Hello everybody! I’m a senior from a high school in CT and was wondering if anyone could give insight on my chances getting into Stanford. It’s a pretty big reach school for me, but after doing an interview with them recently I’ve been feeling a bit more encouraged and am curious what other people would feel looking at me (and yes, I know they reject many more-than-qualified students, I’m taking this with a grain of salt, I’m just really interested in learning the other perspectives people might have on this).
I’ve put down undecided on my applications, but emphasized I plan on studying some sort of social science or government and law.
TESTS:
-1410 on the SAT, with a 6 of 8 for all parts on the new essay section. 650 on math (I’m not bad at math, but it’s not my strong point) and 760 on English/Reading (definitely my strength). I took it twice, but improved everywhere the second time, so this isn’t superscored.
-No AP tests at the moment, I first got the opportunity to take them this year, but I expect I’ll at least pass all 3 I’m supposed to take this May (Gov, Psych, and Spanish).
GPA/GRADES/ACADEMICS:
-My full GPA is unknown because I transferred high schools and my first one didn’t use them, but The GPA from my second school (Junior and Senior year) is a 4.056. Looking at some online calculators, it seems my full GPA is around a 3.8, but this changes with different websites I use so I’m not entirely sure (This is weighted, I have absolutely no clue what my unweighted would be).
-My grades dipped in my Sophomore year because I was dealing with a lot of harassment at school and home, to the point I was afraid to go to school for my safety and I was trying to contact Child Protective Services. Don’t mean to be depressing or anything though! I just mention it because it definitely made my grades then inaccurate of what I usually can do, I know schools care about that but I’m not sure how much they take special circumstances into consideration.
-I also got to take 1 Dual Enrollment course at a local community college my senior year. I ended taking Sociology 101 and got an A-, but I don’t know how that works with my GPA.
-I didn’t get the opportunity to take honors classes until Sophomore year, and didn’t have an opportunity to take AP/college classes until this year, unfortunately. Whenever I have gotten the chance to take these classes, though, I’ve made sure to take full advantage of it.
-I’m yet to be given an exact class rank since I’ve been at my current school for less than 2 years, but I’ve been told by counselors I’m in the top 10% out of around 300.
EXTRACURRICULARS:
Important ones are-
-Helped found 2 high school ultimate frisbee teams in 4 years, 1 at each school I’ve attended. It’s a passion of mine and since it’s such a underrepresented sport I always try to give others the opportunity to play and learn it. Was named captain this year, was runner up in the state tournament my Sophomore year, and was ranked 9th best team in the state that year (Our first season playing other teams too!).
-Invited to American Legion Boys’ State. This is a pretty selective Legion program where ~200 Juniors are invited to spend a week living on a college campus over the summer, running an in-depth mock state government and looking at solving current problems different parts of the state face.
-American Legion Oratorical Contest. Contest on giving educational speeches on parts of the Constitution. Was the first person ever from my hometown to do it, and was awarded an honorable mention at the county contest.
-Helped found/establish several new programs and groups aimed at fixing the problems in the local community. This includes volunteering at a new after-school program for at-risk middle schoolers, helping start a town-wide initiative to promote kindness and wellbeing, working with schools, emergency services, and small businesses, and volunteering as a mentor in a local program aimed at promoting healthy self-esteem and decision making in intermediate students (local surveys found those were 2 really big issues younger kids here felt unequipped to deal with and were impacting them the most, and this program was formed in response).
-Work and family responsibilities. Have worked part-time in a grocery store and for a photographer to help pay bills and pay for some necessities, and have been taking care of a family member recently after they had emergency open-heart surgery. Also tried to provide emotional care for younger siblings (broken home and all), but no longer am able to since we live with different people.
Minor ones are-
-football team manager as a Freshman
-Member of the community service club as a Sophomore
-Tried to help start a philosophy club as a Sophomore, but it closed to to lack of members
-Intramural kickball club member as a junior and senior
-Various volunteer activities, including helping local girl scouts, working in the guidance office here, and working at a senior center for the day with other groups I’ve been in
HOOKS & SUCH:
-Super passionate about frisbee, it’s an uncommon sport to begin with and founding 2 teams will stick out, at least I think.
-Taken many leadership roles in the community to fix the numerous problems we have, creating new ideas and programs when necessary.
-Very passionate politics/government besides leadership roles, I always am trying to learn more about how it works and how policymaking and problem solving go together.
Overall, I do a lot of work and have a lot of interest in using leadership and creativity to improve communities, on a small and big level, in a lot of different ways.
INTERVIEW:
Went incredibly well! The interviewer made a point to comment that he found some of my answers very surprising and unique, and that he’d never been given responses like that. When I was asking questions, he also made a point to comment that a lot of them were very unexpected and more thought-provoking than he was used to, and needed to take his time to think through his answer first for a few.
PROFILE:
White male, 2nd Gen. living in America, very poor background (On free lunch, but even then I’m poor compared to other free lunch kids haha), from the poor area of CT, a small, mainly mid-upper class state. Public school my entire life. Not technically 1st in family to go to college, but my only parent dropped out due to personal problems after a year and only went to community college decades later, and I have no idea about grandparents.
Thanks!