Here are my stats:
Gender: F
Location: California
College Class Year: 2020
High School: Public
High School Type: rarely sends grads to top schools
Will apply for financial aid: Yes
Academics:
GPA - Unweighted: 4.00
GPA - Weighted: 4.46 (4.30 if you include freshman year where I’m not allowed to take AP classes)
Class Rank: top 5%
Class Size: 210
Scores:
SAT I Math: 670
SAT I Critical Reading: 670
SAT I Writing: 720
(I took the SAT again in June and am hoping my scores weren’t botched from the mess-up)
ACT: 35
Extracurriculars:
Academic Decathlon (on team 9-12, starter 11-12)
CSF (9-12, lifetime member)
Key Club (9-12)
Jazz Band (9-12 on piano)
Pianist (private lessons) (3-12)
FFA (9 and 12)
Choir Pianist(9-10)
Leadership positions:
Sophomore year: Student gov’t advisor
Senior year: Senior class secretary and hopefully also CSF VP
Athletic Status: Golf team (9)
Volunteer/Service Work:
Minor community service through Key Club and FFA
(I can’t do all that much because I have eczema and am allergic to like 8 different things so being outside and doing lots of work becomes a problem for me.)
Honors and Awards:
Academic Block E (10-12)
Academic Excellence Awards (9-12)
Scholar Athlete (9)
Possible AP Scholar
FFA Greenhand Degree
FFA CS Team 1st in State
Acadec 2nd place Club Award
I am planning on applying to Stanford EA and I’m not really low income so I could technically afford to take the subject tests but I feel like they wouldn’t do anything for me (I wouldn’t do outstanding on them and such). Will this be a substantial problem for my admissions, or do my stats at least partially make up for it? I know that they are “recommended” and not “required” but I realized that still means they would probably like to see people taking them.
And I know that taking subject tests won’t magically get me accepted into Stanford, I just wanted to know how important they are to admissions.
“I could technically afford to take the subject tests but I feel like they wouldn’t do anything for me (I wouldn’t do outstanding on them and such)”
I think the adcoms are gonna pretty much figure that out.
So, are there 10 other students ahead of you in the class with a 4.0, too?
@JustOneDad No, I just copied my stats from the Stats Profile page. I’m on track to be valedictorian right now, currently top in my class.
So if they can figure that out is that going to harm my chances because there are some people who will do very good on them?
I’m trying to reconcile your lower SAT scores with being top in the class. It looks like you have a mediocre school, but you did mention the AP courses…
Which ones have you taken and what were your scores?
Ah, sorry, I didn’t even realize they weren’t posted!
I got a 3 in Chem and 4 in World. I took Calc, Lang, and US this year, feeling confident. Taking Lit, Stats, and Bio next year. And I’m from a smaller town, so it’s not like we’re an amazing school or anything, although I did get a 35 on the ACT.
Yeah, see the ‘3’ and the ‘4’ are consistent with everything else. You’re going to have a hard time getting admitted with what I see here.
If you get mid-700s on the SAT, you might be back in contention, but you will still have to have something else that pops. And then there’s the issue of the subject tests.
I know that’s hard to hear when you are accustomed to getting all kinds of academic honors at your school, but you need to know what exists outside your community. And, you will be compared to it.
What kind of piano do you mostly play, Jazz, Classical?
Most of my earlier private lessons were classical but they have branched out to some jazz and songs of my own choosing. Most of my jazz music has come from jazz band. I’m submitting an arts supplement of me playing piano.
So then subject tests ARE something important as far as consideration for admittance? And wouldn’t Stanford at least, to a degree, take into account the fact that some people live in more secluded areas that don’t have all the opportunities of larger communities?
Also, if i would need mid-700 SAT’s to bring me back into contention, would you say that a 35 on the ACT is degraded because of a lower SAT score?
Yes, you are correct, they do take that into account in terms of whether or not you have availed yourself of all the opportunities and challenged yourself. And, you got a 4.0, which is great. However, you are also getting SAT scores in the low to mid 90 percentiles and that has little to do with your community.
The ACT and SAT measure different things.
Thanks for all the answers so far! I was just wondering one more thing: at least in my case, do you think it would help/hurt to apply EA, or does it really not affect admission chances too much (besides having less time to get everything together)?
I really believe you should apply to the best school you can reasonably get in for EA. It’s pretty nice to have a good, acceptable admission in the pocket as you go into January, February and March.
How much SAT prep did you do and what were your PSAT scores?
I don’t think justonedad realizes how good your ACT score is. If I were you, I would only submit your ACT score and forget about SAT. ACT 35 is comparable to SAT above 2300, so why bother trying to raise your SAT score? Study for subject tests instead
I’m applying to Stanford, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, and SJSU, so Stanford is the only college I could apply EA to anyways. I used the SAT blue book, reading through all the stuff and taking multiple practice tests. After my first SAT I focused more on CR and M (especially M since most people have higher scores there). I got a 196 PSAT (64 CR, 67 M, 65 W), the only time I took it was junior year.
I’m quite aware of what is going on. I’ll say it again; the SAT and the ACT measure different things. In any case, Stanford requires the results of ALL tests taken.
@tif123098, I’m applying to Stanford. Requires all test scores to be sent.
Also if I apply EA I don’t think I have time for a subject test at this point anyways before admissions are due.
You got noticeably higher scores in writing. What’s your major going to be?
CS and possibly physics.
Yay me.
If anything, I hope to use my writing skills (my AP Lang teacher is pretty confident I got a 5 on the exam) to make superb essays. And being able to write will always be handy, not matter what I go into.
Why CS and Physics? You had FFA ECs.
ETA: Oh, I see that was CS.
So, why?
@JustOneDad I heard many people mention that AP scores are not considered in admission. However, you stated that the OP’s AP scores of 3 and 4 coupled with her SAT scores along with her high class rank may mean that she does not go to the most competitive school. Would adcoms do the same thing that JustOneDad did? Although many people say that AP scores only matter for placement, I keep hearing that they indeed matter.
Honestly, I’ve grown up inside. Like I mentioned, I have eczema, but I’m talking it can get severe. I was in crutches for a week once because I couldn’t bend my legs due to pain… Luckily it was over the summer. So at first, I learned to love reading (probably why I’m pretty swell at writing in some cases). Then I got my own laptop and I’ve always been interested in computers. Just programming and all that software stuff has seemed so amazing for me, and if I had the chance to work with something I love like that for my life, I would be happy. I started out being more interested in astrophysics because of my interest in stars/space but I figured a physics degree would be better just because it’s more general and therefore more applicable (and I may discover I love some other aspect of physics as well).
Hm. How’d you get started in programming and what have you cooked up so far?