Stanford...

<p>Projected GPA by application time is 3.798 unweighted, as of now 3.75.
Sophomore year:
Algebra II
Writers workshop
Public speaking
English II
Chemistry I
AP Us history
Adv. Spanish 5
Junior year:
Precalc
AP Macro/micro economics
AP English
AP Chem
AP world history
AP Spanish</p>

<p>I'm still a junior but expect to take at least 4 AP's next year.</p>

<p>SAT 2250 (projected)</p>

<p>so far I've taken
AP US history- 5
US history Sat II- 800
I plan to take several SAT II's and several AP's this spring.</p>

<p>EC's:
Business Club, Indian club, Fed Challange (competition in which students present economic policy analysis at their local reserve bank)</p>

<p>i work at an internet start up, and work with a senior director of a prominent law consulting firm on his blog, mostly webpage design and managing advertising, some conceptual work as well. He would be a great resource for a college reccomendation. I also worked very hard this past summer in the construction business and commercial fishing in Alaska, and worked for the first 6 months of this year at a local grocery store.</p>

<p>I trade stocks very successfully with my own money from work without parental supervision of any kind, mostly metals and technology, with an eye for value and microcaps.</p>

<p>I lived in central america for half of my 8th grade year and I'm fluent in spanish.</p>

<p>Played JV basketball my freshman and sophomore years of high school.</p>

<p>From one of the top 300 public high schools in the country.</p>

<p>Anythoughts on chances at stanford?</p>

<p>Any and all input is much appreciated.</p>

<p>Class rank? It's the most important factor. As long as you're top 5% you have a shot although you have no leadership. And if you claim successful trading, be prepared not to ask for financial aid.</p>

<p>No idea about class rank, not sure that's assessed at my school, very tough grading school though. Good chance in the top 5%, most definitely in the top 10 %.</p>

<p>I'm interested in starting a club to address that issue.</p>

<p>How much do colleges look into clubs?</p>

<p>If I start a club with a total of 5 members in it will they be less impressed than if I had started a club that had 40 members?</p>

<p>Also, I can't figure out how to make edit so I'll add them in this new post:</p>

<p>I'm treasurer of the indian club (0 % indian though)</p>

<p>And I teach conversational english as my community service.</p>

<p>You really have to stand out like crazy to get into Stanford. D's friend has 35 ACT, 10 AP classes (with 5's on test taken so far), varsity tennis, competitive robotics teams, newspaper (EC), service clubs, etc. She was rejected. Her sister had similar stats last year & was accepted to MIT. Moral of the story: Stanford is TOUGH to get into! But you never know --- do your best to participate in ECs you really like (starting a club is good idea), and do whatever you can think of to make yourself stand out among the pretty amazing crowd of applicants. Have other schools in mind, and then pray!!</p>

<p>You don't need a lot of leadership positions to get into Stanford. But--like kelsmom implied--you've got to have something. What got me in, I think (but I really don't know!), was my passion for language and travel. And my essays were very good. And I've gone above and beyond what my school has offered me when it comes to pursuing my education. I've got some other things going for me: I'm from a low-income family and a school that hardly sends anybody to top universities, but I've succeeded anyway; I'm a National Merit Semifinalist; I've got a 4.0; I'll have taken 7 AP classes total (4 of them during senior year); I was in AP Spanish in 10th grade and got a 5 of the exam... I've also taken almost every science class offered at my school, and wrote an essay about how my passion for language intersects my interest in science. My teacher and counselor recommendations were excellent. (On the other hand, I have virtually no awards, no prestigious, nationally-recognized honors, no athletic talent or anything of that sort under my belt.)</p>

<p>So you can have a bunch of achievements and show a lot of initiative and maintain a decent GPA in a competitive high school. And Stanford's adcoms will see a ton of other applicants who are just like you. I think the pertinent questions are:</p>

<p>Do you have a passion?
Will your essays be amazingly memorable?
Have you gone above and beyond?</p>

<p>And if your answers are yes, yes, yes, then you still might not get into Stanford. Hell, it's Stanford. </p>

<hr>

<p>Colleges won't be able to tell how many members the club you started has. </p>

<hr>

<p>So, you're the treasurer of the Indian Club but you're 0% Indian? :confused: How do you figure that works? Why are you in the club?--I hope it's not just to be in a club. :-&lt;/p>

<p>^^ I am in Asian Awareness Club, and Im 0% asian. I joined because i have friends who are asian, and therefore support the club. You don't have to be a certain way to join or start a club, as long as you support its purpose.</p>

<p>If you calculate GPA based on the metrics Stanford uses (only integers, and only core course) My GPA goes to an expected 3.9 by the time I apply,</p>

<p>Anniushka:</p>

<p>What constitutes "above and beyond"?</p>