STANFORD..dun dun dun..CAN I GET IN?

Chance Me / Match Me!
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<p>Do I have any chances at all of making Stanford EA? I just applied, but for after the fact purposes, what are your opinions on my stats? Be honest and brutal. </p>

<p>Anyways, here are my stats:</p>

<p>GPA: 4.00 (UW)
Rank: 2 out of 542 --based on weighted GPA
Straight A's, 12 AP classes by Senior Year</p>

<p>SAT I- 2270 (770M, 760W, 740V)
SAT II: MBiology-800
Chemistry- 740
Math IIC- 770
Literature-740
ACT: 35</p>

<p>AP Courses/Grades:</p>

<p>10th
AP Biology-A,5
AP World History-A,4</p>

<p>11th
AP Language, -A,5
AP Chemistry, A,5
AP Calc BC, A,5,5
AP US History, A, 4</p>

<p>12th
AP Spanish
AP Physics
AP Literature
AP Psychology
AP Statistics
AP Comp Civics (We the People)</p>

<p>So, I have tons of APs--12, I've taken the hardest course load at school, and I'm rank three. </p>

<p>Here are the ECs that mean the most to me:</p>

<p>1) Founder/President of Women's Help Organization--raise awareness about domestic violence in our community through forums, fundraisers, walk-a-thons.
2) Taekwon-do Student--2nd degree black belt, doing since 7 years
3) Taekwon-do Instructor--lead classes in the community (job)
4) City Youth Commission--Appointed by Mayor
5) Teen Domestic Violence Committee--Chairperson
6) VA/Valley Care Hospitals, Volunteer (4 years)</p>

<p>Awards:
1) National Merit Semifinalist
2) AP Scholor
3) Internship, Abgenix Biotech Company (summer, 8hrs a day)
4) Biotech Summer Institute, Merit-based selection program
5) Science Olympiad, numerous medals, state level
6) Winner in many Speech Contests (1st place)--Rotary Club, VFW</p>

<p>I think the MOST IMPORTANT thing is what I did this summer, which is the topic of my essay, which is well written</p>

<p>I went to India for two weeks and led a class on Taekwon-do and self-defense for a group of 30 blind girls. It was an absolutely enlightening experience and because of it, my essay turned out well. This project combined my two main passions: taekwon-do and the Women's Help Organization.</p>

<p>So what do you think are my chances?</p>

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<p>To be honest, the same as anyone else's who applies to Stanford. The Head of Admissions for Stanford even once said, "There's an element of crapshoot in it."</p>

<p>Apply and see. If they don't take you, it's nothing personal. With those stats I'm sure you'll get into another fine university.</p>

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<p>Where are you from?</p>

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<p>did u use any prep books for that 800 in bio? If so, could you say what book it was?</p>

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<p>sounds like a strech... did you really do that? TEACH blind kids? sure..</p>

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<p>Teaching blind kids self defense is nothing...c'mon, I saved all the deaf whales from the evil 200-foot mutated sea cucumbers that were realesed in an unfortunate accident by the FBI ...AND taught 100 blind kids how to see AND how to fly.</p>

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<p>dude...you don't have to believe me. I'm not trying to prove myself to you or anyone. This is just what I like to do and this is hte kind of stuff I want to do when I grow up. So, I respect your 1st amendment rights, but I don't appreciate the sarcasm (as if you care)</p>

<p>Biology: used Kaplan, pretty good</p>

<p>I live in norcal</p>

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<p>I applaud you on your great accomplishments! I believe you have a pretty fair chance of getting into Stanford; those other idiots just don't believe what you did because they themselves are insecure about their own "accomplishments".</p>

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<p>You have an excellent chance. Leave it at that and worry about your grades this semester :)</p>

