/fret

<p>I would like as many opinions as I can get on my application. I heard today that Stanford (my number 1 school by far) is the only school that using their early action is unwise. I was told that in early action it is so competitive and the admissions people don't want to fill the class they tend to deny a lot of people. I was told they typically aren't even rolled over into regular decision, just straight up denied. I'm wondering if there is any validity to this.</p>

<p>I would also like to hear the concensus on my stats and the likelihood of my acceptance into Stanford.</p>

<p>Mah stats:</p>

<p>Field of intended study: Mechanical Engineering
Desired Universties: Stanford University, Harvard College, Massachusettes Institute of Technology,
California Institute of Technology</p>

<p>-Upper level classes - Spanish IV (conversation), Math 1050/1060
-Honors Classes - Honors biology, honors chemistry, honors english 9, honors english 10
-AP Classes - English Language, English Literature, Spanish Language, Spanish Literature, U.S. Government, Chemistry, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Physics B, Physics C Mechanics, Physics Electricity and Magnetism</p>

<p>*G.P.A. - 4.0 weighted, 3.8 unweighted *A.C.T. - 34 *SAT - 2150, 750 Math, 690 Critical Reading, 710 Writing *Top 10% of H.S. *Attended my H.S. for 4 years </p>

<p>Academic Achievements and Awards
-Honor roll, all 4 quarters, all 4 years
-Eagle Scout
-National Merit Commended Student
-President's Education Award: Math
-President's Education Award: Education Excellence
-Academic Seal of Distinction with Honors
-AP Scholar with Honor
-AP Scholar with Distinction</p>

<p>Activity Involvement
National Honor Society 3 years
Community service based club that provides scholarships for the less priveleged and tutoring in a broad array of categories. As a group we participated in numerous community service projects annually. It is a wonderful group experience and includes 40+ hours of community service annually. Service projects have included service at the Utah Food Bank, volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, and many other fundraisers.</p>

<p>Amigos Unidos 2 years
Cultural integration club at my High School. Our mission is to bring the Caucasian and Hispanic communities within my High School together.</p>

<p>Academic Decathlon 1 year
My High School's Academic Decathlon team has won state competition 13 of the past 14 years. I have been recruited as this years number one scholastic competitor. We typically do very well at nationals and have high hopes for first place this year.</p>

<p>Boy Scouts of America 7 years
The BSA's objective is to develop character, citizenship, and fitness in its participants. I acheived the rank of Eagle Scout, BSA's highest rank for a scout. I feel that I have learned a great deal from scouting, including several life skills on top of their objective.</p>

<p>Bike Racing 4 years
For the past 4 years I have competed in mountain bike races within Utah. The summer between my sophomore and junior year I competed in the Endurance 100, a 100 mile bike race that has nearly 19,000 feet of vertical elevation gain. I have devoted a lot of time to biking and love spending my time in the mountains.</p>

<p>Music Programs 7 years
I have been involved in my School District's music department since the 5th grade. I have attained first chair on the tuba and and guitar in our wind ensemble and varsity jazz ensembles, respectively. These are the two highest levels of musical group my town has to offer and we frequently win national competitions.</p>

<p>Foreign Language Enthusiast
I have traveled on two high school trips, both to Spanish speaking countries. The first was a month long study abroad in Spain. My eyes were opened to a completely different lifestyle while I was studying at the Universidad de Cantabria and traveling throughout Spain. My second trip was an ecological awareness trip to Costa Rica. It was supported by our school's AP Environmental Science department. I went as a translator and to improve my own ability with the Spanish language. This was a truly enlightening trip. I befriended numerous Costa Rican locals and was able to see that despite their less than perfect living conditions, they are an extremely happy people.</p>

<p>Leadership
-Eagle Scout Leadership Award (BSA)
-Math tutor
-Spanish tutor
-Science Tutor (specifically physics and chemistry)
-Manager of a 2 block section of the Arts Festival every summer
-Assistant/Counselor to the bishop of my ward (LDS equivalent to priest or rabbi)
-Youth representative in my stake boundaries - my geographical region's representative to the greater Park City area
-President of Amigos Unidos, cultural club aimed towards bring caucasian and hispanic populations together
-Lead musician in Wind Ensemble (Tuba)
-Lead musician in Varsity Jazz Ensemble (Guitar)</p>

<p>Community Service
Eagle Scout Service Project -70 hours
Church roadside cleanup -10 hours
NHS Individual Service -60 hours
NHS group projects -16 hours
NHS fundraisers -40 hours
Youth fundraiser - free tutoring -8 hours
Bennion Boys Service Camp -40 hours
Ninos on Skis -50 hours
Eagle Scout projects of others' -35 hours
Community cleanups -15 hours</p>

<p>Employment</p>

<p>2006-2007
Smith's Grocers - Courtesy Clerk 20-25 hours per week for 1 year
Ensure customer satisfaction, sanitary needs, and give a positive impression of the company in any way possible</p>

<p>Summer 2007 and 2008
Arts Center - Zone Manager 50 hours per week
Coordinate and execute artist staging areas, give festival a positive demeanor and better artists' experiences.</p>

