<p>HateSMUS: I’ve seen somewhere on CC where a Stanford adcom said that retaking a 2250+ was pointless. Logic follows that retaking a 34+ is also pointless. That combined with a 4.0 is <em>absolutely</em> qualified, but not qualified to be accepted. A 3.8+ is still completely respectable if you take into account the curriculum of the applicant.</p>
<p>I agree, unicameral2013. I hate when people come onto CC to tell everyone else that they have “glowing” recs and “amazing” essays.</p>
<p>YES CantConcentrate. I hate it lol. I have read some of my recs and they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but I’m not going to sit here and pretend that no other teacher in the world says nice things about their students. I mean come on.</p>
<p>“I know my stats are weak but my essays will make up for it” << said every chance thread ever. ever.</p>
<p>I don’t think I’ve seen people on CC glowing about their “amazing” essays, but even if they are, Im sure they are insecure about them on the inside anyways. What really matters is the substance of the essays. Does the applicant reveal certain admirable qualities through their essays? Does the applicant’s personality match that of the school? If the essays show that, even without superb writing flair and creativity, they will be more likely to get accepted. What I think people worry about is trying to be too creative. yes you do need to stand out from the crowd, but if that means sacrificing your voice and personal qualities, it should not be done</p>
<p>Unicameral2013, I KNOW RIGHT!? So annoying. Especially on chance threads when they’re like “assume amazing essays.” Everyone says it. Like. Seriously?</p>
<p>BAH. Now I’m worrying about my test scores. It seems like I can’t stop worrying.</p>
<p>3.8+ GPA 2200~2250+SAT1 750+ SAT2s top 10% rank seems like a general consensus for academic qualification. ‘glowing’ recs and ‘amazing’ essays are BS. Recs can be very positive and specific, and essays can be unique, well-developed with insights, and written stylistically. I don’t think recs can be ‘glowing’ unless the teacher wrote ‘s/he is a genius’</p>
<p>HateSMUS: “s/he is a genius” isn’t even good enough. Needs to say something to the effect of “best student in my ___ years of teaching, etc…, etc…”</p>
<p>Mmm there was a Jewish senior in my high school few years ago who went to Stanford with full ride. He got a full scholarship from Harvard too, but Harvard didn’t offer boarding fees. He was incredibly talented in math, won first places in both regional and provincial mathematics contests. I heard from class of 2010, his physics teacher literally wrote he is a genius. Just an interesting episode from my school.</p>
<p>My school’s only had four graduating classes, each containing no more than 15 students. None of them have moved on to HYPSM. I have two that went to Chapman, but that’s eh, and one got into Bard, which is all right. He applied to Wesleyan but knew he had no chance. =/ 29 ACT, despite months of studying. good stats otherwise, certainly not enough to get into a top 50, but he knew that.</p>
<p>The greatest success our school has seen is sending a person to Rice, one to WashU (this year), one to CalTech, and one to Vanderbilt. None have gotten into HYPSM that I know of.</p>
<p>Sup, guys. I started fretting about rejection, so I thought I’d join the pity/support party too. :D</p>
<p>Just to get a feel for my fellows, where are you guys from, geographically?</p>
<p>Oklahoma!</p>
<p>WOOHOO</p>
<p>Haha, not bad! Doesn’t Stanford judge applicants in the context of their schools/communities? Not that I’m automatically assuming that all Oklahoma schools suck or anything…</p>
<p>Yes, as do all elite colleges. And no worries, haha.</p>
<p>Where’re you from?</p>
<p>Louisiana! I tried to capitalize on that so they really knew my school sucked…<em>hangs head</em></p>
<p>Haha, very nice!</p>
<p>And I’m kind of doing the same thing, lol. I’m trying to bank on the fact that I’m in Oklahoma to help me out a little.</p>
<p>@CantConcentrate: Is your school outside U.S? I realized a school inferior (in school curriculums, ranking, AP avg scores, available ECs etc) to mine sends much more students to Ivy+ universities whereas we only sends 3~4 kids to Ivy+ every year. I was wondering why and realized it’s much harder to get into top schools as internationals mainly due to fierce competition for limited spots for internationals. Mine is in Canada and my school provides terrible preparation for Ivy universities, although my high school sends any (or almost all) willing students to Mcgill, Queen, UBC, UT etc except for some competitive programs.</p>
<p>Ah, HateSMUS, I don’t actually know much (I know, that helps), but I think you’re right. Internationals get a bit discriminated on regarding financial aid at most US schools, don’t they? I can imagine admissions working in a similar way.</p>
<p>CantCon is from Oklahoma, this other underperforming US state. :)</p>
<p>Internationals face tougher admission process not only for financial aid but also for admission without aid. I don’t think they are discriminated but competes for very small amount of seats in top U.S universities. It wasn’t intentional but it’s true internationals are disadvantaged in admission, especially from ORM countries such as India, China and Korea.</p>
<p>I’m in California. Yay for 38% of Freshman coming from Cali!</p>
<p>And 31% at Caltech! :D</p>
<p>HateSMUS, you are correct.</p>
<p>Ugh. Just found out that the wonderful Common App cut off one line on a supplemental essay. Thankfully, the line that was cut off was a complete sentence alone and it had nothing substantial to add (it was just a witty little joke at the end of the roommate essay). If this is the only typo, I’ll take it. <em>breath of relief</em></p>