Rising Sophomore w/ Some Questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
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<p>Hey, I'm a rising sophomore and attend a relatively competitive public high school in CA. I know this is rather premature, but I was wondering if you people with Stanford admissions experience have any advice for me with regard to bettering my chances at being accepted to the university when the time comes.</p>

<p>Freshmen Year:</p>

<p>Adv. Orchestra: A+
Spanish IV (Honors): A+
AP Calculus AB: A+
Modern World History (Honors): A+
P.E.: A+
English II (Honors): A
Chemistry (Honors): A+
Physics (Honors): A+</p>

<p>Sophomore Year (expected):</p>

<p>AP Calculus BC
AP Biology
AP Physics B/C
(AP) Science Research
History (Honors)
English (Honors)
Spanish V-VI (Honors)
P.E.
Leadership</p>

<p>Some EC's:</p>

<p>Leadership:</p>

<p>Elected Freshmen Class President by 460 students 2007-2008
Elected Sophomore Class President by 460 students 2008-present
Appointed Math Club President by Mathematics Department 2007-present
One of only two student members selected to be on the School Site Council 2007-present
Elected to the city's Youth Advisory Council 2007-present</p>

<p>Mathematics:
Founder and President of school math club
Qualified for United States of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO) 2008
USAMO Index of 235.5
American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) I score of 9
AMC 10A score of 145.5/150
AMC 10A School Winner
AMC 10A National Distinction
First freshman in history of district to qualify for an Olympiad
Second person in history of district to qualify for an Olympiad
Selected by the Mathematics Department and the Science Department as the top student in the grade and received the CSF Honor Award in Mathematics 2008
Member of the highly competitive, San Francisco Bay Area ARML A Team 2008-present
Member of SFBA(A) Team that ranked 4th place inter/nationally (only 5 or 6 teams outside of the US) at the ARML contest</p>

<p>Speech, Debate, and Politics:</p>

<p>Selected by the High School History Department as the top student in the grade and received the CSF Honor Award in Social Studies 2008
Selected by the High School English Department as the top student in the grade and received the School CSF Honor Award in English 2008
Received an Honorable Mention award at the Stanford Model United Nations Conference 2007 - International Monetary Fund Executive Board
Received a Distinguished Delegate Award at the Davis Model United Nations Conference 2008- Security Council
Selected to represent the Surgeon General at Harvard Model Congress - San Francisco 2008 in the highest level committee, the Presidential Cabinet
One of the six students and only freshmen to be selected Attorney of the Mock Trial Team 2007-present (Also Co-Head Attorney)
Member of Model United Nations Club 2007-present
Member of Harvard Model Congress Club 2007-present</p>

<p>Athletics:</p>

<p>Member of Varsity Water Polo Team 2007-present
Member of Varsity Swim Team 2007-present
Qualified for the Peninsula Athletics League Finals in the 50 Breast, 100 Breast, 50 Free, and 100 Free
Awarded Most Valuable Player (MVP)
Member of Track and Field Team 2005-2007
Received Athletic Award for outstanding accomplishment on Track Team
Qualified for Northern California Finals in Shotput and Discus
Received 3rd Place for Discus at the Northern California Finals
Member of a competitive swim team 2000-2008</p>

<p>Music and Drama:</p>

<p>Violist in the Advanced Orchestra 2007-present
Acted in a major role in The Wizard of Oz 2007
Starred in the District’s musical production, Aladdin 2006</p>

<p>Volunteer/ Community Service:</p>

<p>Over 150 hours volunteering in libraries and tutoring socioeconomically disadvantaged children
Designed and executed a seven day program to educate orphans in rural villages in India</p>

<p>I would greatly appreaciate your feedback, thanks for your time!</p>

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<p>Just enjoy life!</p>

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<p>Whoa! If this is for real, and I think I'm well within my rights to doubt its validity, you obviously have a very strong chance. I'd tell you to keep it up and look into other schools with strong math and science programs along with Stanford; namely Harvard, MIT, Princeton and Caltech.</p>

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<p>Thank you for your feedback guys, and I guess its good for me if a Stanford student doubts the validity of my stats :)</p>

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<p>AP Physics B/C ? You take either B or C, not both. C is calculus based.
(AP) Science Research ? There is no such thing.</p>

<p>Aside from that, your ECs look good. Keep them up, focus on your courses, get good scores when the time comes, and come back here in 2 years - you shouldn't be thinking about college now.</p>

