Dreams vs. Realism

Applying to College
1

Hello all,

I hope everything is going well. I am a junior thinking about my choices for college applications, more specifically my first choice school. Essentially, my school has had very little “normal” (not questbridge) acceptances to Stanford in the last decade (~1-2) according to Naviance. Additionally, a Questbridge match that got in happened to drop out within a couple semesters. Not sure how this reflects on my school but certainly not in a positive light for prospective applicants such as myself.

As such, I am questioning the realism of applying to Stanford given such circumstances. I think that even amongst the highly rejective schools, Stanford is the one I am least likely to get into. However, it is my dream school and I’m not sure whether I should dedicate my REA to any other school. Essentially, I’d like to hear any opinions on whether I should be using my precious REA/ED slot on a dream school or dedicate it to a more realistic choice.

Thank you in advance!

1 Like
2

I’ll give you some free pieces of advice. Drop the “dream school” thing. Make yourself a list of colleges that are a variety of acceptance levels for you…based on what you have to include in your application.

Build your application from the bottom up. Find a couple of pretty sure things for acceptance that are affordable. Those could be the hardest to find. Then build up from there…next find some schools with very likely and affordable acceptances. Then look at your reach schools…like Stanford which is a reach for everyone who applies. It’s easy to find the tippy top reach schools. Not so easy to find the others where you actually have a better chance of acceptance.

Some good suggestions were given to you on your December thread. You might want to read it again.

You are a NY resident with some great instate options that would be affordable and are great schools. Maybe start with those.

18 Likes
3

Lots of really good advice above!

1 Like
4

Applying REA to Stanford isn’t really going to help, tbh. It isn’t that they accept “more” people REA. It’s that during REA, a large proportion of exceptionally well qualified applicants apply. The pool of applicants who are stellar is a bit larger. This actually will be true of most schools with single digit acceptance rates, btw.

By all means give it a shot, but if you are not one of those stellar applicants, maybe consider using your ED card in a more realistic fashion.

5

That’s a strong statement to make given the REA admit rate is almost double that of the general round. What evidence did you use to come to this conclusion?

6

Refer to the rest of the comment. It’s the pool of supremely well qualified REA applicants.

1 Like
7

And REA likely includes most of those with the major hooks such as athletic recruits, URMs including those coming in via Questbridge and other college access orgs, legacies, and financial donors, so that “higher” acceptance rate compared to RD is misleading.

5 Likes
8

Did you take the Dec SAT? If so, what was your score?

Only you can decide how you want to strategize your applications, we can give advice if we know your full list of schools. As you know, Stanford is a reach for all unhooked applicants.

If you share why Stanford is your ‘dream’ school, posters can make better suggestions for you, although I agree with thumper there are many good suggestions on your other thread.

9

I personally would use the REA/ED on a much more realistic school. The schools that have binding ED offer the biggest bump in acceptance rates during the early rounds.

10

From your other thread (or one of your other threads) I see that you are doing very well in high school. Good work!

In addition to the excellent advice that was given in the other thread, I have a question: Why is Stanford your first choice school?

This might seem like a dumb question. However it is in fact important. Top ranked schools such as Stanford are very good for a wide range of majors. However, they are not all the same, and none of them are a good fit for all very strong students. From a distance “Stanford” is a name that we associate with a famous university. Once you are on campus, the reality sets in. [One note, I got my master’s there and loved it, so it is at least conceivable to me that it might be some student’s first choice.]

Top schools are looking for students who will be a good fit for them. Given the very high four year graduation rate for Stanford, it appears that they do a relatively decent job of this.

As one example, Stanford is academically very challenging and is on the quarter system. One plus of the quarter system is that you get to take a lot of classes during an academic year. If you like a class you might take the next in the series the following quarter. If you do not like a class, or if you want to only get a moderate amount on that particular subject, then you only take one quarter’s worth and are on to something else the following quarter. However, the end of the quarter comes up faster than you might expect, and you better be caught up on all of your classes or finals might be upon you faster than you are prepared for. Personally I liked the quarter system, but this might have been partly because I was there as a graduate student and was older and more inclined to keep ahead in everything.

When I was at Stanford I found myself spending many Saturday and Sunday afternoons doing homework. This is a big part of “being caught up”. If you were to spend 6 hours on a Saturday solving one very tough problem from one homework sheet, and supposing you succeed, would you be thrilled that you were able to solve it, or would you feel that you just wasted your Saturday afternoon?

Stanford is also a long way from New York. Attending Stanford also implies flying out to California (probably San Francisco, possibly San Jose) and back. In December and January you are not going to run into snow-related delays in SFO, but you might run into snow-related delays in New York. How do you feel about the flights back and forth? If you have some sort of emergency (get sick or have a nasty breakup with a girlfriend or boyfriend) then you parents will be a long way away. In contrast, you have great schools in New York state which would be a lot closer to home.

