EA Suggestions

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>I have been trying to figure out which school(s) I should apply early to, as my top choice(Stanford) is SCEA. My two choices are basically to apply early only to Stanford and risk getting deferred/rejected or apply early to MIT/Caltech/any other EA schools I would like to attend. The point of this thread is to receive feedback on whether SCEA at Stanford will help my chances at all or whether it would be smarter to apply EA at MIT, as I would really like to have an acceptance by the dreaded Ivy Day.</p>

<p>Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White
Location: California
College Class Year: 2013
High School: Highly ranked public(~3000 kids, sent ~15 to HYPSM this year and many more to other top schools)</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Weighted 10-12 GPA: 4.76
Rank: High school doesn't rank, definitely top 5% though
ACT: 36
SAT: 2400 in two sittings, 2370 highest single sitting
PSAT: 236(will be national merit semifinalist)
SAT II: took Math, Physics, and Spanish in June, pretty sure of 800 in math and physics, 750+ in Spanish and will probably take Lit next year</p>

<p>APs:
Sophomore Year: Calculus BC-5, Computer Science A-5, World History-4
Junior Year(predictions): English Language-5, US History-4, Physics B-5, Spanish Language-5, Statistics-5
also took Calc III/Linear Algebra through a local college
Senior Year I am taking 5 more AP classes and another math class through a college</p>

<p>Significant ECs:
-Soccer-club soccer for probably about 10 years, we've won some local tournaments but nothing major
school soccer 3 years
some leadership with soccer(team captain, organizing practices, etc.)
-Classical Guitar- won a national competition in texas, have won many local contests and have played in prestigious locations like Pepperdine University for world famous guitarists
some leadership(leading ensembles of younger children, other guitarists, etc.)
-TVIA-TVIA is a charity organization that Ive been a part of since 7th grade, leadership council the last 2 years organizing events and communicating with the members
-NHS
-CSF(California Scholarship Federation)
-Math club-officer last year
-Physics club-next year I am going to start a physics club with my friend</p>

<p>Work Experience:
-a few years of playing guitar for weddings/parties/etc
-paying internship this summer at a local engineering company for ~240 hours</p>

<p>Awards:
-random guitar awards
-first place in team category at UCSD regional honors mathematics contest
-third place individually at UCSD regional honors statistics contest
-local rotary club youth of the month
-given an achievement award by the California Board of Education for a perfect ACT score
-one of 10 students in san diego county to receive the Global Leadership Connection Ambassador Scholarship
-national council of teachers of english achievement essay contest school nominee, will probably win a national award in october for this
-will receive National AP Scholar award this year
-school department award in mathematics
and probably some other minor things I forget</p>

<p>I will also be applying to Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Harvey Mudd, UC Berkeley, and UCLA in addition to the three above. Stanford is my top choice but I am not sure if applying SCEA will help as much as it would MIT or some other school where I would probably get in. All suggestions are appreciated, thanks for your help.</p>

2

<p>Well you have the stats to be a strong candidate anywhere. Focus on packaging your ECs to show depth in something-music or math/science.</p>

<p>Stanford is tricky and will really depend on outside forces such as whether you go to a HS filled with legacies with stats close to yours or the kids of Stanford profs, etc. MIT doesn't give a legacy boost and doesn't recruit many athletes so it's a more level playing field and with demonstrated passion you should be in.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for your input. Last year 6 students were admitted to Stanford, one was multiple legacy and one was athletic. This year there aren't any multiple legacies and none of the legacies have incredible stats. I've heard that it is harder to get in at both places EA for various reasons. Is this true? Which would give a better advantage for EA?</p>

4

<p>MIT, at a CA public school you probably aren't privy to the quiet but deep Stanford ties. Plus Stanford is cutting back on kids from CA. MIT doesn't play the game.</p>

5

<p>as others have said, stanford is picky, so applying scea is gambling if you want an acceptance by whatever day. if you i were you, i would do the multiple ea w/ caltech, mit, and other schools like uchicago since you have awesome stats and are likely to receive at least one acceptance from an ea school (assuming you apply to more than one or two). nice mix of schools by the way.</p>

6

<p>Thanks for your suggestions. A few of my friends applied last year SCEA and were deferred->rejected, and they had pretty amazing stats. I couldn't believe that the legacy girl got in over them, it really made me lose a lot of respect for Stanford. Are there any other regular EA schools I should look at in addition to Caltech and MIT? Preferably along the coasts, Chicago isn't really my kind of place. Thank you.</p>

7

<p>At the moment, you are in no position to judge and give/lose respect for any of the schools. They have power over you before that acceptance letter comes. After that, you have power over them. You're the one doing the accepting and rejecting then. Now though, it's best if you keep your disdain for a school's admissions system private, especially if you want to go to that school. They've been doing this for generations; they know what they're doing.</p>

<p>With that said, I think you have a great chance at all of your schools RD. So, just pick which ever school you like better for EA. Guitar seems to be a strong point, and don't forget that the volunteer/jobs that you do with the guitar can be just as important as your competition awards. Write good/decent essays, don't show your disrespect to Stanford, be very enthusiastic towards the school, and you'll be fine come December and March/April.</p>

8

<p>Thanks for your explanation; I'd never really thought about how they've done these practices for many years to arrive at their current state, which I love and is my first choice of schools. I am definitely going to start working on essays over the summer, I guess that the topics don't come out until July 1st when commonapp reboots. Any more EA school suggestions? Thank you.</p>

9

<p>Don't lose respect for S, almost every private school does it. They would have no money for the good things like all the incredible resources and financial aid if they didn't.</p>

10

<p>Just wanted to update now that I have my SATII scores
Math II: 800
Physics: 800
Spanish: 750</p>

<p>I don't know if its worth taking another SATII for Harvard and Princeton because my Spanish score is OK and I've never spoken it outside of class. I also have a question about arts supplements. I've recorded a few guitar CDs and the last one is very professional; I've sold it at many of the weddings/parties that I've played at. Would sending this CD as a supplement to my app help my chances much? Thanks.</p>

11

<p>Yeah, I would send it.</p>

12

<p>you're the best Stanford 2008 SCEA applicant i've ever seen. just go for it.</p>