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<p>Your academic stats are very very comparable to mine. (I also applied EA). Again it's hard to provide a diagnosis but you are definitely in the running. Maybe I read through a bit cursorily but your EC's seem a bit weak (and by that I don't mean they are bad or even weak for Stanford, just that they are about average for a given Stanford EAer.) I don't know if any of your Biology research is National-level as an EC, that would probably help (IE for myself Siemens was very helpful in confirming the time/effort invested in my research).
Hope everything goes well for both of us.</p>

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<p>if she devoted a lot of time to this "Founder/President of Women's Help Organization--raise awareness about domestic violence in our community through forums, fundraisers, walk-a-thons."
and it was successful and she writes a good essay about it - than her EC's will really stand out from all the "I was vp/secretary/pres of NHS/SNHS/Key Club"</p>

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<p>thanks people! In a weird sort of way, I like hearing the whole "your fate is not sure...just wait and see" type of comments b/c it's the truth. No one really knows what's going to happen...I'm expecting the worst, but...who knows...</p>

<p>So why do I even post myself on this stupid website anyways? I dunno...some kind of guilty pleasure or something. Just curious: why does anyone post. I really do get immense satisfaction from reading other people's stuff and getting comments...</p>

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<p>Well...you're in CA and I think you have a fine chance....</p>

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<p>Umm.. again, I did not say her EC's were weak. I just said that based on my admittedly cursory reading they didn't stand out above the average EA'ers for Stanford (who all have amazing EC's to begin with). Why? I agree that founding something and leadership is a pretty cool thing to do and will be looked highly upon. But most highly-qualified applicants can say they were founders co/founders of some club/activity of another. Maybe it's just hard for me to understand exactly her commitment/ the impact of this organizaiton she started- has there been any press/how many hours she spent, etc. If that's the case, then great, I just didn't see it explicit in the original post.
If you read carefully I said the main thing I saw as distinguishing/ above-average for an EC was state/national level recognition or achievement whether in awards contests leadership etc. That doesn't mean other accomplishments are less rewarding or important, just that they are less easy to recognize and harder to distinguish the applicant.
Anyways, thats just my notion of EC's based on a couple of friends who did/did not get in, and we all know the Stanf admissions is notoriously random anyways.
Again, good luck to all of us applying.</p>

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<p>It is one thing to found a school club, and an entirely different and more impressive thing to start an organization outside of school which does things in the community (and is not targeted at students). So if its the former then she has a great EC, the latter then its an avg./slightly above.</p>

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<p>I agree with that.
However, you have to remember that often student/service oriented clubs can create substantive community change as well, and are not always just titles like NHS can seem. Especially at higher-than-school leadership, student-based service and community action groups do quite a bit besides just creating a cool title for respective members. (I'm sure you already knew that, but your post read quite the opposite).
sr: You added that she was from California in your post as a plus- does that seem to help? I've always seen that Stanf. accepts more people from CA than anywhere else, of course, but I've always thought it was just a numbers thing. Do students from CA actually receive a benefit/preference? Are there any regions that don't get a benefit (like analogous to the notorious NE phenomenom for the Ivies).</p>

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<p>There is a major disadvantage from my home town. I went to high school 15 min from Stanford. I <em>heard</em> that another school (where the staff/faculty kids go) had 22 kids accepted in one year. Anyway, EVERYONE applies to Stanford from my area and so the acceptance rate is more like 1/150 applicants from my high school.</p>

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<p>I think you have a fairly good chance. My friend got accepted with a 1580, 700s sat iis, rank 1, but weak ECs. His essays stood out and his reccomendation letters were incomparable.</p>

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<p>Sure you are a seriously well qualified candidate. Congrats on a wonderful record. But spread your attention beyond Stanford. Are you willing to change regions? Could be interesting for you to try just in case you are somehow deferred at Stanford in favor of some intangible like their own hunt for geographical diversity. Do you want a larger college? If you would consider small LACs and moving, your options are many or you could try for merit money in top 30 universities in many other locales. Good luck and hope you get your open door to your favorite place.</p>

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<p>b u m p f o r f u n</p>