[asize=4]Decision: Accepted[/size]
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2310 (760M, 770CR, 800W w 10 essay)
ACT (breakdown): didn’t take
SAT II: math ii-800, latin-770, world hist-760, bio m-740
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9/4.0
Weighted GPA: dunno
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/900ish
AP (place score in parenthesis): world hist, stat, chinese lang, bio, apush, calc ab, eng lang, latin, econs, studio art drawing, euro (all 5’s except stat)
IB (place score in parenthesis): didn’t take
Senior Year Course Load: lit, gov, calc bc, chem, art hist (all ap’s) latin v, art (honors)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): national merit finalist, ap scholar, questbridge finalist (not sure if these are major…)
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): art(some regional awards, scholarships, etc.), academic decathlon (captain, regional and state medals), art museum volunteer, peer tutor, chinese culture club (secretary), anime club lol (pres), reading olympics lolll (pres)
Job/Work Experience: worked online over summer for acadec study material company
Volunteer/Community service: volunteer at art museum
Summer Activities: work, chilling (and having existential crises), overpriced summer programs that are generous with finaid e.g. stanford’s summer humanities institute (which is gr8)
Essays (rating 1-10, details): personal statement 9/10-immigrant story, intellectual vitality 9/10-fangirled over my favorite artist who is a actually kinky freak, roommate letter was whack but 9/10-basically me daydreaming about life at stanford, what matter 6/10-eh, family stuff
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: latin teacher 9/10-cool dude, likes me, also probably my best class/grade in school
Teacher Rec #2: english teacher 7/10-didn’t know all that well, but writes like a god, and i think/hope liked me
Counselor Rec: 7/10-counselor abhors me; the feeling is mutual. also my school is too big for any kind of real connection
Additional Rec: 8/10-professor from summer humanities institute!! rly short and kinda cliche but it probably helped.
Interview: didn’t get one
Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: heck yeah
Intended Major: not sure at all…classics or art history possibly??? but honestly zero idea
State (if domestic applicant): PA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: oversized and underfunded public
Ethnicity: east asian
Gender: f
Income Bracket: <4k (broke af)
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): hella poor, applied through questbridge program, and i moved from china when i was ten so maybe that helped
Reflection
Strengths: good grades/scores, but that’s nothing special in the stanford pool. probably the short essays?? the first two at least, idk, which in retrospect made me sound kinda ditzy, but i guess that’s just who i am. Also well-roundedness with a little bit extra in art, as well as somewhat interesting background (immigrant, low-income, etc.)
Weaknesses: not all that special as a person, app was kinda rushed; also felt like my ec’s were all over the place (half of it was for fun, half of it was for the resume, and you could definitely tell)
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: shrug emoji i honestly don’t know. there are so many people who are waaaay more qualified than i am who didn’t get accepted. i never had any real hope of getting in and the decision was just a really(really really) pleasant surprise. i’ve come to view the whole admissions process with an apathetic loathing. it’s all a crapshoot in the end and, really, you’ll be fine anywhere you go.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: accepted-swarthmore, williams, amherst, pomona, and local art school; waitlisted-uchicago, carleton
General Comments: (see above) also want to say more, because this feels like some kind of closure to the mess that’s been my life for the past four years. i never thought i would actually be posting in one of these college results threads as accepted, much less to stanford. the thing is, i never did consider stanford until around this time last year, when i got into one of their summer programs. even then my attitude was mostly just ‘loll it’s probably the only time i’ll get to see california for free, might as well.’ until i got to the school (which is beautiful) and finished the program (which is amazing) and i realized that i was, just a little, in love with stanford. i tried to restrain it throughout the app process, knowing that the chance of even being waitlisted is slim. but i think deep down, i still had my heart set on this one place. and i can finally admit that to myself. point being, you never know what life might throw at you. that one place you laughed at when your friends brought it up, might just be your future home.
another point that i probably didn’t stress enough: if you’re a junior/sophomore/godforbid middleschooler looking at this and you’re from a low-income/disadvantaged background, CHECK OUT QUESTBRIDGE; it’s a great organization that works wonder for some low-income students throughout the admissions process and helps out many others, and has the most fun, brilliant, and supportive community
so long, cc, and thanks for all the fish!