Also, in your other thread I noticed the small note “(premed)” as one possibility. By the time that you get to medical school, if you get to medical school, it is likely to cost over $100,000 per year. If you want to keep this as an option, you should budget for this up front. Doctors are relatively well paid, but $400,000 in debt is HUGE even for a doctor. Some doctors are still paying off their debts quite far into their careers. Can you afford four years of Stanford plus four years of medical school without taking on a big chunk of the cost as debt?

Personally I think that the first thing to consider in creating a university list is safeties. You should pick at least two safeties that you know you will get accepted to, you know that you can afford (preferably with no debt, and with some college money left in the bank or 529 if you might be premed), that have a good program in your intended majors, and that you would be willing to attend.

Once you have your safeties picked up, now you have the luxury if thinking about other schools that you might prefer to your safeties.

And if you have solid safeties, I do not see any harm in “spending” your REA on Stanford.

I also would not worry about how many other students from your high school have gotten into Stanford or Cornell or Harvard or any other top school. I think that the right approach is that you do what is right for you, and assuming that you pay attention to budget and apply to safeties and do well in your classes and treat people fairly, it should work out one way or another.

I also agree about dropping the “dream school” thing. There are a lot of very good universities.

1 Like
11

I would also suggest finding a rolling admissions school that will likely be affordable. Some applications (like Alabama) come out in the summer. If you apply, you will get an acceptance or denial very very quickly. And if accepted, you will also get your merit aid award. Their awards are automatic based on your stats. You have sufficiently high enough stats to garner significant merit aid AND an early college acceptance!

Having an early acceptance at a school you would be happy to attend that is affordable is a very sweet thing to have.

12

It would help if we knew more about you.

I don’t know why Stanford is the dream - but if it is and you are statistically there, I would not say you shouldn’t try. But why is it the dream? Have you visited ? Or is this off what you heard etc. bcuz let me tell you - there is no dream. There’s homesickness, bad food, bad roomies, bad profs and more.

You’d be unlikely to get in but you know that up front. That’s no different than anyone.

We’d need more context - what is your profile, what other schools are you looking at ?

Yes you have another thread but you started this one with a question and no supporting info.

The answers given are that no one short of an athlete etc should apply REA and I’m not sure that should be the case.

I do agree that others are needed that are sure things.

Have you run the NPC to ensure affordability b4 u apply REA ?

Good luck.

1 Like
13

Lot of good advice here. If there is one advice I would like to give, it would be to not consider prestige of the school or let some ranking play on your mind.

1 Like
14

I took the December SAT and got 1560 (760/800) break down

1 Like
15

thank you for the advice! I was considering safeties and as I will most likely qualify for national merit, I will apply to Uof Alabama and ASU and SUNY Stony Brook/Binghamton for my safeties. I suppose I didn’t pose my question well but I am not concerned with the acceptance rate for Stanford as nobody is a shoo-in. I was more wondering if using an REA on such a highly rejective school would be the right decision. It seems that REA does not improve chances much from what I have heard so I will certainly have to reconsider my ED1 choice.

16

Stanford is the dream because of the particular major they offer: Biomedical Computation. Yes, I am aware that other schools offer similar computational bio programs (whether major or minor). However, Stanford seems to align closest with my interests as well as being in a great location. I also intend to apply to UCSD bioinformatics (not a safety by any means) as they have a close tie to research I currently do. I scored 1560 on the SAT which puts me above the mean for Stanford from what I can see. My GPA is solid (top 1%/ top 5 of class). At least on paper, I suit the applicant profile. I have run NPC with my parents and they say it is affordable.

17

Then - as long as there’s a school out there (likely public) that you’re ok with, I don’t see an issue with REA. IS Stanford full pay or discounted ? Because if you are getting aid - UCSD WILL BE $70k - so can you afford that ? If not - then it’s a no.

Applying REA hurts you at some privates but that’s the gamble.

If you would be happy at and can afford a Pitt or Utah or ASU or Ohio State, the REA is fine to me. If you want to apply to a JHU, they don’t have EA so it’s ok. And you’d still have a chance at ED2.

Affordability is first. What can you afford ?

Then who has your major - whether formally or tangentially.

I’d expect to get a no at Stanford. But no pain no gain.

So how do they align closest with your interests ? Again, if you’ve not been, it’s like you’re forcing a narrative to work. Many transfer from their dream. I’m not saying it’s not right for you but you’d be best suited to move on from a dream mentality.

You got lots of advice above. Mine differs and that’s ok. But a lot of savvy folks above gave their opinion and you’d be wise to at least listen to what they have to say and why they are saying it.
Good luck.

18

To me this makes a lot of sense. Stanford is very good (“world class”) for all of medicine, biology, math, and computer science.

Your SAT score is also excellent.

To me it sounds from what you have said that you have solid safeties, and that you have a very good reason to prefer Stanford and to feel that it would be a good fit for you.

19

Having a good reason to prefer Stanford is a lot different than elevating it to dream school.

I agree with others. It sounds like you have a well rounded list. So…if you want to apply to Stanford REA, go ahead.

2 Likes