Last chances

Colleges & Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>I already submitted my application SCEA because the arts supplement was due along with everything else Oct. 15. Just need some reassurance...or attacking. I refused to take the SATIIs, so there's no convincing me on that.</p>

<p>Asian Male in Wisconsin
Rank: 20.1%
UW GPA: 3.725
ACT: 30 w/ 11 writing
AP Scores: 5 in Psych, 4 in Literature (self-study)</p>

<p><em>Taking hardest courseload available, significant rising trend</em>
Pre-High school Science Academy: 3.33
Grade 9: 3.57 / 3.47
Grade 10: 3.81 / 3.70
Grade 11: 3.90 / 3.95
Grade 12: Predicted 4.0</p>

<p>-Family of 4 (5 up until march)
-Dad is a Chinese Food Delivery Man, Mom is unemployed
-family makes <$10000 a year
-Parents lived through Cambodian genocide
-I am a 1st generation high school graduate
-Younger brother had severe medical problems up until march of this year when he passed away <3
-Older brother at UW-Madison</p>

<p><em>Excellent recommendations from both counselor and teachers (one supplement), excellent essays exhibiting a passion in Amnesty, Photography, and Newspaper, and submitting an arts supplement to each school</em></p>

<p>Resume:
Amnesty International (9th, 10th, 11th, President + Region-Chapter Coordinator 12th)
• Headed three Jamnesty benefit concerts (+$1000 raised at each concert) (11th and 12th)
• Co-organized “Boots in Darfur” rally at National General Meeting (11th)
• Directed National Week of Student Action to raise awareness of various human rights topics at the high school level (11th)
• Planned annual “Mix-It-Up Days” to promote removal of cliques/social barriers (9th-12th)</p>

<p>Photography (Age 12 - Present)
• Editorial photo awarded honorable mention in contest sponsored by DeviantART.com (10th)
• Photo featured at Milwaukee Art Museum in exhibit for students with scholastic distinction (11th)
• Photo awarded certificate of distinction in exhibition at state fair (11th)
• Won Scholastic Silver Key for Achievement in the Visual Arts in Photography (11th)
• Started business shooting senior pictures, earned over $500 @ $65 per shoot (12th)
• Commissioned by Impact Consulting Group, LLC to take promotional photos (12th)</p>

<p>Cardinal Newspaper (9th, 10th, Section Editor 11th and 12th)
• Inducted into Quill & Scroll (NHS for HS Journalists) (10th)
• Wisconsin Newspaper Association – 1st place for Layout and Design, 1st place for Infographic Design (11th)</p>

<p>National Honor Society (11th, President 12th)
• Co-headed two NHS sponsored blood drives</p>

<p>**Cardinal Pennant Yearbook (9th, 10th, 11th, Section Editor 12th)</p>

<p>Student Council (9th, 10th, 11th, Committee Head of Community Service 12th)</p>

<p>Senior Class Officer (Treasurer)</p>

<p>Writing Center Tutor (11th, 12th)</p>

<p>Other**
• Co-headed student fundraising group for AIDS in Africa, raised +$700 (10th)</p>

<p>Help please?</p>

2

<p>You have a good chance (I’d give you 40%). You either get in with full scholarship or you don’t at all. SAT I scores?</p>

3

<p>^40%? I think that’s overly enthusiastic haha. I’m from the Midwest and the SATs aren’t really prominent here, plus I don’t feel prepared for the test, so I’m not taking it.</p>

4

<p>40 % is a good guess. I just hope your essays are good.</p>

5

<p>^I think they are.</p>

<p>Anyone else?</p>

6

<p>hey~ i’m an asian male from wisconsin going SCEA w/ art supplement
what school do you go to? and possibly name too?</p>

7

<p>I’ve heard that Stanford likes photographers…</p>

8

<p>Um, I’m sorry but your chances at stanford SCEA are rather low. What’s hurting you most is all of your scores. It’s too bad about your brother’s passing and your family’s difficult situation, and I can empathize. If you were a different minority besides Asian, I think you would stand 30% chance at Stanford for being a URM and first-gen college student with all of your family difficulties. But it will hurt that you are Asian…</p>

