoubtably outstanding but, honestly, the ECs are not. Your friend has no leadership positions, doesn’t really show initiative and doesn’t really stand out from all the other brainiacs that apply to Stanford. From what you posted I can’t really tell that your friend does anything but study (proven by the SAT scores, academic and honors awards, and being top scorer in science and math leagues). As for fencing and debate since he has no leadership position (example Captain or something) how do I know that he does not just do the minimum so that he can put it in a college application? </p>
<p>If he is really passionate about math and science maybe he should drop something that he is not that dedicated to and start some research or club at school or something.</p>
<p>but i do not know your friend and don’t know how passionate he is about the things listed. I could be wrong. I’m just making a statement based on the stats.</p>
<p>unfortunately, yes, Predictable. You are quite right about his lack of leadership position in his EC, except the photo editor thing which i think is a sort of a leadership position, since he practically owns the visual aspects of our school newsp.</p>
<p>but even without having 7 or 8 leadership positions wouldnt he stand a great chance to get into Stanford bcuz of his impeccable academics? I mean, it’s really hard to even be a photo editor or varsity fencer while maintaining the top academic quality.</p>
<p>He has a good chance considering his grades are outstanding but the point that I am trying to make is that Stanford would rather see someone with good grades and perhaps two strong ECs where the candidate shows leadership and dedication instead of 7 or 8 activities where basically all he does is just shows up and follows directions. The editor thing sounds great. Perhaps he could focus on that more and make a bigger impact with it. Like I said before there will be MANY students that apply who have perfect SATs and tons of APs and honors classes and academic awards. But Stanford doesn’t want a whole freshman class of 4.0ers so what’s going to make your friend stand out from all of the other brainiacs?</p>
<p>Your friend is NOT in a bad situation here. He sounds really amazing and has better academics than I had when I applied to Stanford. He could TOTALLY make it in. But what you need to know is that Stanford would rather have a 3.6er who started an outreach program in his community and who’s the Captain of his debate team over a 4.0er with no serious commitments (exaggeration here, not necessarily your friends situation). I’m just stating something that appears to be the weakness in his application.</p>
<p>I think something that’s being missed here is that your friend has the whole application to show passion. He doesn’t just have to do it through listing his EC’s. </p>
<p>Essays in particular, but short answers too, play a big role in this. I know it’s beating a dead horse, but this exact situation is why they play such a critical role in making or breaking your application. </p>
<p>Where better to show passion than in 500 words where you not only get to tell your own story, but you get to do it in your own voice, with your own style, and to a certain extent through whatever medium you want.</p>
<p>Someone who appears to show a lot of passion through their list of EC’s (which I don’t really buy into in the first place anyway, but for the sake of argument I’ll play along) and writes an mediocre, cookie-cutter essay is gonna get dropped quicker than a wink. But somone who seems like just another run of the mill applicant and truly comes alive in their essay has a great chance of getting in.</p>
<p>In my eyes, grades and test scores are just bars you have to meet. They can’t do you any good other than getting you on to the next step in the process. I think EC’s, albeit to a lesser extent, are the same way. I mean, how much can you actually convey in such a short space about what was in real life hundreds of hours of your time you spent actually doing the activity?</p>
<p>Essays, essays, essays = very important, agreed!! Everyone has a story to tell by the time they reach their senior year. Things are DEFINITELY looking up for your friend if he tells it well.</p>
<p>Not everyone has your friends academic stats, but the reality is that everyone at Stanford (even the guy in my freshmen dorm who claimed that he didn’t know how to study and would not shut up about football) has top-notch academic stats. I can’t tell you how many valedictorians I know. And my boyfriend says that his GPA was “low” (it was like a 3.7 uw) but he was a nationally ranked fencer, with 10 AP tests (5-6 of which he self-studied for) where he scored a 5, and near perfect SATs. Oh and did I mention that his essays were incredible. These kind of stats are within range for Stanford, but they don’t guarantee admission. He has a good chance, and would fit in academically with his peers, but so would many of the applicants. Just keep that in mind, I don’t intend to discourage, but as has already been pointed out, his essays will probably make the difference.</p>
<p>There’s a very slight chance that you get anything besides a acceptance letter. Hey we should get to know each other I’m applying to Stanford EA too and I’m Korean.</p>