<p>I am a junior, and I have a question for those who are attending Stanford.</p>
<p>Why do you think you got in?
What's your major/area of focus?
Do you have any advice for a high school junior hoping to apply in the fall? (If so, what?)</p>
<p>I think you should participate in activities that you really enjoy, have made a commitment to, have learned from, and have contributed to. Some hypothetical, possibly bad examples:</p>
<p>1) Join many, many clubs. Pitfall: it will probably look like you're just trying to bulk up your resume, you don't really enjoy what you do, and you haven't contributed significantly to your activities.
2) Do just one thing and do it really well. Pitfall: there's a lot out there to do in the world, and admissions committees MIGHT frown upon such a narrow focus. It's great to do multiple activities and have your special favorite that you focus more on, but I wouldn't be comfortable with having just one thing on your resume. You're young, and you should be exploring to see where your interests really lie :)
3) Participate in something consistently for a long time but not contribute in a meaningful way. Pitfall: you won't have proven yourself to be a leader. It seems that everyone I know at Stanford is an outstanding student and person who takes initiative and can make things happen.</p>
<p>Important disclaimer: I'm not an admissions committee member, so I definitely don't know exactly what they're thinking. The situations I mentioned above do not represent a checklist that you need to take care of; they're just possible pitfalls that I thought of. I could be totally wrong; maybe there are people at Stanford who didn't have leadership positions earlier in life. These are just opinions.</p>
<p>By the way... when you write your essays, show who you are! Don't just laundry list or describe the things that you have done. You could tell a story or describe an experience that was meaningful to you and reveals something about who you are. You could have a teacher read your essays and ask them what the essays say about you =] Then, ask yourself, is that how I want to present myself?</p>
<p>As for me... I'm not going to postulate what got me in. I'm sure it was a combination of factors (academics, extracurriculars, awards, teacher recommendations). I don't think there are specific things that I can pinpoint... I think it would be foolish to guess.</p>
<p>I'm a Biological Sciences major pursuing honors in Neurobiology. I'm also a Psychology minor.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>Don't stress out and be yourself in the app progress. For what it's worth, here's my take on why i may have gotten in.</p>
<p>Why do you think you got in? I'm 99% sure that the only reason I got into Stanford was because, by some great stroke of luck, i became an intel sts finalist. I didn't have the best SAT scores (took the test too many times), no AP scores (school only has IB program, and IB tests are at end of senior year), and essay was subpar. What i did have was a interest in science and a great research project that I spent all my time on. Don't join clubs just to buff up your app like celestial605 said, because i don't think they will really help. </p>
<p>What's your major/area of focus? Science.</p>
<p>Do you have any advice for a high school junior hoping to apply in the fall? (If so, what?) Write a great essay. study for the sat's. do something that really interests you.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you next year!</p>
<p>Woah. Okay. Thanks!</p>
<p>Vanilea - Did you work on your project alone? I thought of a project that I really wanted to do, but my mentor doesn't seem like she really believes in my ability to do it. She, also, doesn't have much time to spend on me.</p>