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<p>At my school my AP Physics class covers both AP Physics B and C and yes, I know C is calculus based. Furthermore, the class is called AP Science Research (0 period class that comes with an AP science class, not an AP though).</p>

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<p>Nice job man the only thing i got going for me is AA and a whole lot of luck.</p>

<p>I'm also a rising sophomore so i should start doing more college stuff. Just don't get into any addictions like crack or porn and your set.</p>

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<p>First of all, you should realize that your freshman grades won't be counted, so up to this point, academically speaking, you're still on a level playing field with everybody else.</p>

<p>Secondly, Jesus tapdancing Christ that's a lot of EC's...and after only your freshman year? Remember depth is just as important as breadth, and there's definitely diminishing returns to the # of EC's you have. Looking at that list makes me wonder just how much work you're putting into everything if you're able to do that much. Just some food for thought.</p>

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<p>Hmm...thanks for the advice, but trust me I put a lot of time in my EC's, for example, I made USAMO, which shows that I am dedicated to mathematics, as class president, I broke the record fund-raising amount, I've won awards at every single MUN, HMC conference I have attended, I am MVP of the sports I do, etc. I don't feel like I just do my ECs for the sake of doing them. Nonetheless, thanks for your advice.</p>

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<p>You made USAMO as a frosh? AND did all those other ECs?</p>

<p>If this is legit, which I doubt, you're perfect at life.</p>

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<p>dude I swear this is legit...I am being honest about my stats and just wanted some advice lol</p>

<p>and thanks, but no, I'm not perfect at life, there are enough things that I suck at...</p>

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<p>lolz Evan O'Dorney? oh nvm, he's got you beat :P.</p>

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<p>lol you go to a lucky high school...im guessing palo alto? since they have bunch of USAMO qualifiers every year and its right next to stanford...</p>

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<p>lacks passion. like too many kids on this forum. as good a chance as any i guess.</p>

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<p>@stupidkid: Lol, yeah Evan's a friend/ acquaintance of mine, and he owns me at every way possible in anything academic...far too smart for me anyday...</p>

<p>@blah1290: no, i go to a relatively average high school, I previously stated:
"First freshman in history of district to qualify for an Olympiad
Second person in history of district to qualify for an Olympiad"
so yeah, sadly i don't go to paly or gunn</p>

<p>@Chief56: I hear this "passion" term thrown around a lot on this forum, my question to you is, can one not demonstrate passion for a variety of things by excelling at all of them, or must one be restricted to one or two things to excel at to demonstrate "passion"?</p>

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<p>lol anyone that makes USAMO as a freshman shows passion at math...and with all those other ECs like model UN at harvard and those things at stanford...but i think he was joking?
didnt read about that second part about being second one...
@llpitch: umm lol...i know a freshman that made red MOP...there are plenty of good people out there...</p>

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<p>ok hows this, no life outside of school. when all ECs are school related it shows that weakness, whether it is true or not.</p>

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<p>umm true but geniuses or near geniuses get exceptions =)</p>

<p>but still ARML, thats not school (thats state or regional if you have a huge state like Cali), and i dont consider AMCs to be school (i mean over 400,000 people internationally take it)...and i dont think you can say Model UN is school...</p>

<p>if you say those are school related, then basically everything is school related...Key Club (volunteering in your community) would be because the club is school sponsored, </p>

<p>lets say your a Div. 1 football player, you have to say thats school related because you play football for high school...that doesnt deter top colleges from giving them full rides...or you are a top notch violin player...same diff...makes no difference than math (because the math he is doing is not related to school-most concepts even your high school teachers wont understand...it would be differnt if the math awards he was getting was only like 5s on calc BC and 800 on math IIs on the SAT)</p>

<p>so yea i do agree that you cant have everything academically related, but thats for a 2300+/4.0 GPA/no ecs/no awards (like people i actually know, or will get 2300+), i really dont consider him to fit that mold...otherwise its promoting people to purposely not get 2400s because otherwise colleges will see them as people with no life...</p>

<p>i dont know but i do have to say im biased...lol but thats my take on it.</p>

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<p>Thanks blah1290, also, I would like to point out that I do a considerable amount of volunteer work outside of school and am on a private swim team along with my high school's in addition to what blah1290 has already stated.</p>

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<p>^oh wait just out of curiousity, did you make Red MOP this year?</p>

<p>because i think thats very ++ for college admins...</p>