Is there any point in applying for me?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>I've become really pessimistic about applying to Stanford recently. It looks like a great school and even though it's not my first choice, I'd love to get in and attend there.</p>

<p>But looking from my school's past, people who have been accepted to Harvard, MIT, Brown, Cornell, Yale, and other places have all been rejected from Stanford. I have no idea why, just very odd.</p>

<p>So I was wondering, is there any chance for me or should I just not bother?</p>

<p>WGPA: 4.498 (no one usually gets above 5)
Rank: 10/386
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: White</p>

<p>SAT: 2180 (750 CR, 730 M, 700 W) (Retaking in September/October)
SAT II: 770 Chem, 760 Math II, 760 USH, 700 Math I, 670 Physics (also, should I retake physics?)</p>

<p>AP Classes: APUSH, AP Eng Lang, AP Chem (No junior in my school has ever taken it), AP Comp Sci A</p>

<p>EC's:</p>

<p>FRC Team Robotics (9-11) - 400 hours in 3 years or so. Usually places in top 3 teams every year. Head programmer of the team for this year and next. This year, our team got the Coopertition Award, Honorable Mention for Safety, 1st seeded team, and top 4 teams overall in Boston Regional.</p>

<p>Science Olympiad (11) - Co-Founder/Captain. Got 21st/40 in state competition this year, highest rookie placement.</p>

<p>MOON (10,11) - Math team. President. Highest in division for GBML competition (Greater Boston area)</p>

<p>Academic Decathlon (10,11) - A starter, captain, placed 6th at regionals and 6th at states.</p>

<p>Varsity Swim Team (9-11) - MVP of the meet, Varsity Letter</p>

<p>Other smaller EC's</p>

<p>Potential Hook: First generation college student</p>

<p>Awards:</p>

<p>National Latin Exam: Gold and silver medals
National Spanish Exam: Bronze medal
AMC 10 School Winner
Honorable Mention School Science Fair/Regional Science Fair Qualifier (3 years)
City Wide Law Day Essay Contest Winner</p>

<p>Recs: Will have recs from my Latin teacher who has written excellent recs for past students, and will have had him for 4 years, my AP chem teacher who has helped with MOON as well, and my mentor from my robotics team who I have spent countless hours with.</p>

2

<p>If you want to attend, you should apply.</p>

3

<p>i strongly agree.</p>

4

<p>“Potential Hook: First generation college student”</p>

<p>Use that to your advantage.</p>

5

<p>Apply. Unless finances or time is restricting you there’s no way to know if you could get in and attend unless you try. Also, to answer one of your lesser questions, I feel as though there is no need to retake the SAT II for physics. If anything, simply don’t send it. You have the required number and have high scors on several. One more retake will not make or break your application.</p>

6

<p>^ Stanford doesn’t even require Subject Test scores. Therefore, a bad one won’t hurt you; good ones will help, though.</p>

7

<p>Oh. I didn’t even know that Stanford doesn’t require subject tests. That’s good, haha.</p>

<p>Ok, so I guess I will still apply there. Any suggestions for the application process? I think I’m just applying RD there.</p>

8

<p>Usually people with very high SATs apply Stanford EA. I think you should apply RD.
Your stats and ECs are all very good… nothing quite spectacular.
However, I do believe that the first generation hook will help you, so you have a pretty good chance. You should definitely apply.</p>

9

<p>It’s hard to get into Stanford if you’re from the east coast even if you have a strong background in academics and ECs. Even people in the east coast, who are accepted to top colleges like MIT or Harvard, are occasionally rejected from Stanford. The reason may be that if you have the credentials to go to a school that is near to your home, why would you want to travel 2,500+ miles? </p>

<p>Nevertheless, try anyway. You might be one of the few exceptions.</p>

10

<p>^There are loads of successful applicants to Stanford from the East, many of whom are Ivy cross-admits and choose to matriculate at Stanford.</p>

11

<p>You really have nothing to lose by applying to Stanford. Other than money spent on the application fee ;)</p>

12

<p>^And the time spent writing the essays, of course.</p>