EA even if Stanford isn't #1 choice?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>I'm a junior, going to competitive IB school in Oregon (public)</p>

<p>SCHOOL STATS:
GPA - 4.0 unweighted/ 4.1 weighted (all As in AP US last year)
- I am an IB Diploma student taking IB Enlgish, Bio, Psychology
(HL) and French, Calculus, Business (SL)
- this tri i'm getting a 4.8, first b in calc :/
- major: Government & Economics
rank: top 5 students out of 530
MOST RIGOROUS COURSES available</p>

<p>Awards:
-Scholar of the Month, NHS, Honor Roll(All A's),
Duke of Spirit (not academic)</p>

<p>Extracirriculars:
-Track (3 years) - Varsity Letter, possible captain
-Cross Country (3 years) - Captain, Varsity Letter, ..
-Mayors Youth Advisory Board (2 years) - Co-Chair, we
organize Service events in our community with the Mayor, 3
hours a week
-Uganda Club (3 years) - Committee Leader, helped
organize events and fundraised for science lab, VP next year
- National Honor Society, running for Pres. senior year
- Diversity Club - went to Diversity Summit to plan for our
School, help plan events
- Freshman Treasurer, and running for Senior President,
very likely to win</p>

<p>Running - 17:32 PR and I could realistically run for Claremont, Pomona, Whitman. Anywhere else? Any Ivy?</p>

<p>Volunteer Work:
- 190 Hours at Beaverton Library helping Children
- 70 Hours working at Senior Center</p>

<p>Hobbies: Photography</p>

<p>Hook?:
I'm trying to start a none profit called Share the Sole, but it is managing to be a challenge, so I am organizing a project called Operation Shoe Lift in December with the local running company.</p>

<p>SCHOOLS I WANT TO APPLY TO (in order)
1.Pomona
2.Stanford/Duke
3.Claremont Mckenna
5.Whitman
6.UO Honors College</p>

<p>Should I apply EA to Stanford even if it isn't my first choice?</p>

2

<p>You can do that if you want, but in my opinion, why not apply early to your first choice college? If you know where you want to go, what reason is there not to take a shot early? I do not understand the appeal of that.</p>

<p>If you apply to anywhere but your first choice early, there really is no point to applying early because whether you get accepted or rejected, you still have to wait months and months to hear from your first choice.</p>

<p>I would apply to your first choice.</p>

3

<p>17:32 on what course length?</p>

4

<p>A lot of what you want in a smaller college you can actually find at Stanford. (I didn't know this until I actually got here and thought I was giving that up when I turned down Swarthmore.) I've found a really great sense of community both within the dorms and within the groups I'm involved in on campus, even within those in my major. The faculty here are very, very accessible. They won't initiate interactions with you, but if you initiate conversations with the faculty they are all very excited to get to talk to students (well, most of them, the ones you'd want to get to know better are at least). Aside from IHUM and select other classes, a lot of the classes you take will actually be pretty small classes. I'd found that (to my surprise) I actually really like the large lecture classes. When someone who's an expert in their field talks in front of a room in some sense it doesn't matter how big the room is. Even those classes are still small enough that you can ask questions. Math/science profs will always encourage questions and those classes tend to be a bit smaller. </p>

<p>There are also a couple of programs for freshman you might be interested in. One is called Freshman Sophomore College (FroSoCo). Students in FroSoCo will all live together. They will often have profs come and speak to anyone who's interested about their research, etc. and they have bbqs on a semi-regular basis with the provost. It's a slightly more intellectual environment and a close-knit community. There's also a program called Structured Liberal Education (SLE) where students will live together and have about half of their classes together in the dorm. This fosters a very close sense of community.</p>

5

<p>What do you like about Pomona? Are you considering Stanford EA just because it is not binding? If you are sure about Pomona, why not apply early there?</p>

6

<p>First of all I've heard Pomona and Stanford are very similar (best two school son the west coast) and i love everything about Pomona, and am quite obsessed with Stanford too (part of me thinks I won't get into Stanford because my stats are the same as everyone else). This is one of the reasons I favor Pomona, but also since pomona only has ED and I'm not sure if I will get good aid from them, Stanford seems better to use my SCEA because it is my second choice and is non-binding. I would love to have to choose between Pomona and Stanford, and I would like to put myself into the best posistion to get into both (pomona's ED rate is 19% or something and I feel i can get into Pomona, but Stanford is more a reach for everyone)</p>

<p>How are my chances at Stanford?</p>

7

<p>If you don't want to apply ED, you have nothing to loose applying SCEA to Stanford. </p>

<p>If you get good SAT/SAT II scores, you should be "in the running". Nothing looks exceptional in your profile right now, but if you have the stats, a lot depends on how you present yourself in your application and your essays, and what your recommenders have to say about you.</p>