Predictions for Stanford SCEA!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>Hey guys! I just submitted my Stanford application yesterday night, and I was wondering if anyone wanted to not so much chance me anymore, but predict what kind of notification I'd get in December. My application has been a bit controversial and borderline, most likely due to my test scores, and I'm interested in seeing my results. Be brutal with your responses; if it's going to hurt, why not now rather than 2 months later? :)</p>

<p>RememberMe1990 will be _________.</p>

<p>A) Accepted!
B) Defered!
C) Rejected!</p>

<p>Here's what I put on the Common Application...</p>

<p>:::Profile:::
Asian American
Male
Maryland
Decent Public School (Sends 2 or 3 to elite schools every year, ranked top 10 in the state)
Will Apply for Financial Aid</p>

<p>:::Listed Majors:::</p>

<p>Biology
Biomedical Sciences
Engineering</p>

<p>:::Academics (Gross... :D):::</p>

<p>Unweighted GPA: 4.0 out of 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.78 out of 5
Class Rank: 1 out of 354 students (shared with 0)</p>

<p>SAT I: Verbal: 710 Math: 770 Writing: 700
SAT II: Biology E 740 Math IIC 800 US History 720<br>
ACT: 33 (34 E, 34 M, 32 R, 30 S)</p>

<p>:::Extracurriculars (Activity - Position/Honors/Recognition):::</p>

<p>Teen Representative - Appointed representative on local district board - 4 Hrs/40 Wks
National Art Honor Society - Founder, President - 2 Hrs/30 Wks
Gifted and Talented Art Program - All-county class - 6 Hrs/15 Wks
Piano - National Guild Member, High School Recognition - 6 Hrs/40 Wks
Soccer - Team Captain - 5 Hrs/40 Wks
Johns Hopkins Robotics Challenge - Certificate of Outstanding Achievement - 3 Hrs/7 Wks
Amnesty International - Treasurer - 2 Hrs/30 Wks</p>

<p>:::Work Experience:::</p>

<p>U.S. Department of Agriculture - Interning to study genetics of plants
NASA - Image-based wavefront sensing with FFT's
Taco Grande - Cashier </p>

<p>:::Academic Awards:::
National Merit Semi-Finalist
Rensselaer Medal w/ $60,000 Scholarship
Washington Post Top Achievers
AP Scholar with Distinction
Outstanding Achievement in JHU Robotics
Student of the Month
National Honor Society
Spanish National Honor Society</p>

<p>:::Additional Information (Activity / Award Clarifications):::</p>

<p>Teen Representative (11th, 12th)
- Appointed teen member on the local district council called the Village Board. Serving as a liaison for high school students during Board meetings. Planned and hosted community events with two other Teen Reps and advises the board on ideas concerning the welfare of teens in the neighborhood. </p>

<p>Amnesty International (11th, 12th)
- Designated Treasurer. Founded in 2006, AI promotes awareness of humanitarian issues. Projects include: making of armbands for the Jena 6 protest, hosting of a coffeehouse to raise donations, sponsoring of an open debate night, etc.</p>

<p>Washington Post Top Achievers (9th, 10th, 11th)
- Recognized as one of the top achievers in high schools in the state. </p>

<p>Howard County Gifted and Talented Art Program (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th)
– County visual arts Saturday program. Students are nominated by art teachers and have portfolios critiqued by a board of evaluators before enrollment. All completed artwork in the class is displayed at the county’s Department of Education gallery at the end of the academic year. </p>

<p>National Art Honor Society (11th, 12th)
– Founder and President. Projects include: hosting of an art gallery with a coffeehouse, painting of creative art panels for the local kindergarten, etc.</p>

<p>Piano (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th)
– Eight years of study with a National Guild member certificate in the Collegiate Preparatory B class, and an A on the High School Recognition Advanced I test.</p>

<p>NASA National Space Club Scholars Program (Summer 2007)
– A 6-week intern program for 30 students. Participants are assigned to work with a professional in a field related to the student's stated interests and expertise. Studied the design for the new James Webb Space Telescope’s image-based wavefront sensing and ran tests on a digital signaling processor in the Applied Engineering and Technology Directorate.</p>

<p>U.S. Department of Agriculture Internship (12th)
– Studying gene expressions of Theobroma cacao trees. Searching and comparing DNA primers coding resistance to Witches’ Broom and Frosty pod fungal infections through PCR and a web-based primer selection program.</p>

<p>Rensselaer Medal
– Given to one student of the junior class for excellence in mathematics and science. </p>

<p>Johns Hopkins Robotics Challenge team (10th, 11th)
– Constructed and programmed a Boe-Bot which uses infrared sensors to maneuver a course and distinguish specific targets on the ground. Received an award of Outstanding Achievement.</p>

<p>Soccer (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th)
- Played 6 years of recreational league, 2 years of pick-up on Saturdays, and 1 year of indoor.</p>

