<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I am an international student and incoming Stanford freshman. I hope my advice below is useful.</p>
<p>Lagging is right in saying that if the people (including me) who thought that they would not get in didn’t even bother trying, then many of the incoming class would not be attending. Other than your SAT scores, I believe that you have impressive grades and ECs. Therefore, I encourage you to apply. </p>
<p>Be that as it may, you must also understand that the application process for internationals is extremely extremely competitive. Therefore, you need to ensure that no aspect of your application will pull you back too severely, and that the best part of your application can shine and make the admission officers notice you. </p>
<p>Currently, the worst part of your application seems to be your SAT scores. You should retake it again and try your best to get a higher score. Generally, international students should aim for 2250 and above, so that they are among the top 25% of the applicants in terms of SAT scores. However, you should also consider the scores of your peers. If you come from a country with weaker English background, then a lower SAT score is okay, as long as you are among the top in your country. If you come from a country where many people get 2400, a higher SAT score MIGHT be better (though 2250 is seriously already enough). </p>
<p>Then, you need to make yourself shine. To do that, you need to spend a lot of time on your essays. From the essay questions, you can tell that Stanford is one of the schools that really want to know more about you through your essays, and you should utilise this platform to show as much as possible your personality, passions, dreams and aspirations. Talk about what you did, what you enjoyed, what difficulties you encountered and overcame, what impacted and changed you, and how that affects what you want to achieve. Show your humour, optimism, determination, anything. Basically, make it so real so that the reader will see not merely a character, but a true individual that he or she can see and touch. To do so, you need to spend a lot of time thinking deeply back on your entire life and examining all the things, grand or minute, that you did. If you can do so, if you can show that you understand yourself and have used every possible opportunity to chalenge and improve yourself, then I believe that you have a high chance to succeed. </p>
<p>Good luck! Even if you don’t get in in the end, that’s okay. What matters is the effort that you have put in. As an (loosely quoted) ancient Chinese proverb goes, “We leave it to ourselves to do everything possible to achieve something, but we leave it to the heavens to decide the outcome.” I hope that you can view this whole process more as a soul-searching experience will ultimately allow you to know more about yourself more than anything else. </p>
<p>Wish you all the best!</p>