Stanford and Passion - Please do tell all, SCEA Admits

<p>I am in love with Stanford, as I'm sure you most of you are. I cannot say congratulations enough to those of you who made it in. I am an RD applicant, and I have yet to press submit. While Stanford is by far my first choice, I did not apply SCEA because I felt my scores and overall "hook" were lacking. And trust me, they are. Well, I may have a hook - but I'm not sure if it's quite good enough, which is kind of why I'm posting this.</p>

<p>From what I've read on this forum the past two days, and from what I've heard since I began high school - Stanford wants passion. Passion, more than anything, can surpass the lowest of test scores and the lowest of GPAs. Heart, more than anything, is the one thing that can get you in because it sets you apart from the rest.</p>

<p>My question to those of you who were accepted SCEA: Was your passion cookie cutter? By that, I mean - did you dedicate all of your time to one thing and just emphasize that in your application? Did you package yourself to send a strong message about that passion? Do you think that's what got you where you are now? I hope that I make sense when I say "cookie cutter". In a way, I mean clean, neat passions. Like, for example, being passionate about running, helping others in some specific way in your community, fencing, drawing, etc. Are there any of you who didn't have the cliche, but don't get me wrong - unique - passions that I'm speaking of?</p>

<p>I don't think "cookie cutter" really describes it well. It just makes me hungry.</p>

<p>There are all different types of "passions" that get into Stanford. From the people I've met there, they're either really into one thing and really good at it (e.g. on U.S. olympic fencing team, national chemistry olympiad champion, being Michelle Wie, etc.) or they're really passionate about a variety of things. Basically, the answer is either. But, who really knows what the admissions office is looking for. They probably don't even know.</p>

<p>Being Michelle Wie isn't about her passion as much as her name and golf skills (which while obviously a passion, I don't think it was her love for golf that was the primary motivation for her admission.)</p>