So since Stanford doesn’t count freshman year, I was thinking to apply since my sophomore year gpa is a 3.6w and with junior year it’ll be hopefully a 3.8w. I have 2 C’s though from Bio honors and Algebra 2 and Trig bc I got a concussion the first half of sophomore year and it messed up the left hemisphere of my brain. The rest of my grades are Some A’s and mostly B’s ( a lot of honors and 4 AP’s.) My ACT is projected 26-30 and I have decent ec’s. Is it even worth sending an application in? Like should I be paying money to get 8 letters of disappointment “Rejected?” I don’t want to get my hopes up.
I live in NY and plan on majoring in psychology.
No one from my school has gotten in the last 5 years so nvm
Unless it’s your dream school and you’re willing to put in a massive amount of work on the other parts of your application, I would skip it. Applying to reach schools is fine, but there are others out there that would likely be a better fit.
Are you looking at CA specifically? I’d try for Cal, USC, or UCLA. Their psych programs are good and you’re much more likely to be admitted.
You may want to check out their admission entrance info. It does not appear that you meet any of their criteria. Their ACT range is 31-34. Their acceptance rate is 4.8%. Even students with perfect stats are not accepted. I would not bother. Good luck!
If you can get a 35/36 and a 4.0 the rest of the way go for it
Unless you are a URM who overcame poverty or you managed to win USAMO or get published in Nature, then I wouldn’t bother. Your weighted GPA (along with multiple Cs) and projected ACT make you a rather uncompetitive applicant for Stanford. However, I’m sure there are other great schools that would accept you.
You’re beyond uncompetitive for Stanford.
lol no
I think it depends on your extracurricular activities. Since you had the concussion and the corresponding issues, Stanford may be willing to excuse your grades due to that, as long as you have your counselor explain it and include a brief statement in your additional info section about how the concussion impacted you and your grades, and most importantly how you have grown in response to those issues to excel.
If you can manage to write excellent essays and get wonderful LoRs, you may stand a chance. If I were you, I would work my butt off to study for the ACT. If you show that you have sufficiently grown and can handle the work, you won’t be completely out of luck.]
I’m sorry things turned out this way, but don’t give up! Try hard, and you may be the lucky one. Good luck in your college applications!
A few unnecessary and disrespectful comments here made me want to chime in. “lol no” and “You’re beyond uncompetitive” are not helpful comments, and in fact are condescending and downright rude.
Is the OP likely to be admitted to Stanford with the above information given? No. However, is anyone ever truly likely to be admitted to Stanford?? Unless you are on the AdCom for Stanford, and have a chance to review OP’s entire application, you cannot possibly say with any certainty.
With that said, there is a way to say “hey, you might want to look at other, less competitive schools” without coming off as an arrogant, holier-than-thou jerk. Let’s keep in mind here - OP has not even taken the ACT yet!
OP - I encourage you to take the ACT multiple times and try to get as high a score as attainable. Also, continue your upward trend on that GPA. When junior year is completed, sit down with your parents and see how much they are willing to spend on application fees. Compile a list of “reaches”, “matches”, and “safeties”. As some above said, if Stanford is your “dream school”, there is no harm in it being a reach on your list. Worst they can say is no.
I strongly agree with mjr2013. Finish HS strong, present yourself well, and apply to a range of universities that match your passions. If Stanford is on your list: go for it!
I have seen people I thought were beyond competitive, i.e., very uncompetitive get into Berkeley, UCLA and other top schools and vice-versa. I myself got into an Ivy and top 5 law schools with 3.0 gpa, so I never say never. Write great essays and see what happens. Have good safeties though. At least, you can be proud you tried.