H!i I’m a freshman in High School in the suburbs of Seattle and I would really like to go to Stanford. I know that it is a really difficult accomplishment, which is why I’m making sure to start now and do things in and out of school that I am not only interested in, but will help me in achieving this goal! So, I was wondering if you guys have any advice to give me, or if there are any cool out of school programs around the Cascade area that I might be interested in. Thanks!
Some info:
African American
1st Generation American (African)
1st Generation College Student
(My whole family was born in East African except me so I don’t think that it’s right to write about it.)
Classes so far
(About is the hardest class load I could take; Python prerequisite of APCS)
AP Human Geo
PE
Honors English
Bio
Algebra 2
Coding in python
IB Spanish 3
(got 2 B’s in Spanish- had a harsh grader)
Clubs
Wood Business
SCAN(Save the Children Action Network)
MSA(Muslim Student Association)
Leaving Debate for MUN
As you can see its not really anything special so I’m open to all advice!
As with all applicants to top tier universities, you need to keep your GPA up, enough said. However, you didn’t mention the things that you are excited about or have a passion for that would distinguish you from everyone else who have stellar academics. Find things that you truly enjoy and cultivate demonstrable experience in those areas. You don’t have to start your own company or be an Intel Science Fair winner (although there are always Stanford applicants who have). But you do need to have a body of work in an area that interests you because you will have to write essays that touch upon just those things. Also, don’t spread yourself too thin with your extracurriculars—its quality, not quantity, that matters most.
Stanford forgives freshmen grades but i’m not slacking off because i’m a freshman. I made some mistakes and had a weird Spanish teacher. Overall my public school is very competitive cause it’s IB and was a bit difficult transitioning from my less competitive more minority middle school.
Somethings i enjoy is math and science. After helping kids in my class i’m thinking about tutoring which doesn’t really help me stand out. --But i suck on reading and writing(470/720 psat) so i’m going to practice my writing skills and read a bunch on my free time(reading Antifragile by Nassim Taleb rn).
I started my Club to better my woodworking skills after taking part of building my families African house last summer, but i guess my club wants it to become business to buy more wood is the big idea(A cycle). It’s very scrappy and disorganized in my opinion … I’m having a hard time finding a passion feel my is so boring. I don’t want to spread myself thin either so i’ll just stop debating i guess
thanks for ya’ll input