9

<p>^I strongly doubt that my being Asian would be the factor that puts me into the reject pile, no matter how strong your belief in racial quotas seems to be. There is a reason that Asians are the second largest ethnicity on most top tier campuses and I don’t think that trend is going to die anytime soon. That kind of remark is more offensive than helpful to be honest. I really believe that qualified applicants put into context is what Stanford is examining, not just race. And that “Um” doesn’t really speak to your authority on the subject either.</p>

<p>Not to be nit-picky or anything.</p>

<p>P.S. Anyone’s chances at Stanford are rather low, but thanks for your “highly informative” evaluation, anyway.</p>

<p>P.P.S. Just to clarify, your blatant disregard of my entire application and character because of a <em>single</em> factor is what upsets me. And to say that Stanford admissions officers would maintain a mindset similar to yours is quite disgusting. That’s all.</p>

10

<p>Stanford is need blind for US applicants, so admission won’t be contingent on availability of a full scholarship - you will get in or not without regard to that.</p>

<p>I think all top colleges are trying to be more sensitive to the need to consider financial context on opportunity than they have in the past, as opposed to focusing solely on racial composition. I am guessing that progress will be slow but hopefully steady.</p>

<p>You have a lot going for you and a strong rising trend that will work in your favor. Make sure you apply to a good mix of schools (I tell my daughter she is only allowed to fall in love with a school after she is admitted!) and I am sure that, Stanford or otherwise, you will have a great outcome.</p>

11

<p>i would love to see you get in…btw, amb3r, it’s not all about race…</p>

12

<p>because i think if rence here can get his essays as top-notch as everything else here seems, he has an excellent chance.</p>

13

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</p>

<p>Okay, wow. The reason asians are the second largest ethnicity at top tier campuses is NOT because there is NO racial quota. It is because asians are, as a group, rather highly qualified for those colleges (although of course - qualified is a subjective opinion, so let’s not get into this argument). Without any sort of preference for other ethnicites over asians, I believe that the % of asians at HYPMS would be even higher. </p>

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</p>

<p>Are you joking? Yeesh. Um, um, um <– I must be dumb. </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I actually read through every word of your application. Of course I did not disregard every factor of your application besides race. If that was the case, I would be “auto-rejecting” every single asian who posts chances on these boards, and that is obviously not the case. I took into account your rank (to my experience, every Stanford admit I have ever known is SAFELY within top 10%, often within 5%), your UW GPA (by no means poor, but again, of the 5 Stanford admits I know, all have gotten straight A’s or all A’s and 1 B, and I’m from a competitive school), good that your grades are rising, your ACT score (if you had 32+ this would have been better for sford). I do not know what kind of HS you go to and how many advanced classes it offers, but taking 2 APs (AP Lit is considered a very difficult AP, while AP Psych joins the ranks of AP Enviro and AP Micro/Macro Econ as the b-s or rather easy APs) will definitely put you on the low end of the applicant pool, again with the qualification that if your school offers only three or four APs, than your AP performance should neither hurt nor benefit you. Also your family issues, which I’ve obviously already covered and sympathise with you about. It’s nice to hear you have good recs, but honestly every single one of hundreds of chance threads I’ve seen say the same thing: “I will get excellent recs from __ and ___ and ___” so this is a non-issue. Your leadership duties with amnesty international are wonderful and strengthen your application, as do your photography business work and awards. Overall your ECs are the strongest part of your application. You come off as a humanities oriented, conscientious and ambitious leader-type - great. Like I said in my first post, it is your <em>scores</em> that truly hurt you. And while your ECs are phenomenal, they are probably about average or slightly above average in the Stanford pool to be honest. And your scores will be below average if you do not count legacies, athletes, and other hooked applicants. </p>

