<p>I attended the Stanford National Forensic Institute (debate camp) last summer for 3 weeks, winning the College of Cardinals award (the only award offered, for character and taking advantage of the program) in the top level of the program, the Advanced Seminar. </p>
<p>I plan on applying to Stanford (my top choice) next year. I have three questions for those who feel they might know:</p>
<li><p>How well would Stanford look upon the attendence of their debate camp as opposed to others?</p></li>
<li><p>Would Stanford care about the award?</p></li>
<li><p>Is it more impressive that I attended this camp coming from Virginia (going accross the country to attend at Stanford)?</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>it's certainly a plus!</li>
<li>maybe a little</li>
<li>no</li>
</ol>
<p>my friend won an award at WashU's HSSP (the only award) and a $500 scholarship if she goes to WashU...yet she was deferred ED</p>
<p>Tetragrammaton, are you going to join the Stanford Debate Society if you get in? <a href="http://www.stanford.edu/group/debate/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.stanford.edu/group/debate/index.html</a></p>
<p>You might contact team members to see if they have any ideas on how to leverage your debate enthusiasm.</p>
<p>I'd probably join. I love debate now, and I'm very active in the activity (team captain, got into many finals rounds, probably the best debater in my school).</p>
<p>What exactly to you mean by leveraging my debate enthusiasm? I doubt that they'd be interested in me in the way they might a star athlete (I'm not going to win trophies for Stanford in debate), and I don't see how the Stanford team could help me out...</p>
<p>Sorry, I assumed that you were enthusiastic about debate and your summer experience to the point that you did want to be on the Stanford team.</p>
<p>I thought that you might want to be a star debater for Stanford, just like someone else might want to be a star athlete. Then, mentioning debate, the award and your summer experience on your application might have been your hook.</p>
<p>I should clarify; I do want to be on the Stanford team, but I would not be the "star" of said team. I'm one of the best debaters on my local circuit, and I've broken to octafinals and double-octafinals at national tournaments, but I've never won a national tournament.</p>
<p>By the way, who are you, gsp<em>silicon</em>valley? Since I hope to go to a school that is presumably in your area, what should I expect of this area, coming as I do from the east coast?</p>