<p>School year 2007 and 2008
My high school - Math/Spanish/Science tutor 6 hours per week
Peer tutoring activity trying to better my classmates while strengthening my own foundation in these subjects.</p>

<p>Summer 2008 - Present
Catering - Waiter, busboy, chef 8 hours per week
Go to various parties that we are catering and ensure customer satisfaction in every way possible. We are all expected to act as professionals and treat our customers with the utmost respect.</p>

<p>sorry my post is so long, I would greatly appreciate your opinions, especially if they are helpful and well thought out :)</p>

<p>On a scale to one to ten, relative to all the EC's I've seen on CC, I think your EC gets rated a 6.</p>

<p>On the same scale, GPA = 4
Still lingering the scale, Stand. Test's = 4</p>

<p>So the question comes to:
1. Do you have any hooks for them? (Legacy?)
2. Which ethnicity are you? If you're Asian, then stanford would be QUITE a reach
3. How good will your rec's and apps be? Those can play a BIG role.</p>

<p>Otherwise, I think I'm going to draw my conclusions on the fact that Stanford Early is going to be a reach (minimum)</p>

<p>However, applying doesn't hurt! =D And my opinion isn't the same as the AO's! XD Good luck!</p>

<p>Wow, the quick response is very appreciated! I understand my GPA is the suck. And no I am not Asian. Just your typical Caucasian male. I don't have legacy status. The way I see it, and I hope most will agree, I have stats that won't get me in, but also don't exclude me. I see it coming down to my essays.</p>

<p>Also, forgot my AP scores, already taken:
Calc AB: 5
Physics: 5
Chem: 5
Spanish: 4
english: 4</p>

<p>Projected (not that it matters):
Calc BC: 5
Physics C Mech: 5
Physics C E&M: 4 or 5
Gov:5
English Lit: 5
Spanish Lit:5</p>

<p>I understand applying doesn't hurt, especially since it's my dream school, but any insight into whether EA or normal will increase my chances?</p>

<p>While I really appreciate what IvyChan had to say, I'd really like more opinions! Please help me out :)</p>

<p>Also, knowing that Stanford is a reach, what do you guys think Carnegie Mellon or Harvey Mudd would be for me? I'm kind of planning those as my equal schools, my state school as back up and then the 4 reaches listed above.</p>

<p>That seem about right? Help me out!</p>

<p>I dont see how a 3.8 in almost all honors/AP classes can be rated a 4/10. Similarly, I don't see how a 2100+ SAT is a 4/10. IvyChan is fail lulz</p>

<p>I'd say, out of 10, your GPA is a 7 or an 8. For your SAT definitely a 7. You have a good shot, but no clear hook; thus, it'll probably end up being a surprise. Best of luck though!</p>

<p>Mudd and Stanford are probably about the same in terms of selectivity for non URM males (your SATs are below average for Mudd). CMU for non-CS would be a bit less selective, probably in your match range. </p>

<p>If you are looking for matchy schools for MechE: Cornell (much better rep than Harvard for MechE), UIUC and Georgia Tech</p>

<p>Wow, no, Ivy isn't fail, I am. I totally forgot the most important part of my application, what I would consider to be my hook.</p>

<p>Living in Utah, I have a lot of outdoor opportunities. Down south there is a city called Moab that is the offroading capital of the world. It's amazing to see some of the vehicles that people take there and to see what they are capable of. As someone who wants to go into mechanical engineering, I have fallen in love with this activity. Not that I expect a lot to understand the technical aspects but I have essentially built 1.5 cars with my dad in our garage. We completely redid a 1982 Land Cruiser to the point that the only thing left stock on it was the frame. We did all the work on ourselves except things that would be extremely wrong. Some of the work includes:
-Engine swap from 1987 Corvette
-Body lift
-Spring over
-arb lockers
-rebuild new transmission
-re-gear differentials and tranny
-fix the stupid thing when it breaks lol
-other stuff that is technical and small lol</p>

<p>We recently sold that vehicle. Now we are working on my 1989 4runner. It's a blast. I fund a lot of the stuff myself (the land cruiser was more my dad's project, this is mine) and do a lot of the work alone. So far I've bought and installed a new lift kit, electronic rear locker, and regeared the differentials.</p>

<p>So this is definitely one of my passions. I'm an idiot for not including it in my post. Does this help me any lol? And thanks for the replies. I was mighty sad about being rated as a 4 on the scale haha. I'll be sure to look into those other schools.</p>

<p>I think you look really good for stanford.</p>

<p>Also kudos to the html joke. Unless that wasn't one... in which case bah-humbug.</p>

<p>Of course it was intentional haha. I like these optimistic posts :) Thanks everyone, I feel very encouraged. I was gettin' pretty down on myself about it.</p>

<p>Does anyone have any insight to whether SCEA or regular would be better?</p>

<p>Anyone else feel like chancing me? It's always appreciated :)</p>

<p>Pretty comparable to myself actually, you're probably just a little bit better actually.</p>

<p>I've applied to MIT, Stanford, and Caltech as well.</p>

<p>No clue whether or not you'll get in, but best of luck to you. haha</p>