<p>Taking <em>all</em> these factors into account, as well as the fact that you are Asian and NOT a URM (despite your financial problems) I maintain that your chances of Stanford admit are slim; on a wild guess I’d put you at 25%. And I considered all of these factors before making my first post, not while making this one.</p>

<p>By the way, why is it offensive for me to say your chances of making Stanford decrease because you are Asian? I understand that if you were an URM and I told you your chances were high because you are URM would be offensive and belittling. But the opposite - that Asians are disadvantaged - whether true or not, is certainly out of your control and has nothing to do with you or with your personal talents.</p>

14

<p>I do agree with amb3r. I’m Asian myself and I know how difficult it will be for our ethnicity to enter top schools because, as mentioned in many many threads, colleges look for diversity. A university does not want half of their incoming students to be Asian, which might possibly be the case without “unfair” treatment of applicants. What amb3r was saying is that if you, or I, or any other Asian American for that matter were a different race, we would not have to compete for the same slots that many extremely qualified Asian Americans try to obtain. There is no doubt that other minority groups (African American, Hispanic American, or Native American) have a much easier time in applications; it’s shown through statistics.</p>

<p>I understand your situation at home; you are placed in very tough circumstances that not many applicants face. It is impressive that you pulled through during such tough times! However, besides the First Generation label and income status, the other information that you provide cannot be used to help you get into Stanford. You may want to mention one in an essay, but to present it in your application makes it seem as if you’re hoping sympathy will increase your chances. Focus on how you’ve lived and exceeded expectations through such tough times, not on how your parents survived the genocide (which would be something that your parents could write about if they were applying to Stanford).</p>

<p>Since you are a first generation applicant, you have fairly good chances at Stanford. There’s no assurance though; you refused to take the SAT II’s, which were highly recommended; your ACT falls right above the 25% among a less competitive ACT pool (if you look, the stats are skewed in the Common Data Set because less people take the ACT and most come from the <em>generally</em> less competitive Midwest region) and the lower 25% should be treated as if it were reserved for athletes, legacies, and true minorities, which make up most of the enrollees of the lower quartile. Furthermore, if you look at the Common Data Set, 89% of applicants are within the top 10% of their high school class. Certainly, your upwards trend is impressive, and may give you the edge you need. </p>

<p>Of your entire application, I am most impressed with your extracurriculars. You seem committed and come through as a human, not just a workhorse. I think this will make up for weaker academics, though again I cannot be sure because I do not have the justification to make such a decision. In summary, I’d say you are a strong applicant when considering your situation. Remember though, Stanford is going to get over 20,000 applications this year and there will be plenty of excellent students striving to get into the university, both those with special circumstances and those without. You can only control a few factors, some among those being test scores, your commitment to extracurriculars, and your essay. I wish you best of luck though. I’m sure you’ll get into a great school with such a strong character.</p>

15

<p>ambr3, I’m sorry my reply came off so vehement, your phrasing was just not pleasing. With yours and RememberMe’s clarification, I see what you’re saying, although I, of course, hope I beat those odds that are against me.</p>

<p>I wish I was one of those applicants that was a simple “Yes” or “No” after a quick glance to my application, but I think I’m a lot more complicated than that. I think I’ll be one of those people admissions counselors will be “deliberating” over.</p>

<p>Also RememberMe, I made sure my personal statement for the common app addressed exactly how each of those circumstances I outlined in my first post helped me grow as an individual. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t viewed as just a pity case.</p>

16

<p>Your rank will really hurt you, but the upward trend might help (and remember, Stanford only looks at 10-11). I think you stand a fair chance of getting in, assuming your essays (and more importantly, recs, in your case).</p>

<p>I think you will be deferred because Stanford will want to see how you do on your first semester senior year and see if your rising trend continues. If so, I think you have a good shot of getting in.</p>

17

<p>I have a 3.9 Stanford recalculated GPA. Isn’t it even harder to get in once deferrred? :-/</p>