<p>ECs:
4 Years Varsity Soccer
4 Years Varsity Tennis
Chair of a One Laptop Per Child chapter (the only officially recognized high school chapter in the country)
Significant Research
Plays Sitar + Tabla
Editor of School Paper</p>
<p>I know that I've done well this far, but as an Indian Male I honestly see myself paling in comparison to other applicants. Now I've heard that Stanford has a strange application process, does that mean that essays and unique ECs can really push you into acceptance. I used to be at a school where I was in the top 1% and it seems now that maybe, in the area of college acceptance, going to a school with the top kids around the state was a bad idea.</p>
<p>The only thing possibly holding you back is your GPA. I think I read somewhere that 90% of admitted students have a 3.75 or higher. But you go to a magnet school and your grading system is probably extra tough (also I'm sure you're taking the hardest course load available). Apply, everything else looks solid. Oh, and I almost forgot, you should take at least two SAT subject tests, they're not required for Stanford, but they're "highly recommended."</p>
<p>Consider your class rank, and how the top kids at your school fare in top school admissions. That's one of your best bets to put your own chances in perspective. If you're like 50/500, and only 10-15 kids get into the most selective schools each year, it doesn't look good.</p>
<p>Looking at this right now though, I highly doubt you get in. Their acceptance rate is going to be ~5% RD, and a lot of those kids are going to have 4.0s, 2350+ SATs, and extremely significant ECs. Sorry, but its the truth.</p>
<p>But if theres anything we can learn from the EA admissions its that you never know. Stanford has always been that unpredictable school and this year its only gotten more bewildering. If u told me I was going to get in SCEA a few months ago i would of said you were crazy.</p>
<p>Your qualifications fall within thier possibly acceptable range... along with thousands and thousands of others. Now you must prove to them something special and unique about yourself that seperates you from all of the others. Find your passion and build on it.</p>
<p>Top 40 probably won't cut it for Stanford. Look where kids around you are going/have gone in the past. Unless you have a reason for being that low, even in a magnet school, your chances are cut way down. Remember, though, they don't look at Freshman year, and I believe they forgive huge outliers. So if you had all Bs freshman year and a B- sophomore year, but the rest As, then you might be in the mix. But as it is, without anything significant confronting you, you better be an incredibly interesting person, which your teacher would wholeheartedly vouch for, and which would shine through your essays, or else you chances are nil.</p>
<p>You go to imsa! I live in the state so I'm aware of the rigor in your school.</p>
<p>However, while there is rigor in your courseload, my biggest concern would be that most people from your school do not usually have superior ECs. Relatively few people are able to accomplish that given the courseload and THOSE few are the people that get in. </p>
<p>Your school is HUGE in the science field....have u done any significant research that could seperate you from the crowd? I say that's pretty much the one thing that saves most people that come from IMSA at schools like Stanford. Otherwise, I think you're pretty well off at other schools like Northwestern, UIUC, Caltech, and of course all the science-y schools out there.</p>