<p>Haha no feelings hurt. I can handle a misread post.</p>
<p>calm down lol
there is no “formula” to get into stanford
just do what you enjoy, don’t force yourself into things that aren’t yourself</p>
<p>Best advice anyone can give you, from an MIT admissions officer: [Applying</a> Sideways | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry/applying_sideways]Applying”>Applying Sideways | MIT Admissions)</p>
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<p>The hell? You’re not even in high school yet and you have no idea what you’re talking about. Get off of this site and return in 3 years :D</p>
<p>Stanford won’t check your middle school/jr. high school grades. You can loaf until you get into high school.</p>
<p>To the middle school students… listen to momster. Enjoy school, and your life. Keep your eye on the long term goal, but understand that there are many ways to get there. Last, lots of things will/may change in the next 4-6 years. I am sending a HS senior off to college next year. Since middle school, his intended major has changed 3 times. And I realize it could change a few more times in college. He has wanted to go to the same college since 7th grade. However, the economy, school admission policies/procedures, financial aid and scholarships, and job outlooks have all changed dramatically in the past 4-5 years. For all of those reasons, he realized that his “dream” school was not the best option for him. So keep an open mind, do your best, find an interest and get involved outside of school, and look forward to choosing a great school in 4 years. </p>
<p>And don’t spend too much time on CC. You will just compare your self to unrealistic criteria. </p>
<p>Other useful things you can do: study for the PSAT and make NMF. Take the SAT/ACT early (end of freshman year if possible) and practice to improve your score. Talk to your parents about college costs and figure out what their plan is for you and how /if they plan finance college for you, or if you will be paying on your own. It does not do you any good to plan to go to Stanford if your parents are planning for you to go to community college. </p>
<p>Sent from my DROID RAZR using CC</p>
<p>Be passionate about what you love to do. </p>
<p>Middle school is simply too early to start getting into the “college app” mindset. You have nearly half a decade to experience new things. Don’t take classes in high school and do things for the sole goal of getting into HYPMS (or something similar).</p>
<p>Good luck in 5 years!</p>
<p>I’m a junior in high school. now contrary to most of the other high schoolers i think it’s great you thinking of college admission from early on. you 8th grade friend gave you some great advice but heres some more from me. when i was a freshmen i knew nothing about college or college admissions so i did horrendous, fortunately i did a LOT better my sophomore year. i am know a junior researching college admission so here is some advice from me to you.</p>
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<li>don’t fail ANYTHING (D grade = fail)</li>
<li>don’t focus on a specific college just yet, because as you go through high school your proprieties and what you want for a career will most likely change. </li>
<li>take plenty of AP and honors courses and the sat and act</li>
<li>look into other schools too, not just Standford you should have at least 5 colleges you what to apply for your senior year.</li>
<li>don’t stress out, you still in middle school and colleges don’t look at it, but you should still get good grades. </li>
<li>join extra stuff like sports and clubs that YOU enjoy not because Standford will like them.</li>
<li>look at what makes you unique cause thats what colleges really want. </li>
<li>have fun your high school years are gonna be something to remember and college is going to be even more amazing.</li>
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<p>“i think stanford wants more than that. if i did what i want i wouldnt do any homework, would sleep through every class, would skip tons of school, and go to school at noon everyday.”</p>
<p>Honestly, xTIGERSFAN35x, if that’s how you feel. I don’t think you should go to Stanford. Stanford wants students who have “intellectual vitality,” people who want to learn for learning’s sake. </p>
<p>Before you obsess and freak out about trying into get into Stanford, you may first want to ask yourself why you want to go to Stanford. If it’s for the prestige and reputation, then I’d recommend reevaluating how you’re approaching your educational experience.</p>
<p>High school should not be an ordeal that you have to get through before reaching the promised land that is college. High school should be an enriching experience in which you explore your interests, find out what you’re passionate about, try to discover who you are and what you want out of life, and enjoy being young.</p>
<p>“there is no “formula” to get into stanford”- no formula, agreed.</p>
<p>And, no clear formula for any top schools nowadays either.</p>
<p>LOL 10char</p>
<p>There’s more to life than worrying about college! Geeze, middle schoolers shouldn’t even think about college. I didn’t until halfway through junior year, and I’m glad. </p>
