I am an 8th grader and I am trying to organize my future so I am prepared. Any tips on extracurricular to get into Stanford? I hope to be a FBI profiler maybe that can help? Thanks!!
HSL
It is way too early to think about specific colleges (especially the hyper-competitive ones). You don’t even have one year’s GPA and you have no standardized testing.
Stanford has under a 5% acceptance rate and must be considered to be a major reach for any unhooked student. The students I see who get most hurt by the college admissions process are the ones who pin all their hopes/dreams/self-worth on one super competitive college and then don’t get in – please don’t do that – there are so many wonderful colleges and universities out there.
You also need to recognize that HS should be an experience in and of itself – a time of learning and growth and not just a 4 year college application prep experience.
It is good to take school seriously and know that college will be on your horizon, but it is too early to start planning for specific colleges. I would highly recommend that you get off of CC until your junior year (except for the HS Life page).
As you start HS you should focus on:
–Working hard, learning, and doing as well as you can in the most challenging curriculum you can manage.
–When the time comes study for standardized tests.
–Get involved in activities you care about (there is no EC that will help more than others unless you become a star/recruited quarterback or something) and work towards making meaningful contributions to those activities.
–Enjoying spending time with your family and friends.
When junior year comes honestly asses your academic stats (including GPA, standardized tests, course rigor) as well as your financial needs and apply to a wide range of reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (you will have to run a net price calculator for each school you consider) and that you would be happy to attend. You will need to expand your horizons and recognize that there are many wonderful schools out there where you can have a great 4 year experience and get where you want to go in life.
I haven’t applied to college yet, so do what you want with that, but I think it’s too early as an 8th grader to be laser focused on one school and tailor all your activities towards that one school’s “criteria”. There is no extracurricular or award that can absolutely guarantee you into highly competitive schools like Stanford.
My dad attended Stanford, and if there’s anything I’ve learned from him, they admit people who are super passionate and do what they do not for the sake of a college application, but because they genuinely love something. Just like most other selective schools do.
You can have the perfect stats and perfect ECs but the admission officers can immediately see right through your app if they can tell you’re not filling it out with that genuine authenticity/passion.
If I was in your position, I’d experiment a lot throughout high school to try to find/develop your niche. Once you’ve got a small idea, try to find extracurriculars/clubs that will either impact you greatly as a person or impact your community in a major way. High school is a time for you to enjoy yourself and figure a small part of your own life out. Live through it because you’re excited and enthusiastic to find out what you truly will stay up all night doing- not because you want to go to a certain university.
Other than that, I think it’s great that you’re being ambitious and have high hopes for the future. Go 100% with everything and have an amazing time as you enter freshman year 
First, good to start early. But Stanford is quite a challenge.
A columnist a few years ago wrote a joke column that Stanford admitted no one so it could say it was the most selective. It was a joke but many people thought it was true!
Seriously, the best article to read on admission to a school like Stanford is on Prepscholar: “How-to-get-into-harvard-and-the-ivy-league-by-a-harvard-alum”. (You can Google it.) The article says to ‘be pointy’, which means to achieve deep success in something to get admitted. As evidence for this: At our local high school over the last 4 years over 160 students applied to Stanford, all with top grades and test scores. Stanford admitted just 2 of them. One won the top prize in a national science exam and one was ranked in the top 10 in her sport nationally. They were ‘pointy’.
Generally if you can do something with a lot of passion and depth, around your FBI interests, that would be a great way to build depth. Volunteer in a police station. Take summer classes in forensics, or study that on-line. Enter groups or competitions around your interests and try to both do well and/or take a leadership role.
In terms of high school extracurricular activities, if you can get elected class President or become Editor in Chief of the Newspaper, those are the most helpful, other than being a captain of a sports team. Good luck.