<p>Stanford is not actually my daughter's first choice, but this is in relation to this conversation with another mom. My daughter had been in the EPGY program through Stanford. She only did one course, but can still do more in the future. Since she is only at beginning of high school, she could still take more. But I don't think that class would even be mentioned on her college app because it was before 9th grade, it was beginning algebra. However, she enjoyed her experience so for a while, Stanford was her first choice. It is still in her top 3, but no longer at the top, Cal Tech is.</p>
<p>The mom I am referring to, her son was really in to Stanford. They flew to California to see the campus. He graduated in the top 10 percent. His only extra activity was orchestra, no community service or anything else. He did not get in. When my daughter told the mom she was hoping to apply to Stanford, the mom told her to forget it, you have to be wealthy and famous or invent the cure to cancer to get in. I am thinking her son did not have much to his application. I never said this to her, I just told my daughter to not let that discourage her and when the time comes, she can apply anyway.</p>
<p>On the other hand, my daughter has a very high GPA. It is high enough that she might be able to be valedictorian eventually, regardless of which high school she goes to. Regardless, she will be in the top 5% at this rate. She does fencing and is working on competition. She does volunteer work. The school does not require it, she does it just because she wants to. So far, she has done campaign work for environmental causes. She also has been doing eldercare. She has been trying to get involved with March of Dimes team youth and trying to get on as a hospital volunteer, but so far, our area hospital is not taking junior volunteers. It was only built a few months ago. If they do not get going with the junior volunteer program soon, we will look in to other hospitals a further distance away as she is interested in going in to a medical career. In the meantime, a local pediatric center has said they will take her as a volunteer. She also plays in the city orchestra. This is not a children's orchestra, it is all ages. </p>
<p>I think even if my daughter does not get in to Stanford, her application looks very good for any school. What do you think?</p>
<p>Well, many applicants with overly high expectations come out with a very bitter taste of the process. I would not concern myself with an applicant of a weaker profile who did not get in; just because you are not miles above does not mean you will not get in. There are many other factors than just grades or extra-curricular activities. </p>
<p>That being said, our school’s valedictorian last year was outright rejected from Stanford SCEA, but accepted to both Harvard and Yale, with a Presidential Scholarship from OSU. One school, even if it is a top choice or dream school, does not often correlate with other schools in terms of acceptance except in cases of applicants who are obviously quite weak; from your description, your daughter does not fit that category. </p>
<p>That being said, with all due respect, try not start judging until Junior year is mostly passed and all tests are done. I think attempting to gain some sense of profile-strength for any underclassman is both pointless and indicative of meaningless worrying. There is time to go, and situations can change.</p>
<p>try not start judging until Junior year is mostly passed and all tests are done.</p>
<p>It is really impossible to give you any meaningful feedback until more data is collected, as JustAnotherTry mentioned. But even with “perfect or near perfect” grades, test scores, EC’s, etc., Stanford still becomes a reach of varying degrees, for all applicants. This is not intended to discourage you or dissuade your daughter from applying to Stanford, when that time comes, and I hope she is one of the lucky ones who gets accepted. Good luck to her.</p>
<p>to say look at it in junior year or whatever isnt really right since your sophomore (or even freshmen years maybe) have a serious dtermining factor in your chances are colleges… i am a junior now and im scewed because i wasnt really into the whole college think and the people i know and where i go to school is really not into that… (although my school’s name is calvert hall college ironically where no one cares about getting into college) go figure right</p>
<p>off on a tangent i win</p>
<p>But as to your thread (lol), your daighter looks like a really good candidate and the only reason she won’t get into top school’s is SAt scores or bad luck (which might be a factor from some of the results I see on CC :()</p>
<p>Stanford appears to be the most random of the uber selective schools. If you look at acceptance data, they seem to reject people with high scores, accept people with lower, and do everything in the middle. It is the hardest to understand of any of them, and therefore the most perilous to pin one’s hope on.</p>