Stats:
SAT I: 2120 (superscore), 2070 (one sitting)
ACT: 34 (English 35, Math 35, Reading 34, Science 31)
GPA: 3.926 out of 4.000 I honestly messed up real bad my junior year…
Freshman year: 4.477, Sophomore year: around a 4.000, Junior year: around a 3.5 (yes I know my GPA plummeted, yes it is completely my fault), Senior year: right now it’s around a 4.200
Rank/percentile: Top 20%
Extracurriculars:
Varsity Golf for 1 year
Varsity Lacrosse for 3 years (captain junior year)
Student volunteer at local hospital for 3 years (orthopedics dept and PACU)
Local youth symphony orchestra for 3 years (first violin)
Chamber quartet for 2 years (1st violin)
Latin club for 3 years
National Latin Exam award winner for 3 years
National Latin Honor Society for 3 years
National Honors Society for 2 years (private one on one math tutor starting senior year)
FBLA Secretary
All-school mass instrumentalist, member of orch pit for school plays and musicals
High honors awards (school)
Internship/work experience
Over the summer, I interned at a a plastic surgeon’s office in another country. Got a very enriching experience about hospitality and the health care profession, in which I hope to have a career (orthodontist).
I also taught english to middle schoolers while I was in another country this summer
Essays: common app is solid, haven’t started supplement
Teacher Rec (2): both pretty good
Counselor Rec: absolutely the best
Currently a senior at a medium sized private catholic school (VERY rigorous)
Transferred to another school in a different state my sophomore year
Fluent in two languages
Lived in 2 countries, 3 states
Minority female (asian), upper middle class
Out of state applicant
Categorized as an international student because I am not a citizen, although I have gone to school in the US since 1st grade. (No green card yet, but soon)
Thanks! Obviously Stanford is going to be really difficult, but I just wanted to know if I have any chance at all.
Also: Would Stanford care more about GPA or standardized test scores?
Stanford evaluates a lot of things and none of them stand on their own, so the answer to what they care most about is “it depends”.
In your case, you claim to go to a VERY rigorous school, but I don’t see any IB or AP or subject tests. You’re also not going to fare well with “pretty good” recommendations, and a “solid” essay means you could hold your own if everything else was up to snuff.
I see a violin player and a lacrosse player with no honors.
Courses I’ve taken: All honors freshman and sophomore year except chem and english 10 because classes were full, junior year I took AP macroeconomics, AP Bio, APUSH, Precalculus Honors, American Lit Honors. This year I’m taking AP Calc AB, AP Chem, AP Latin, AP Gov. Helpful enough?
My rec letters are exceptional esp my counselor’s because she knows me really well and my common app essay has been looked at by college professors and all i’ve gotten was positive messages and feedback.
I have many passions and dreams, I just didn’t mention them.
The GPA by itself isn’t so much the problem as the downward trend in your transcript. Your freshman GPA was higher than your Sophomore GPA, which was higher than your Junior GPA. This is not a good sign. However, that’s not to say you won’t get accepted. I guess it just depends on your essays and letters and such. Your ECs and tests scores are obviously there, but it’s the transcript more than the GPA that’s going to hurt you.
Anyone’s odds at Stanford are remote. Yours are more so because you are an international applicant. Asian is not a URM. Outside of the top 10% decreases your chances, and your SAT scores are below the 50% percentile for admitted applicants. So it’s an uphill climb, and you you would need to show something special in your application to overcome those issues. Is it impossible? No. But very unlikely.
