Hello everyone,
I, an international student want to apply for REA to Stanford but I have a problem with my GPA. I tend to have 3.2 GPA (out of 4) and there is no such thing as weighted or UW in my country. I tend to have 1490 on my SAT, taken dates for subject test. Also, I have ECs that i can talk about for hours but pointing out some important ECs, they are
International South Asian JUDO tournament (Bronze, Black belt),
Two papers published in Int. Journal of Sci & Research,
Duke of Edinburgh Int. Award (will complete next month, bronze)
Duke of Edinburgh Int. Award’s Award Leader
National Convention of the student’s Quality Circle (Best Presentation),
Run my own Social Organization (600+ working hours),
Worked in the National Oil Corp. for 4 months,
Completed 6 month’s maker-Mentor training,
General Secretary of the Student’s Council,
Founder and President of Social service club in the college,
Member of the research club in college,
A travel guide and instructor,
First-responder of Himalayan Medics,
Performed a gas extraction project on a rural village of my country,
and many more at inter/intra-school/college levels.
The essay and recommendation are also at their finest. So, would there still be a very high chance of red-flag for me because of my GPA?
Your GPA is quite low for Stanford, and your SAT is only okay for Stanford. The acceptance rate at Stanford is 4.8%, and it is probably significantly lower than this for international students.
I also wonder why you would prefer Stanford for petroleum engineering. Why not U Texas Austin, Texas A&M, Colorado School of Mines, or U.Alberta?
@DadTwoGirls I agree on what you are saying but, Universities such as TAMU, UT Austin, CSM, I believe they do not have early decision or early action programs. If you could advice me some uni for PE with ED/EA program, I would be glad to search about them.
@DadTwoGirls that’s cuz if I get in ED/EA, there will be less essays to work on, less application pressure, less financial pressure, higher acceptance rate, more scholarships and stuffs like that. What would u personally advice me regarding to this topic?
Some state schools have rolling admissions which has the same effect as ED/EA without the restrictions. State schools are also much less likely to have essay requirements unless you are applying to honors colleges. Look at the actual applications of the schools listed if they are available.
“that’s cuz if I get in ED/EA, there will be less essays to work on, less application pressure, less financial pressure, higher acceptance rate, more scholarships and stuffs like that. What would u personally advice me regarding to this topic?”
Some universities have rolling admissions. As @Sportsman88 says that has the same effect as EA without the restrictions. As one example, in our limited experience of applying to schools in Canada, all of them appeared to have rolling admissions. My daughter got one acceptance back in a few days (although I will admit that this is very unusual, and the rest took longer).
As an international student, what I would do if I were you might depend upon budget. If being full pay at a US school (total cost for four years in the $200,000 to $300,000 range) was fine, then I would apply to the US schools mentioned above, but would not bother with Stanford because I can’t imagine you getting in with a 3.2. You should also run the NPC on the US schools mentioned above and see what they are likely to cost you. If you would prefer something academically excellent but a bit less expensive, then I would look outside of the US. As some examples, the U. of Alberta, U. of Calgary, Dalhousie University, and Memorial University of Newfoundland are all likely to be much more affordable than schools in the US, and all are very good schools with strong Petroleum Engineering programs. I am not sure if you will even need an essay for any of them.
Stanford posts detailed statistics on their website.
Only 1% of students with GPAs less than 3.7 are admitted.
I speculate that MOST of those are recruited athletes.
And international admission is SIGNIFICANTLY more challenging because of a soft cap.
So, my guess is your chance is more like 1 out of a thousand.
Colorado school of mines is ranked #4 in PE and has rolling early admissions, but with your GPA its still going to be tough to get in (there acceptance rate is 34%).
