Should I even apply to Stanford?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hello, I’m a junior with anxiety. I was just wondering if I should even waste $80 and apply to Stanford (my dream school), or just use that money to buy a nice pair of sneakers or something lol.

State: Ohio
School: Top public
Race: African American and Asian American (Blasian)
Gender: XY
Class: 2018 (I’m a junior right now)
GPA: 3.97 W and 3.71 UW (freshmen + sophomore years, junior is yet to be determined)
ACT: 26 w/o writing, took it as a practice with little prep my sophomore year. Plan on retaking for sure until 32+.
Subject test: Math 2 - 700 (took my sophomore year and plan on retaking this year for 750+), US History - 720
AP: AP US History (4)
Past class load: 6 honors and 1 AP - combined freshmen and sophomore years
Junior class load:

AP Calc BC
AP Physics 1
AP Economics
AP English 11
Spanish IV
Electives

Senior class load plan: 5-6 AP’s
Awards: Salute to excellence - Award for high achieving african americans, Ron Brown GPS program, Scholar athlete, honor roll (generic awards as of now, nothing big.)

EC:

In school

Basketball - lettered sophomore year, won division 1 districts, really big part of my life
Track - lettered sophomore year, won division 1 districts
African American Culture Club - Co founder and Vice President
Diversity Acceptance Program - Vice president
Young Conservatives - Vice President
Youth For Christ - Vice President
Freshmen Mentoring Program
S.P.L.A.S.H - Selective program for leaders in my school

National Honors Society - Planning on doing this year
STEM Club - Planning on starting this in my school
Diversity Programs - Planning on doing this school year

Out of School

Junior Ambassadors - Volunteered 109 hours at Cleveland Clinic main campus - last summer, plan on continuing
Research Assistant - Assisted post doc at Case Western Reserve’s biomedical engineering lab - last summer, plan on continuing
Student Board for DifferentLikeYou.com - website for kids with disabilities - year round
Interned at Artificial Intelligence Laboratories - Firm based in San Francisco - last summer, plan on continuing
Lifeguard - last summer
Member of City Council of Cleveland - year round
Youth Pastor for church - 100 hours - year round
Volunteering for key club, camps, etc. ~ 35 hours - year round

E2@MIT - Planning on doing next summer
Internship at Diversity Center - Planning on doing next summer

I obviously plan on doing more activities, getting more awards, and increasing my scores next year. These are all just as of now. Should I even apply? If I should, could anyone give me some tips on what to work on this upcoming year? What are the pros and cons of my application, and what could I do to increase my chance at Stanford or schools of that caliber.

Thank you so much
-A struggling student

2

You’ll need much higher test scores to get into Stanford…probably a 34+ on ACT. Even with that it’s a reach

3

@NeilMo Thanks for the feedback. Yeah ik it’s basically a reach for everyone lol. Do you have any other suggestions in things I should improve on?

4

You have a lot of APs in your schedule. That’s good, but only if you do well in them!! I agree your standardized test scores need to be higher but you should definitely apply to the schools you want, even if they’re reaches. Plan carefully, work hard and good luck!!!

5

Your GPA should be higher as well for a school like Stanford. They have so many perfect applicants each year, so focus on getting your GPA up.

6

@lilgag711 Yeah I will definitely work my butt off this year, and yeah those test scores are killing me right now. Thank you! Good luck at whatever you’re doing also.

@yonceonhismouth Yeah IK :confused: this GPA is killing me right now. Will Stanford look past my GPA or just not even consider me?

7

Stanford is holistic, so they will read your entire application, but your chances of admission are slim.

From Stanford’s common data set:
94.51% of applicants have a GPA of 3.75 or higher, while only 4.01% have a GPA between 3.5 and 3.74
.91% of applicants have a GPA of 3.25-3.49, and .58 of applicants have a GPA 3.00-3.24.

As you can see, the majority of successful applicants have a GPA of over 3.75.

8

Upping the GPA would help…getting into Stanford is very hard. You have to be great at something. A recruited athlete, done major research, placed top 10 at national competitions (DECA, FBLA, ISEF, etc). There is no guaranteed formula to get in but I would generally say that most people stand out at something. My guess is that your Essay’s are your best chance to stand out. Everybody applying there has extremely good grades, test scores, and filler activities. I would apply there if you get your test scores up…but I would keep some safety schools in mind

Note: personal antecedent…my mother’s friend got into Stanford in the 1980’s…however she was the state-champion golfer from Hawaii

9

@yonceonhismouth Interesting. Are those statistics for unweighted GPA or Weighted GPA? Thanks for info

@NeilMo Yeah I agree it would indeed help. I’ll try my best to up GPA and test scores. I feel I could stand out by my accomplishments in sports, diversity, and science. I feel I can write a very good essay too because I’m just naturally funny. My teacher Recs will be good because my guidance counselor loves me. Anything else you suggest I’m lacking?

10

I believe unweighted (out of a 4.0 scale)

11

@yonceonhismouth wow so people got into Stanford with actually a 3.0-2.4 gpa

12

3.0-3.24*

13

Don’t get too excited. Those people (or that 1 person) probably discovered a cure to something or is very well known nationally/internationally.

14

@RiceFarmer Yeah Ik even my GPA is greater than theirs, but it shows that there is really no minimum gpa for Stanford.

15

I wasn’t posting it to show that- the majority (over 90%) of applicants have a near-perfect GPA. The miniscule amount of people who have lower GPAs are athletes or have done something incredible. For an average unhooked applicant, a GPA that low would disqualify you.

16

@yonceonhismouth Yeah ik, but you can also take away something else. They will look over GPA if you do something awesome, that’s why I love the holistic approach. Athletes don’t go through the admissions process at Stanford since it’s a Div 1 school, they just get recruited. Define a “hook?”

17

But athletes GPA’s are still reflected in the common data set.
A hook is being a URM, legacy, etc.

A school like Stanford would only overlook a very low GPA if you do something unbelievable, like be an Olympian or publish original research that marks a serious progression in that field, you founded a non-profit on your own and it’s done a lot of incredible work, etc.

18

@yonceonhismouth Hmm I see, I guess my only hook rn is URM

19

bump