I am interested in Stanford. My GPA is kinda low since I messed up freshmen year. I am sophomore with gpa 3.3. I took the practice SAT and got a 2240. What more should I be doing to secure my chances? I have heard you need leadership but what kind is preferred? All suggestions help!
Real leadership is what admissions committees are looking for. They pretty much know what being President of the Ecology Club is.
Stanford is one of the most selective universities. If you took your education to heart, started making straight A’s and took the most challenging and competitive classes your school had to offer, there is a small chance you could get into the low end of the zone by application time your junior year. You would also have to find something that you are passionate about and be able to write well about it.
Stanford recalculates GPA without freshman and has a history of admission decisions consistent with such a recalculation. In short messing up freshman year is not the end of the world, so long as you get excellent grades in sophomore and junior year. Check out Stanford’s website for advice about what qualities they are looking for – http://admission.stanford.edu/basics/selection/index.html
@nickmehul Make sure to pay attention to your essays and EC’s!