<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>I'm currently a freshman at a California community college. My high school academic performance was awful due to a serious medical condition that has been (hopefully!) resolved. Because I didn't get into any schools as a freshman applicant, I decided to start over in CC. I'm looking to apply to Stanford and I think I might have a chance but I'm not certain. My academic performance has seriously improved since high school (I have a 4.0, am in the Honors program, and am taking 17 semester units currently), as has my extracurricular (I'm a reporter for a non-school newspaper, have one unpaid and one paid internship in my field of study, art history--as well as volunteering for a county LGBT pride organization). That being said, I see a lot of applicants to Stanford who seem larger than life, or who are transferring from four-year universities.</p>
<p>What are my chances? Does Stanford admit applicants from community colleges?</p>
<p>Thank you, and all the best.</p>
<p>Hi whoopsitsauser!</p>
<p>It’s good to hear from people who are looking at applying as a transfers. I’m a past transfer applicant from this last year and I’ll probably apply again unless something drastically changes. A couple of things from what I’ve learned from my experiences last year. It really doesn’t hurt to try. The worst thing that can happen is you get rejected, it stings for a little, but it heals with time. Secondly, if you have the qualifications to get in, you can get in, but even if you do, Stanford looks for really specific things when it comes to transfers and you might have an almost zero chance because you’re not the type of candidate they want for their transfer class. It really just depends. Lastly, don’t go into it expecting to have any sort of chance to get in. I really thought I could last year and it crushed me when it didn’t work out. You look like someone who definitely has a shot. From what I’ve seen, Stanford can be pretty accommodating when it comes to people who turned it around from high school. I think a couple people on these boards who got in last year had some pretty nice turnarounds. I didn’t do terribly in high school but I’ve completely turned myself around then and I’m hoping that might benefit me a little. You seem to have a pretty good start to college so my advice would be to just keep working as hard as you can and be active with as much of you can. Are you looking at applying this year or next? Given your high school situation, next year would be a lot more probable if you can keep it up. And in regards to community college, if anything, that might help you. Stanford usually takes a relatively constant amount of certain groups. For example, CCs usually have reasonable chunk of the incoming transfer class. Military always has a reasonable amount and 4 years have probably less than you would expect. But expectations are big when it comes to Stanford. While it would be so insanely cool to get in, you probably won’t. I don’t want to put myself up to much but I’m a sophomore with essentially a 4.0 at an ok state school (around 25,000 students), double majoring in EE and CS. I had a few national recognitions in HS, have been consistently the top performer in my EE grade which has 100+ people, taking classes a year ahead, involved in many important student groups on campus, received multiple university honors, and am involved with multiple research groups which is very uncommon as an undergrad in EE here, and I still really don’t think at all that I’ll get in. I’m only saying all that because they’re going to be a lot of people that are going to have impressive applications and Stanford usually only lets ~2% in. In the end though, it’s really just about showing who you are on your application because that is more valuable than any achievement to Stanford. Hope this helps some and if there’s anything else I might be to help with, just let me know!</p>