My ultimate goal at the end of high school is to get into Stanford. I’m currently a freshman and take Honors geometry, honors English, Spanish 1, honors bio. For my sophomore year I’m taking honors Chem, honors algebra 2, honors English, Spanish 2, and Ap world history. My junior year schedule is Ap Comp, Ap Us history, Ap Calc BC, Ap Biology, and Ap Computer Science. Senior year I’m taking Ap lit, Ap Econ macro, Ap chemistry, Ap Stats and Ap physics C. Is there anything I can do from an academic stand point to improve my chances? I currently play basketball and don’t do any extra/co curricular activities other than that. What changes should I make to improve my schedule and what else should I do to improve my application.
Any elite institution, Stanford included, will look at you holistically. What that means is they look for things like leadership in ECs, community service, responsibility, passion – not simply “well-rounded” as much as committed, so one’s resume should not look like a joiner of EVERY club as much as a leader of SOME. Naturally, your standardized tests, GPA, recommendations and essays must be stellar to even compete. The reality is, Stanford COULD fill their class every year with only valedictorians, so grades/tests are really only a start.
Here’s the rub: You can check off every box above and your chances are still slim. Everyone’s are. You might simply be the wrong race or hail from the wrong geography. Perhaps you didn’t overcome any special hardship. Or have no interesting story to tell. Some of it is out of your control.
I advise, if you want to be interesting to Stanford, live an interesting life. Become interesting. Then, after that, all you can really do is excel within the parameters of your high school reality, follow your passions and contribute immensely to everything you involve yourself in. And you might get lucky. So, good luck.
@ShouldBeWorking 's advice is very good. While your proposed schedule does look very challenging, it is also very important to focus on what you do outside of school. If you’re aiming for schools at the caliber of Stanford, then academic rigor and GPA/SAT/ACT are merely barriers to entry - everyone has great stats and really hard classes. You have to differentiate yourself - show them that you are a person awesome enough for Stanford to want you, and do incredible things (that you are interested in - lack of interest will shine through in your app).