<p>:::Essays:::</p>

<p>Main Essay
Hopefully pretty good! Adjectives that others have described it as are: "really good", "great", "captivating", "Ivy-caliber", "amazing", "capturing", "One of the best I've ever read", "revealing", and "truly you". It's about insects...if anyone wants to read it, PM me. I spent over 40 hours on it :D</p>

<p>Supplemental 1 (Intellectual Vitality)
I wrote a descriptive essay on how I love to read Discover Magazine and how it's sometimes a way I relax in the afternoons. I discussed my thoughts on the primordial soup theory and developed that into questions about the possibilities of algorithmic hiearchies in artificial intelligence. </p>

<p>Supplemental 2 (Letter to Roommate)
Basically, this was a somewhat sloppy letter I put together, which really reveals my regular diction. I use some words like "dude" and stuff, and I shared some of my favorite ways to chill during the school year: going to the school football games with friends and rocking school spirit and watching movies and stuff. I was just trying to be myself. </p>

<p>Supplemental 3 (Why Stanford)
I liked this one a lot. I talked about my desire to go to the West coast and experience a culture I've never experienced before. Then I talk about my interest in biology and some things that characterize Stanford. I conclude with talking about wanting to enjoy whatever I do and having a good time. I also made sure they knew that Stanford is undoubtedly my ideal school haha. </p>

<p>:::Supplemental Information:::
I tried to be brutally honest with every response I gave. It came from my heart, and if they don't like it, I guess I don't belong at Stanford anyway...</p>

<p>:::Teacher Recommendations:::</p>

<p>Guidance Counselor
I didn't get to see it, of course. But, I heard from other guidance officers who had helped my guidance counselor proofread it that it is "really a nice recommendation". </p>

<p>Teacher 1: Biology
This was an outstanding recommendation. She had written about my leadership during classroom discussions and my ability to achieve. Most checkmarks were in Top 5% and a few were in "Best in my career", in fields such as Productive class discussions and Integrity. </p>

<p>Teacher 2: Intern/Mentor
This class is a self study course where I get to choose which subject I want to pursue. I'm researching bioengineering and plant genetics, and Stanford said I could provide a recommendation from this subject's teacher. It ended up being average and very generic, basically only going over my extracurriculars and recommending me enthusiastically. Everything was Top 5%.</p>

<p>(Yes, I did sign the waiver on my Teacher Recommendations. Both teachers opted to show me their recommendations nonetheless...Don't give me those raised eyebrows! :D)</p>

<p>Optional Recommendation: Teen Representative Board Member
I serve a leadership position in my community called the Teen Rep. My Board Manager said she'd love to write me a recommendation. In the letter it talks about my definitive leadership abilities and my penchant for working with others. She talks about some of the community events I've planned and hosted and said I've produced the best results in 5 years. I'd say it's really an embarassingly outstanding rec.</p>

<p>Um...I think that's it. Thanks for reading! I have a tendency to write incredibly long posts so I'm sorry if I wasted your time.... </p>

<p>By the way, any response will please me; I'm interested in what you think. Let the games begin.</p>

<p>:D</p>

2

<p>(Note: this tread es un poco selfish and unnecessary)
w/that being said:
B. Deffered - 60%
A. Accepted - 35%
C. Rejected - 5%</p>

3

<p>Thank you! I'm sorry if this thread seems a bit selfish to you but I'm looking for predictions because feedback I've gotten in the past has said that I have moderate chances, and personally, I don't understand the logic to that because I've never seen a case of anyone admitted with my SAT score....</p>

<p>That's why I was just a bit curious to see what people think my outcome will be. Do CC'ers truly believe that test scores won't necessarily decide one's application? Can extracurriculars and recommendations actually best numerical data? Today, after browsing 2006 outcomes, I've noticed that hardly anyone gets admitted SCEA with under a 2300 SAT. The reason why I find my case interesting and bring it up repeatedly is because I don't have solid test scores and I'm really not sure that other things can make up for that, but apparently some people do...</p>

<p>With that being said, I'm gathering opinions and I plan to bring this topic back for discussion in December. I want to compare what CC'ers said and what the results were, and see if there's any tendency to misrepresent.</p>

4

<p>Stanford, if you noticed, has the lowest 25/75 test scores... partly because they don't always look for an academic passion. So don't worry about your scores!</p>

<p>Where is the link for the 2006 outcomes?</p>

5

<p>Here ya go...I'd be a little wary when browsing though because the results tend to be skewed I guess. Most people who are defered/rejected tend not to post their new status whereas people who are accepted are motivated to tell the world ;)</p>

<p><a href="http://www.hypothetic.org/ccstanford/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.hypothetic.org/ccstanford/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>That's the Wiki for Stanford admission results. Anyone can go in and edit anyone else's data though so look at the holistic outcome, not a specific case so much.</p>

