Stanford: so close but yet so far

Applying to College
1

<p>i am a high school sophomore that REALLY wants to go to Stanford but my parent's decision to put me in a private catholic school from 1st-8th grade that only had math up to algebra 1 in 8th messed me up, i took alg 1 in 8th, but freshman year i was forced to take it again because the book and curriculum at the catholic school were different than the districts.</p>

<p>freshman year i was behind my friends who were in chemistry and alg 2 while i was in coordinated science and alg 1,(which was a real downer on my self esteem) and i didnt know anything about the extracurriculas the school offered, </p>

<p>but luckily i managed to join a community service club CSF and a sport, and became president of a club, during the summer i took a class at a community college and participated in a camp to help me better run the club i had become president of, Gay-Straight Alliance,</p>

<p>sophomore year i was only able to take 1 AP, but recently i learned that i could challenge an AP test sophomore year, that was last night
, i tried to arrange me taking the test today but was shot down by the teacher at the end, so i need to know! does my handicap of only having only 1 ap sophomore year affect me if the rest of my years go like this:</p>

<p>sophomore year (presently): h-english, Alg 2 night school and cc, h-geometry, h-spanish, ap world, chemistry, sport journalism, 4.0 weighted gpa
gsa president, gsa youth council member, community service club, CSF, Political Lobbyist program for GSA, college bound mentoring program </p>

<p>2011 summer: Interning at GSA network, Spanish for Spanish speakers @ community college, SAT program (i dont have alot of money, i convinced my mother to prioritize) </p>

<p>Junior year: APUSH AP English, AP Spanish , AP bio, H math analysis(cal A second semester) sport, Journalism (just a reporter) , AP psych (self studied, no class just test) 4.0 weighted hopefully
GSA president, UCLA business Program, Youth Council, GSA network Trainer, college bound mentoring program, cs club member, CSF, Political lobbyist Program, </p>

<p>2012 summer: Interning at gsa network OR bank of America leadership program OR TASP OR Cal AB at CC, </p>

<p>Senior year: AP cal BC, AP spanish, AP english, AP Physics, AP Econ, possible self study AP art history, Journalism and sport, hopefully for 4.0 weighted
GSA president, UCLA business Program, Youth Council, GSA network Trainer, college bound mentoring program, cs club member, CSF, Political lobbyist Program, NHS </p>

<p>please anyone who got accepted to Stanford or knows the system, please share some wisdom to a hopeful!</p>

2

<p>You can’t assume you’re going to have things that you haven’t gotten yet. And I’m 99% sure you won’t get some of those summer programs. You’re a sophomore. Calm down.</p>

3

<p>There’s a copypaste going around from Stanford’s actual Admissions. You can find it on the front page if you look hard enough. I’ll spare you the search and basically tell you what it would slap you in the face with. DON’T DO ALL THAT. Do one or two things that you are passionate about. Stanford said itself that they do not like kids who do a crapload of things.</p>

<p>As for your struggle, if you really plan on taking college classes over the summer to at least catch up, then don’t worry about it. It would make for a great essay answer to the “What have you overcome?” Application question. Colleges look to make sure you are doing the most with what you have, which I’d say you definitely have. I agree with the above poster, calm down. Don’t do all that stuff. Decide what you really want to do with your spare time, I doubt that would all fit in your summer anyway (if you even got in).</p>

<p>If you really are short on money and being that you’re a sophomore I’ll tell you two things:
Don’t take that SAT class over the summer. You’ll forget it all by the time you need to take the test and half of the math will be new anyway since you haven’t learned it. Heck, I’m looked at as a math genius by some and I don’t even know a little of the math. Buy the Big Blue Book and the Barron’s 2400 if it matters a lot. If you plan on doing that much self-study anyway, you’ll be a pro at reading books. Take the SAT your first time in spring, early if you want to take it again that same spring. If you bomb the SAT the first time you have two more times next year to retake it.</p>

<p>Again, this is some of the most sage advice all college-goers could use: Don’t do a bunch of things! Unless you’re confident you can get leadership positions/awards in all of those extracurricular programs, it will only hurt you.</p>

4

<p>thank you, people have been trying to get some sense into me, but i have been really hard headed about trying to do everything there is to do, i have seen others do the same and become zombies by senior year, but cutting a few things out should do the trick, im basically worried about APs, i don’t know how many would make me competitive, or if they even matter in the big picture the colleges look at,</p>