College got me stressed out man

Applying to College
1

I’m a high school junior whose top choice is Stanford, but I would be down for any Ivy or top UC. I am an Asian female at a meh-level public school in CA and am also a double legacy for Stanford (one parent for masters and PhD, the other for undergrad). Here’s a basic outline of my stats:
SAT: 1590, 17 essay (might retake?)
-Planning to take subject tests for Math 2, physics, Literature
Academics:
4.0 UW; 4.4 W; #15/400 (not sure of the exact number)
Sophomore year AP’s: Euro (5), Calc AB (5)
Junior year: Calc BC, US History, Literature, Physics 1 but I’m also taking the Physics C test w/out taking class
Planned senior year: Stats, Microeconomics, Latin, Language, Chemistry

Awards:
-Mock Trial county awards (there’s a few so I won’t list them all, they’re all basically the same thing)
-State Mock Trial award
-Got a 1480 PSAT so maybe a NM semifinalist (fingers crossed; imma be pressed if they raise the benchmark this year)
-A few dime-a-dozen school awards for Latin, English, etc.
-Some awards for Calculus competitions, other math competitions

EC’s:
-Mock Trial for five years (officer)
-Harvard Model Congress
-Political Action Club
-My high school’s chapter of the Democrats Club
-Latin Club
-FFA Community Service Chair – used to be pretty involved with FFA but you can’t spell agriculture without “cult”, so I yeeted tf outta there after sophomore year
-Three years of varsity tennis - finished third in my league and area for doubles, will probably be captain next year
-Volunteer regularly with a national organization that helps intellectually disabled members of the community (severe autism, Down syndrome, etc.)
-150+ hours of community service - haven’t totaled it all up yet because I’m lazy and bad at keeping records apparently
-Volunteered over the summer at an engineering camp that serves financially underprivileged children of migrant farm workers, plan to do so again next year
-National Honor Society (hopefully will be an officer next year)
-Planning on founding an Asian American Students Association at my school ASAP

My main questions:
-I know I haven’t got many impressive awards or anything. Does anyone know of any other awards that would be a good option to enter? Will it look cheap if all my awards are from my junior or senior year of high school?
-Should I bother retaking my SAT just for the essay or focus on Subject Tests?
-I keep seeing on these forums that colleges like Stanford want students who know what they want to do in life and have already started working toward those goals, i.e. Congressional internships, research with T20 colleges. The problem is, I have no idea what I want to do yet. I have a lot of very diverse interests, which I previously thought of as a merit, but I haven’t achieved anything spectacular in any of these, probably because there’s too many. I try to spread myself evenly between these two realms, but do I have to pick one and stick with it?
-Should I ask around at my local university for internships & research opportunities just to explore my interests more, even if I haven’t decided what I want to do yet? This is a university that is pretty well regarded for engineering and architecture.
-What is the consensus on using family connections. when it comes to college apps? I’m a big fan of the meritocracy, but I know that being a legacy might tip the scales in my favor when it comes to Stanford. My parents are also both professors at the aforementioned university – would it be gauche to use their connections to find opportunities for research, internships, etc.?
-Some of my friends have done summer camps at Stanford, Harvard, and Brown – the types that are pretty competitive but are only attended by international rich kids because they’re all $5,000+. My parents aren’t finna shell this much money out just for me to rub elbows with random Saudi kids wearing too much Balenciaga, but I have been looking into merit-based scholarships for these programs and think they might be worthwhile. How valuable are these programs in the eyes of admissions officers?

Sorry, I know this was super long and wordy, but I’m sooooo stressed out. Hopefully someone will be able to answer some of these!

2

Also forgot the most obvious questions haha: What are my chances looking like for Stanford?

3

You are competitive for sure. However you must come alive for your reader through your writing and recs.

Many candidates will be in your range and unfortunately there’s not enough room for all qualified candidates.

I think that the UC option will be there for you. So keep up the good work and don’t borrow worry from tomorrow to ruin today. It’s a waste of a perfectly great day.

4

You have good chances as a legacy and a faculty kid. And it’s perfectly fine to use your parents to find opportunities, everybody does this if they can. However, you’ll then have to prove yourself during your research or internship, and it will be pretty obvious if you do it just for college applications. So look for something that you like doing, you don’t have to stick with it for the rest of your life.

Paid summer programs won’t look too impressive on your application, I believe. Oh, and subject tests are definitely more important than the SAT essay.

5

I don’t know how much the faculty connection helps. My understanding of legacy at Stanford is that it guarantees that you get two reads. The one piece of advice I would give is to start looking wider. Find a good safety that you would like to attend. It is really great if they have rolling admissions. It can really remove a lot of stress. Also, run your own race. Don’t worry about where your parents went/work

6

Don’t retake the SAT. Your essay score is totally fine for any college. You run the risk of doing worse on a retake, and there is no reason you’d want to submit a lower score. It ain’t broke, so don’t fix it.

Adjust your attitude. You’re “okay” with any top UC or and Ivy? You do realize that kids with great stats get rejected from those schools, right?

7

Congrats. Your legacy status prob makes you 50-50, higher still if you apply early. Without it you are in ~10% pool with the rest of the high-stat unhooked applicants.

8

A tip. When asking adults for advice, use standard American written English. The vernacular you use is neither convincing nor appropriate.

9

@IngridC Have your parents research what is recommended for children of faculty to apply to Stanford. Will you be eligible for discounted tuition or are children of Stanford faculty eligible for tuition reciprocity at other schools? At some schools, in order to get the faculty boost one needs to apply ED (not applicable at Stanford) or EA. There may also be additional requirements to qualify for tuition reciprocity elsewhere, if applicable.

It has been widely reported on this forum that expensive summer programs at elite universities do not provide an admissions boost.

I agree with @lindagaf. Do NOT retake the SAT. Your current essay score will not take you out of consideration and at this point there are very few top schools that require or recommend the essay. Focus on the subject tests instead.

10

TLDR, but looked at a few of the questions.

No, don’t take the SAT again. Not worth the effort and very few schools (and declining) care about the essay. Subject Tests are much, much (did I say much…) more important.

Pricey summer camps aren’t very impressive on college admissions - it just means someone could pay for it. Some of the best summer programs are free but difficult to get into.

I think whoever suggested a 50% chance or better is off base. Schools like Stanford have tens of thousands of students that meet the academic bar - then It’s down to individual qualities, essays, activities, etc. Legacy may raise chances a bit, but not near 50+ percent.