Stanford EA?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>so, i'm thinking if the adcoms are smoking something i might have a chance... what do you think? flat out rejected?</p>

<p>bay area, cali resident
junior
white female
1 legacy at Stanford</p>

<p>PSATs: 550 math, 710 critical reading, 780 writing
(currently studying for SATs ... hope to bring up math score..)</p>

<p>-soph: 4.0 uw, 4.1 w both semesters
AP Euro: 5
-junior year semester one (worst case scenario): 3.3 uw, 4.0 w
-semester two: (predicted): 3.7-3.8uw 4.4-4.5 w</p>

<p>I'm certain I can pull up these grades next semester ... I had a really hard time adjusting to the workload/learning to balance my time but now I know how to improve. </p>

<p>hooks: zoology/art</p>

<p>*environmental studies program in costa rica through BU, ( 1 mo.) college credit
summer volunteer @ san francisco zoo, 100+ hours
5 year volunteer @ lindsay wildlife museum
girl scout gold award recipient (created program for inner city kids about nature)</p>

<p>*california state art scholar ( 1 mo. @ CalArts, college credit)
illustrated cover for paperback book (small publishing company)
art portfolio from AP art
3 years figure drawing classes </p>

<p>*hosted spanish exchange student, lived with spanish family for a couple weeks.</p>

<p>in school:
editorial staff: literary magazine catharsis (4 years) co-editor in chief junior year
national honor society (3 years)
california scholarship federation (2 years)
science alliance (3 years) - helping 5th graders make science fair projects</p>

<p>expecting:
recs: pretty good, not amazing
essays: good</p>

<p>**not bad enough for learning disability, but kinda interesting: have synesthesia, which affects my math ability. basically all numbers and letters are colored, and i see colors for every sound i hear. neurological/genetic anomaly.</p>

2

<p>whoaaa you have the coolest learning disability i've ever heard of - is there a specific color for each number, or does it change?</p>

<p>on your chances, i'm definitely not qualified to say anything, but i still wanted to say congrats on all the unique ecs!</p>

3

<p>Hi wishabee-</p>

<p>I just hope my EC's aren't a detriment to the application process. The result of me having really weird interests (I do taxidermy too), is that my activities aren't exactly the "Siemens Westing House Science whatever" type, but, eh. </p>

<p>As for synesthesia, the few people I discuss it with think it's cool, but to me it's just my normal life. Having someone tell me they don't see colors floating and moving around in the air when they hear noises or listening to music, "feel" different sounds, or don't see their numbers and letters in color is as if someone told me they were deaf. While synesthesia does give me some rather ... unique problems, and I'm almost certain it contributes to my significant difficulties in math (for example, it makes me utterly inable to do even simple mental calculations), but I honestly couldn't imagine life without it. :)</p>

<p>My numbers and letters have had the same colors and personalities since I learned to read. Synesthesia is hardwired into your brain, and you can't turn it "on" or "off." If someone's synesthetic reactions aren't constant and consistent, then it isn't synesthesia. </p>

<p>Synesthesia is a well-documented phenomenon, and many famous artists, writers, and composers are thought to have been synesthetic (including Beethoven ... who reportedly forced his students to memorize "colored" scales of music). People with synesthesia generally show a tendency towards creativity and often have difficulties with math, some being frankly dyscalculic.</p>

<p>Then again, Richard Feynman wrote about seeing colors in his physics equations, and obviously had few difficulties with mathematics ... so as you can see there's still lots scientists don't know about this "abnormality." </p>

<p>If you're interested, here are some good articles from Scientific American: </p>

<p><a href="http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?articleID=00019AA3-7A7C-1D06-8E49809EC588EEDF%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.sciam.com/askexpert_question.cfm?articleID=00019AA3-7A7C-1D06-8E49809EC588EEDF&lt;/a> </p>

<p><a href="http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0003014B-9D06-1E8F-8EA5809EC5880000%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=0003014B-9D06-1E8F-8EA5809EC5880000&lt;/a> <- more scientific and technical, but also interesting. </p>

<p>There are also many other resources online ... (I was almost casted in a BBC documentary about synesthesia, but sadly my mom didn't allow me to participate because she was paranoid about it.)</p>

4

<p>I think I have that, too. Every letter, number, word, etc., has a certain color...it always has. It annoys me when people give their kids first and middle names that don't match the color of the last name, or when people give their children names with colors that don't match the date. I had thought that everyone thinks the way I do, but apparently not.</p>

5

<p>Avalon-</p>

<p>That sounds like synesthesia to me! The theory goes that it's actually more common than people think, simply because many people don't know that their colors/shapes/textures/whatever are not "normal", or are too embarrassed to share it with other people. I hate when people have ugly colored names too. Thankfully my own is a pleasing banana blue color, but some names are just REALLY unfortunate.</p>

<p>What also bothers me is the Google logo! It gives me a headache because it's the wrong colors ... makes me want to change them! x.x </p>

<p>Just for fun, you might want to ask your parents if they have synesthesia too. It's known to be genetic. My own parents don't have it, but my grandfather did. (he could taste shapes.)</p>

6

<p>I agree with the Google logo! I mean, the o's aren't the same color! (Although o's, and all the vowels to some extent, tend to take on the color(s) of the letters around them.) I just reserved a couple books from the library on synesthesia, so it'll be interesting to read those. I asked my parents if they experience the same thing, and they just stared at me. ;) A few years ago someone recorded a song called "Smell the Color Nine." I guess that makes no sense to most people, but to me it was like, "OK, nine's a color (red), but I can't really smell it." (I think my synesthsia is limited to colors associated with letters, words, and numbers.)</p>

<p>My genetics teacher is going to laugh so hard when I tell her...I'm kind of a hypochondriac, but this is actually for real! Do you know what chromosome/locus the synesthesia gene has been identified with?</p>

7

<p>You could write a very interesting college application essay by using different colors for each letter or word. The essay wouldn't have to be about syesthesia, per se, but you'd definitely want to make it clear that you have synesthesia (so it doesn't come across as a gimmick). Ooh! That would make the BEST roommate essay for Stanford! (You'd have to apply on paper, though -- online wouldn't work out too well.) Had I known a few months ago that synesthesia isn't normal, I probably would've written an essay about it...I got in, but all of a sudden, writing about my homeschooling experiences seems boring. If you wrote about synesthesia, I'd guess that you're probably the only one in the whole applicant pool to be discussing it!</p>

8

<p>If you could apply how synesthesia affected you or caused trauma, that would really help you out in applications. As to your grades, they're not the greatest..... but they could be balanced out by your extracurriculars. Be sure to hold positions in them.</p>

9

<p>Hi again Avalon! Sorry, I'm not sure about the exact genetics of synesthesia, and from what I've read, neither are scientists (yet). There's plenty of information online, however. :)</p>