<p>Hello, all!
I just got a letter in the mail from Stanford congratulating me on my "outstanding academic achievements" which is nice, but huh. I'm a Sophomore now, and my overall GPA is an 86-ish at a private day school. I'm kind of confused, because I do okay in school, but not outstanding. A's and B's, but nowhere near the level I would think people in this program would be accepting.</p>
<p>Does anybody know what these letters are based on? PSAT scores? Honor Roll? </p>
<p>I honestly have no idea, but I'm considering applying for the thrill of it.</p>
<p>Was the letter congratulating you on your achievements or was it inviting you to apply to the Stanford summer program for high school students? The letter for the summer program is probably sent to all students who have a PSAT score higher than 190 or something like that. Ultimately, such letters are usually based on standardized test scores of some sort (subject test, SAT, PSAT, etc).</p>
<p>@sjsprint Hi! Thanks for responding! It was congratulating me, and inviting me to apply. I’m considering it, but I’m not sure if I even have a chance of admission. Who knows? Maybe I’ll attempt it. </p>
<p>@HistoryGeek40 That sounds like the typical summer program letter. Don’t worry, admission to the summer programs is not very selective. The SIMR program, however, is significantly more selective.</p>
<p>@sjsprint Ohohohohoo, nooo. I’m not applying to SIMR. Just plain 'ole Stanford Summer College. Do you know if it is based off of PSAT scores? I recently made my school’s honor roll if that has anything at all to do with it. </p>
<p>@HistoryGeek40 It is definitely based off of standardized test scores, so probably the PSAT for you (since you’re a sophomore). The people at the Stanford Summer College don’t keep track of honor rolls at specific schools or things like that. </p>
<p>@sjsprint Alright, that makes sense. If I could just figure out what the acceptance rate is, I’d be happy as a clam! I’ll lurk around the internet somewhere.</p>
<p>It’s not selective. SUMaC and SIMR are really the respectable ones to stanford admissions, but they are fun experiences regardless! </p>
<p>Stanford tries to recruit kids to the summer school, which is honestly really just a ruse for them to make money and people love it because they love the prestige associated with the name “Stanford summer school.” A lot of other schools do this too (Harvard for example). But it can still be a fun experience! I’ve met a couple of kids here who did the summer program here together. SIMR and SUMAC are the big summer programs that feed into the school itself, but they’re Extremely extremely competitive. </p>
<p>Stanford Summer School is a great way to get some idea of what all the college mystique is about before you actually have to go and fill out those applications. My kids also used it to address some of the academic shortfalls their public school has.</p>
<p>If you are a West Coastie and are thinking about going to the East Coast for college, but aren’t sure if you and the Right Bank are compatible, Harvard has a similar program or vice versa.</p>
<p>I went to Stanford Summer College in 2012 and SUMaC in 2013. In Sumer College, I got a basic idea of what college life is like in US (since I’m international) and in SUMaC, there was intensive math learning and definitely a lot harder to get in.</p>