<p>Definitely Apply!!!</p>
<p>You really should apply. Honestly, if it’s your top choice, go EA and try for it. EA acceptance rates are often low, but it’s doable. RD acceptance rates are on average pretty low. Although, that said, you do have plenty of time to look at schools, so I’d say EA to your top, regardless of where or what it is. Remember that you’ll be rejected from 100% of the colleges you don’t apply to.</p>
<p>@dfin2013, what’s your reasoning for RD? Is the GPA difference truly that important? That makes people who stress over a 3.9 vs a 4.0 seem perfectly reasonable and justifiable. Or is it because of something else? Senior teacher recommendations?
I’ve been told that EA has better chances but it’s only for exceptional applicants. Could someone confirm or deny this?</p>
<p>If you have found a school that will accept you and that your family can afford, that base is covered. So go right on ahead and apply to any school you wish and see what the outcomes are. You can go to town on this,as long as you understand that they are all lottery tickets except for the very basic schools that meet the criteria of definitely gonna take you and that your family can and will pay for it. </p>
<p>Stanford is a school that even the top of the top kids consider a reach. Even athletic recruits, the val with perfect test scores, those with national accomplishments have about a half a chance. So given your stats, the chances are just about nil. Even with a “killer” essay.</p>
<p>Susu - Because of the blip in your GPA, I recommend applying RD. That way, your application will include your Senior mid-term grades. It IS a lottery ticket, but as long as you don’t fall in love with the notion of going there, you definitely have a good profile to apply. Be quirky and interesting in your essays.</p>
<p>Alright, thank you for the explanation. :)</p>
<p>@randomazn14: “Maybe you’re incapable of human love towards non-immediate-family-members” - is it really that necessary to be so passive-aggressive? etg is entitled to be of the opinion that OP’s chances are slim just as much as you are entitled to say she has a good chance (also, when it comes to Stanford, most, if not all, applicants have slim chances) Furthermore, you’re the one telling her her low GPA was a “tragic fluke” and also that she needs to retake her SAT - personally I would beg to differ. 2280 is a more than respectable enough score to get her over the standardized test hurdle. And what doesn’t take you hours upon hours doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone - personally I didn’t study for that test for a second and got a respectable score, but that doesn’t mean I assume everyone can. On top of that, even a single hour she spends on that test is an hour wasted in my opinion; a 2280 is respectable enough (provided it wasn’t an 800-800-680; I actually retook when I had that haha).</p>
<p>@elnamo: A 3.79 is pretty low by Stanford standards, unfortunately.</p>
<p>@Doener: I am going to both vehemently disagree with and take offense to your statement that “most accepted students are run of the mill smart students like you” (lol but you go there…) From the 2017 accepted group, I see kids that got 26s on their ACTs and kids that got 36s. I see kids that were accepted for athletics, for volunteerism, who are just generally awesome, or for standing out in some other way, be it through their essays, individuality, commitments, or passion. They are not “run of the mill smart kids;” to say that is to devalue them both individually and as a class. Not a single one of them has struck me as “run of the mill”, they all have something unique pulling for them, be that their background, leadership, volunteering. In fact, the test scores, number of valedictorians, and gpas were all lower on average than I expected them to be; it’s really about a lot more than “run of the mill smart people”</p>
<p>^I agree entirely with Mr. Asian. This was a chance thread after all, not a pity and false-hope fest.</p>
<p>Is a 3.88 still too low for top-tier schools? I’m not going to applying with a 3.79, ideally. Before this semester, I was receiving solid A’s, and I’m pretty confident that I can replicate that for the following semesters.</p>
<p>Your GPA isn’t bad, I’m not sure why people here think it is. A little under 8% of students get into Stanford with a GPA lower than of 3.74, keep in mind. You have good everything else, so you should obviously apply. :)</p>
<p>8% of the total 6% that get in. That’s a 0.48% chance without considering any other factors and the probability that those applicants were superb in other areas.</p>
<p>I’m a current freshman at Stanford, and I always encourage high schoolers to apply. You really have nothing to lose besides a little money.</p>