I’ve been lurking on cc since I was in middle school, and I’ve just created an acccount. I really wanna go to Stanford, so here are my stats:
Btw, I’m on my phone so sorry for any typos and stuff.
SAT: 2230
SAT II: Math 2 800, biology 800, physics 800, french wl 750
ACT: 34
UW GPA: 4.0
Class rank: 1 or 2/89
My school only offers the IB diploma; this year I’m taking: math hl, english hl, chemistry hl, bio hl, spanish sl and psychology sl.
Awards: nothing major, just a couple school awards
Extracurriculars: Varsity soccer captain and national champion all four years (I’ve been playing since I was around 8), varsity volleybal co-captain- national champions last 2 years, knowledge bowl captain - champions 2 years in a row(won mvp last year), loads of MUN, student council president (previously class president 9-11 grade), mathletes co-captain- national champions last year, helping hands president (it’s a school club that raises food for less fortunate families), drama club president, NHS vice president, track and field (9-11, I had to quit because I didn’t have time), varsity swimming (joined in 10th grade). Clearly, I’m really into sports… I was also part of math and science olympiad.
Work: I’ve never had a job… During the summer’s I went to a very elite, all girls camp in Maine, up until the summer before senior year where I did some volunteer work at an animal shelter.
I’ve read some of my rec letters, and they’re amazing and I’m still writing some of my essays…
I should also say that I’m an international student (Latin America) that doesn’t qualify for aid. I don’t know if I’m forgetting anything.
You seem like a wonderful candidate, as are the thousands of other students who apply and are rejected. As Harvard receives more applications from qualified applicants than they have seats in the freshman class, Admissions uses teacher recommendations, guidance counselor report (SSR), interview report and essays to select one high-performing student over another. As you haven’t posted that information – nor should you – the only way you’re going to find out your chances is by submitting your application. Best of luck to you!
Of course you have a chance. A very good chance. A slightly higher SAT would be good.but I’m not convinced it would be worth retaking. I’d spend effort on the essays. I do not know what you mean by national champions in the sports, but you would presumably be getting recruited [in the Ivy sense] and that’s another plus.
No, that’s not true for international students. OP, please visit Harvard’s International Statistics website and from the pull-down menus select STUDENTS, HARVARD COLLEGE (the undergraduate school) and YOUR COUNTRY. Whatever number appears is the total number of students enrolled at Harvard from your country. Divide that number by 4 to get an estimate of how many students are admitted each year from your country. As you will see, the numbers are not in your favor no matter what your stats.That’s the reality of the situation if you are an international student. http://www.hio.harvard.edu/statistics
Gibby, where do you get the idea that the OP is an international student? “During the summer’s I went to a very elite, all girls camp in Maine, up until the summer before senior year where I did some volunteer work at an animal shelter.” Maybe there’s something on the duplicate thread the OP mentioned? You seemed to be in total agreement at #2 and then 180 degrees opposed at #4. I;m confused as to which is your actual opinion.
You think I should re-take the SAT? I wasn’t planning on it because I was quite happy with my score and my SAT 2’s are pretty decent as well. Do you think I should just submit my ACT? I don’t think I have time to study for the November SAT.
Well, in my country public schools aren’t very good, so I’m very fortunate to attend a very prestigious international school, and we get the chance to play against other private schools from all around the country, and that’s how we’re national champions. We’re fairly good, but if you combine public schools, we probably wouldn’t make it far. We also play against international schools from all over Latin America and we’ve won the last 6 times. Stanford is incredibly good at sports as well, so I doubt I could be good enough to be recruited… I haven’t really checked how the ivy recruiting works, though.
Gibby, I just checked and only ONE person from my country is currently enrolled at Harvard…
I was also thinking about applying SCEA to either Harvard or Stanford, should I apply to either one, or should I just wait?
Thank you guys very much. Any kind of feed back is wholeheartedly appreciated.
No. Your stats are fine, as are the stats of the vast majority of applicants. You are qualified, but these schools reject 95% of applicants, most of whom could do the work.
There are many other fine universities other than Harvard and Stanford; widen your net.
I am very aware that there are many other fine universities, but I’ve wanted to go to Stanford since I was in 7th grade, that’s one of the reasons I’ve worked very hard during high school. Obviously, I will apply to other universities, and if I’m rejected at H or S, I would probably end up being happy wherever I choose. This is something I’ve wanted for so long, and people on this site tend to be very helpful, so I decided to give it a try and ask.
I’m clueless to this, but if I don’t need aid and I’m international, do I have better chances at Stanford? I know Harvard is need blind to internationals, but Stanford isn’t, so I don’t know if the aid is a weighting factor at Stanford admissions.
He does know, but not many people apply to Stanford from my schools and I doubt he has any clue on either school’s athletics departments. My counselor thinks that just because I’m a good student, I’m automatically in at any school that I apply. Being from a small country has a lot of downsides when it comes to college applications…