<p><a href="https://www.collegedata.com/cs/admissions/admissions_tracker_result.jhtml?method=submit&previousPageSection=page_admissions_tracker&collegeName=stanford&classYear=%5B/url%5D"&gt;https://www.collegedata.com/cs/admissions/admissions_tracker_result.jhtml?method=submit&previousPageSection=page_admissions_tracker&collegeName=stanford&classYear=&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>This is the CollegeData overview of the Class of 2011's statistics. As you can see, the results are again skewed but effectively show which types of test scores and class ranks are standard for admission.</p>

6

<p>I don't think anyone is misrepresenting anything, it's just that many respondents are students or fellow applicants, and have only a partial sense of the factors considered and how applicants with different profiles are assessed, because it's different for different applicant profiles.</p>

<p>In addition, the admissions process is really subjective, and looks at many things. There are some themes that are somewhat predictive in the aggregate, but no one can accurately predict whether a specific person will be in our out at the top colleges. </p>

<p>That's why it's so important to apply to a good mix of colleges, to be realistic, and NOT to fall in love with any college until AFTER you are admitted!</p>

7

<p>'...and NOT to fall in love with any college until AFTER you are admitted!"</p>

<p>Haha, too true! :(</p>

8

<p>Haha, the funny part is, unless people actually know anything about genetics/DNA sequencing, they wouldn't be able to figure out how basic your internship really was. PCR/sequencing is just grunt work. On the other hand, you have some decent ECs, but you're Asian. Even though you're valedictorian, your SATs are bad. You seem too stereotypical to me. You're pretty accomplished, don't get me wrong, but what you have done is extremely diversified and lacks focus. It seems more like you've tested the waters in multiple disciplines rather than harnessing your talent in just one or two. You're a reject at Stanford, but there are plenty of other great colleges that will accept you in a snap, so don't worry.</p>

9

<p>A fair criticism...</p>

<p>But I have to disagree with the comment about my internship. That's what I briefly mentioned in my additional info, using PCR and sequencing that is, but I'm working on more than pure busywork. I just started this year, so yeah it would be a lie to say that I have some magnificent project ready to get me into college. It's too bad I didn't start earlier but honestly I think my internship is more about my first experience in the lab environment anyway. I'm really against the whole idea of doing something great just to impress admission officers and I don't have much more to say than that. Here's what I have, what I enjoy, and if it seems too "random" and deserving of a rejection, so be it heh.</p>

<p>So, one deferral and one rejection. Anyone else?</p>

10

<p>I'd say deferred, though that's just my guess. =)</p>

11

<p>I think you are in</p>

12

<p>I would have to read your essays before I can make a judgment. Can you PM them to me?</p>

13

<p>I think you would be deferred. Your SAT is fine for Stanford, I think they don't care for numbers as much as other school. But I can't place you by looking at your ECs. Are you an artistic kid or a science kid or a artistic science kid? Anyway, if there is a theme that ties all of your ECs together that would be better. I think your ECs put you as well rounded student with sport, art, science, etc.. I think school wants a well rounded student body and not kid.</p>

14

<p>
[quote]
I can't place you by looking at your ECs. Are you an artistic kid or a science kid or a artistic science kid? Anyway, if there is a theme that ties all of your ECs together that would be better.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Well, 99cents, luckily for most applicants, you are not the director of admissions.</p>

<p>There's absolutely nothing wrong with having more than 1 interest in life. The key is to be GOOD at something. If you are good at more than one thing -- kudos to you!</p>

<p>There are tons of accepted students who are great at math or science, but are also excellent musicians/dancers/writers/artists. Believe me, it does not hurt them in the admissions process. You don't have to be "well rounded", but you don't have to have your life all figured out by HS senior year either.</p>

<p>This kid sounds alive, engaged and excited about what he is doing. That's more than can be said about 80% of the posters here. And that is what it takes to get in (in addition to scores and grades, which he has)</p>

15

<p>He asked for opinions and that is my opinion. He did not say only Adcom's opinions are welcome. So please get off your high horse. Read his post, he said to be brutal.</p>

16

<p>Sorry to steal your thread Rememberme, but when you applied SCEA did you get any recognition from Stanford they received your application?</p>

17

<p>From Stanford personally, no I didn't. I did see both my Main Common Application and Supplement marked as "Downloaded" though. Have you checked that?</p>

18

<p>Hey RememberMe1990, could you send me a copy of your 'magnificent' essay? Please, It'd be a bunch of help :D</p>

<p>Anyways, I think that you should provide more info. AP scores? SAT II scores?
What are you really passionate about? What is it that sets YOU apart from other high scoring dinosaurs?</p>

<p>Anyways...
B. 45%
C. 35%
A. 20%</p>

19

<p>Yes, that's all I got (the downloaded app and supplement, not payment status though). No pin number or anything like some other colleges are doing.</p>

20

<p>My payment status is marked as "submitted" and I think Stanford isn't doing the whole PIN number procedure yet, seeing as they just switched to Common App this year. So don't worry about it; I'm sure that's how everyone's status is.</p>