Please. Be brutally honest as you can.

Colleges & Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>Please. Do I even have a chance for Stanford? I don't really feel like trying. </p>

<p>Asian American (Chinese) Male, single parent, low income (15~25K)</p>

<p>Goes to semi-competetive public school, API is like 810? (I think there were two people who went to Ivies last year, some Berkeley and LA people too)</p>

<p>10-11th weighted GPA: 4.0 (Includes summer classes at CC)
10th-11th unweighted: 3.68
9th-11th unweighted:3.56
Class rank: Around 112 / 600 (our district doesn't weigh GPA's for class rank)</p>

<p>Grades:
9th Grade:
Algebra 1: A+/A+
Spanish 1: A/A-
Integrated Science(Forced to take this class due to the stupid school)A/B+
P.E(Just for reference): A/A
English 1 Honors: C+/B
Intro to Computer Science: B/C+</p>

<p>10th Grade:
Geometry: A/A-
Biology: A-/A-
AP World History: B/A
English 2 Honors: B+/A-
Spanish 2: A-/B+
P.E: A/A-</p>

<p>11th Grade:
Chemistry: A+/A
Algebra 2: A+/A
U.S History: A/A
A.P Computer Science A: B+/A-
A.P English Lang / Comp: B-/B
Spanish 3: B+/A-</p>

<p>Summer classes at CC:
Introduction to Business: B (missed one week of class)
Trigonometry: A
Pre-Calculus Algebra: A</p>

<p>Courses this year:
AP Physics B
AP Calculus AB
AP Government/Regular Econ (One semester of each)
English 4
Choir 1
Planning on taking Calculus 2 at CC during spring</p>

<p>AP Scores:
AP World History: 5
AP Computer Science: 4
AP English: 4</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests:
Chinese: 800
Math II: 780
Chemistry: 740
World History: 700
Biology M: 620</p>

<p>ACT:
Composite: 33
English: 33
Math: 35
Reading: 33
Science: 30
Essay: 11</p>

<p>PSAT: 63 R/ 73 M/ 64 W 200 Total(96 percentile)</p>

<p>Award(s):
National Merit Commendation
AP Scholar</p>

<p>Spent 5 years in Taiwan at a regular public school. I wrote about this in my essay, and I truly believe that this has changed me a lot due to the exposure to an ultra-competitive Asian school culture(again, wrote about in essay).</p>

<p>Extracirricular:
Chinese Club (one of the founders): 9th/10th grades
CSF: 11th and 12th grades
Key Club: 11th and 12th grades
Church tutoring helper: 10th grade
Church GK (youth leader): 12th grade
NYLF Tech Forum: Summer after 10th grade
Piano (5 years, never had time to take CM examinations though). Despite the fact that I have never won any awards or sorts, I believe that I do have a pretty big passion for piano (write about in 2nd essay and explained why I didn't play piano for a longer time due to many circumstances)
Game Development Club - officer: 12th grade</p>

<p>Works for uncle's company unofficially (computer accesories compnay), does translation and grammatical checking (his company is based in Taiwan)</p>

<p>Do I have any hope if I crank out some truly spectacular essays? Or are my crappy ECs and grades eliminate all chances?</p>

2

<p>Your grades are low, your class rank is low, your ECs are nothing special, and being Asian does not help. I really doubt you have a realistic chance…</p>

3

<p>Low chances because your school is not competitive and your ECs are not outstanding.</p>

4

<p>Haha, thanks for the (dis)encouragement. Supposedly though, our school got some silver award from U.S News for being in the top 1600? I dunno. </p>

<p>Just curious, do any of you guys know anyone who got into Stanford with stats similar or marginally better then me, but wrote REALLY good essays?</p>

5

<p>apply to brown! i think you could get in.</p>

<p>as for stanford, i have to say that i think the chance is slim</p>

6

<p>realistically, hope for berkeley, you have a pretty good shot there.</p>

7

<p>Stanford: REJECT</p>

8

<p>I think you should try. Otherwise, you’ll always wonder!</p>

9

<p>“Haha, thanks for the (dis)encouragement. Supposedly though, our school got some silver award from U.S News for being in the top 1600? I dunno.”</p>

<p>^ My school was in the top 100 I think, and someone with your stats would still have a very slim chance… sorry =\ though of course if you’d really like to go there’s no harm in trying.</p>

10

<p>You said be honest so here goes:</p>

<p>Your scores are below average and the rank is not impressive. EC’s will not stand out. You have very few awards, and most everyone who applys to Stanford has those two.<br>
Overall, unless your answers to the questions, your essays, and your recommendations are truly outstanding, I would say a rejection.</p>

11

<p>very slim chance bro</p>

12

<p>I think the closer you are to Stanford, the more standout you have to be. Last year, I heard someone graduated from Lynbrook High school(top 100) as a valedictorian got rejected from Stanford. This person has the standard ECs,reasonable SAT.</p>

13

<p>my school is in the top 10, and only 2 people got in last year. you’re from CA, so try applying to all the other good schools there. good luck!</p>

14

<p>Haha thanks goblue10nis, Cal is my first choice (I’m applying to Stanford as a crapshoot + parental pressure). So would anyone have any good suggestions for good privates for engineering? Would a school be Cornell be possible?</p>

15

<p>mos def bro</p>

<p>I wouldn’t count on getting in though.</p>

16

<p>Since you live in California, you should think about Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. It is a wonderful engineering school in a very nice place. It is not easy to get into.</p>

<p>I think Stanford is a huge reach for you. They get many many applicants. Berkeley is also a reach since you would be applying to the Engineering School and it is notoriously difficult to get into. San Diego, Davis, and UCLA are all good schools as well and maybe a bit easier to get into than Berkeley.</p>

<p>As for private schools, how about Bucknell, Carnegie Mellon, or RPI? These are all good schools worth thinking about.</p>

17

<p>Hey,
for Cal, I applied under Letters and Science Computer Science (easier to get in, haha). I applied to Cal, LA, SD, Davis, Irvine, and SLO, so I’ve got my bases covered. ;)</p>

<p>I will think about Carnegie Mellon. They seem to have a very strong CS program. :D</p>

18

<p>It doesn’t matter if your school isn’t highly ranked. Although most colleges are trying to do a better job of bringing in lower income students, I don’t know how far along Stanford is or what their parameters are.</p>

<p>It doesn’t hurt to apply, unless you need a fee waiver, which may be a hassle. But barring that, if you like it, it’s worth a try. If you are neutral, you may want to weigh the cost/benefit.</p>

19

<p>Um… I have two little questions about admissions:

  1. Does Stanford look at 1st semester of senior year? I am planning to get a 4.0 UW w/ AP Physics B, AP Calc AB, and AP Government (along w/ two not-so-relevant courses).
  2. I have a cousin-in-law who graduated from Stanford grad school. Should I list her on the relatives who went to Stanford part, and will this affect my admissions in any way?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

20

<p>Unless it’s a direct family link, that being parents, siblings, or grandparents, alumni relations don’t count. Cousin-in-law would be really pushing it (I doubt you’d be able to even put it on, tbh)</p>