<p>I'm a junior in a public high school with a good record concerning Stanford; there's always one or two kids each year who get in. The schools I'm looking at are Stanford as a reach, UC Berkeley and UW Seattle as targets, and UO as a safety. I was wondering if I should apply to Stanford REA. My ECs aren't great, but I have good GPA and test scores. I know I can write an extraordinary essay, and I've heard that's important when applying to Stanford. The main reason why I think applying normally might help is I'm taking all AP classes next year, and first semester grades could give me a boost. My stats are:
GPA:
~3.9 unweighted
~4.2 weighted
Ranked 12 out of ~450
Test Scores:
2130 (720R, 800M, 610W)
2200 (740R, 690M, 770W)
(I'm waiting to get my ACT scores back, and I plan to take the SAT IIs in Spanish, Math 2, and either Chemistry or Biology)
Next years classes:
AP Calculus BC
AP Physics
AP Spanish (I'm white)
AP English Literature
AP Micro- or Macroeconomics
AP US Government
(possibly AP European or World History)
Previous (or current) APs:
AP Human Geography
AP US History
AP English Language
AP Calculus AB
AP Biology
AP Chemistry
ECs:
Taekwon-Do for 6 years
Active member of the BSA for 10+ years
NHS for 2 years (50+ hours so far)
So would it be better to put off applying until I get those first semester grades next year, or would I have a just as good or better chance with REA?</p>
<p>Grades aren’t the problem… Stanford REA is a reach for anyone.</p>
<p>I’m of the opinion that one should strategically apply EA. Like, no matter how much you love Harvard, you’re probably not going to get in so you should really apply EA to more of a lower reach/high match school.</p>