<p>If you spend your entire high school career (and apparently some of middle school too) trying to get into Stanford you won’t be happy and will come to realize you’ve wasted a good part of your life. You don’t want to come to graduation day and think back on four years and realize you missed out on an experience that only happens once in your life. </p>
<p>Go to parties, get grounded, hang out with friends, be crazy and get a B, break the dress code, sneak out, support your sports teams, get kicked out of the library for being too loud, be a kid! Graduate high school without regretting missing out on and not experiencing four of the most important years of your life.</p>
<p>Write an autobiography, get it published, and tell Stanford that you wrote the most uninteresting autobiography in existence. That should give you a leg up.</p>
<p>i know this might be a little but i think i can help. I am also and 8th grader and want to go to stanford. as i am quite not as smart as you sound i think im in the same boat. i noticed your username is tigersfan… as in detroit tigers? if so that means you live near the detroit metro area as i do, i would recomend Going to IA, international academy, as it is an IB school. If you go here and do well you can pretty much write your ticket to any school in the country. i hope this helps</p>
<p>If highschool is the most fun you have in your life lagging then you have a pretty sad life.</p>
<p>You all should consider that some people aren’t going to have a fun high school career no matter what. For the OP, all you need to do is take challenging classes(and do well in them) , get good test scores, and have nice ECs. That’s it. By the way I’m a freshman in high school.</p>
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<li>You don’t need to go to a top high School.</li>
<li>Avoid IB if you live in the US because AP allows you to customize your schedule more and prepares you much better for the SAT subject tests. Plus if you go full IB like me you have to write a 20 page essay on a topic of your choosing. Not fun…(only mention this because someone brought it up)</li>
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<p>Oh and you should not be worried about this yet. Just stop reading college confidental right now!</p>
<p>I think its great that you are already thinking ahead! I remember 7th grade I was just carefree as anyone could be.</p>
<p>Just one warning: dont stress yourself out too much. High school has plenty of that in store for you.</p>
<p>About your questions. Right now, I think youre thinking too much about numbers: how many APs, how many sports, how many extracurriculars. But it really isn’t about numbers in college admissions. </p>
<p>Sure I did a lot of APs and EC in hs, but they were focused on what I liked doing (political activism). So if youre the president of red cross club and then FBLA and then the Indian club and then the school choir, the admissions officer will only see an incoherent student without any definite passion for one thing. And out you go. For APs, take the most challenging course you can THAT MAKES SENSE to your passion. Of course, APs in all core classes is pretty standard for stanford applicants, but if youre taking AP music theory or art just for the sake of taking an AP class to add to your list, youre wasting your effort and time and not even helping your chances.</p>
<p>Sports. I didnt play any and Im a guy so I automatically (and mistakenly) thought I had to play. But nope. Unless youre really passionate about a particular sport, I dont see the point in playing multiple at a time. Sure, it helps your application a bit, but know that it isnt the first thing an admissions officer looks at so dont overextend yourself by trying to handle all those APs AND a few sports. Its just going to take focus away from excelling academically, which is the #1 thing they look at.</p>
<p>Some people may suggest you apply for highly-competitve or a “good” high shool. But in my opinion, it doesnt really matter. Sure, schools like harvard westlake has multiple people who get into multiple ivies a year, but those are the people who challenge themselves to be the best at what HW offers. Plenty of people go to “standard” schools from HW. In other words, it is really how you challenge yourself given the resources your school and community has, not by the rank your high school has. You wi not be penalized for going to a “bad” high school. I went to a pretty normal and standard high school with like two Stanford admits total out of 40 years, and my friend and I ended up being the third and fourth in my graduating year.</p>
<p>Just keep these things in mind, and I hope my advice helped! Remember, doing everything and anything you can will not only not help you, but actually hurt your chances. You’d be surprised by the number of people who gets admitted to Stanford who doesn’t take 17 APs or plays a sport or does 6 different volunteer activities or is a president of 7 different clubs. Its really about telling the officers that youre excited to come with a set of skills that you have mastered and caressed over your 4 years of high school and contribute to the community around you with those skills. They want to see that youre passionate about something, not that youre a machine designed to juggle 10000 things at once. </p>
<p>Be a girl, minority , athlete and etc … I m bitter tho so… </p>