Stats + Stanford Early Action Dilemma

Applying to College
1

<p>Hey what up CC
So uhm... I must say I am feeling a bit of worried right now. Couple years back I set Stanford as my goal and the dream school (I love everything about that school)... and decided I should do the Early Action. I have been doing everything I need to do to get the EA done. However, after reading this thread</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/531757-how-much-does-applying-scea-stanford-affect-chances-reach-applicant.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/531757-how-much-does-applying-scea-stanford-affect-chances-reach-applicant.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I really don't know if I want to EA anymore. Yes, I truly want to go there, but how it will affect my chances? Like everyone said in that thread, doing EA does mean I am competing in a better pool of applicants. Plus, a couple of my friends with pretty good stats straight up got REJECTED in the EA. I am afraid that I might be wasting my EA on Stanford if I don't stand a fairly good chance. I don't know. I want you guys to take a quick look at my stats and give me some advice. To be honest, I have always thought I would have a decent shot at Stanford. (Not to be arrogant, sorry.) I might be wrong though.</p>

<hr>

<p>Large competitive public school (~2200 kids)
Male Korean-American</p>

<p>IB Full Diploma Candidate
GPA UW: 4.00 (1/613)
GPA W: Forgot the exact GPA, but ranked 3rd in my class.
Most likely National Merit Semifinalist
SAT I: 760 Math, 740 CR, 800 WR. 1500/1600, 2300/2400.
SAT II: 800 Korean w/ Listening, 760 Math 2. Taking Physics/History in Oct.</p>

<p>Courseload: (I won't include Freshman/Sophomore year since IB = Junior/Senior.)</p>

<p>Junior Year:
IB Econ
IB PCalc
IB Physics I
IB English I
IB History I
IB Spanish
Leadership</p>

<p>Senior Year:
IB Theory of Knowledge
IB Calc
IB Physics II
IB English II
IB History II
IB Spanish HL
Leadership</p>

<p>Sophomore Class President
Junior Class President
ASB(Student Body) President
Korean Student Association President
Speech/Debate Secretary
Varsity Tennis (hopefully captain)
National Honor Society
Link Crew Coordinator</p>

<p>Volunteer at OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry)
Internship at Congressman David Wu's Office (~150 hours over the summer)
Lots of tutoring experience in and out of school.</p>

<p>KSE Mathematics Contest 2006 1st place, 2007 2nd place, 2008 2nd place.
AMC School Winner
Various tennis awards, such as Juniors Pacific West 1st place.</p>

<p>Heavily involved in church:
Multiple mission trips (Indian reservations, etc)
Youth Committee leader
Church band drummer for several years
State Representative for a national presbyterian youth conference</p>

<p>and most importantly...
USA NATIONAL STARCRAFT PLAYER!
Starcraft:BW for life. I might actually put this on my apps hahaha.</p>

<p>SCEA or RD?</p>

2

<p>I have basically the same stats and I got into stanford early this year. I do have double legacy, though, but i don't think that helped that much.</p>

3

<p>If it's your first choice then do it. You aren't going to need EA at any school I can imagine (apart from ivies) and if it's truly where you want to go go for it. I'd be very surprised if you weren't at least deferred, regardless of what happened to people you know.</p>

<p>As for the Starcraft thing, I'd definitely put it down. It gives colleges an idea of who you are and is also extremely unique. I'd expect that admissions officers would know the strategy involved in a game such as starcraft, though you may want to explain what the team is and what the game is and involves, etc. It'd also be a very unique essay topic.</p>

<p>So anyways, if Stanford is truly your first choice Early Action can only help you, and at the very least I'd expect you to be deferred into RD.</p>

4

<p>apply EA....they're not going to reject you then if they would accept you normal....worst case scenario you get deferred and then you are in the normal pool anyway.</p>

5

<p>Thanks a lot of your input guys. I am just a little scared because all the people around me who EA to Stanford seem to get rejected instead of being deferred.</p>

<p>Titan124: One of my friends suggested I should write my essay on Starcraft as well. I would actually love that haha. Writing about something I truly love doing! Do you play?
But unfortunately, I think I am gonna write about my experiences in Leadership. It's really the biggest part of me and my apps. Still not sure what specific topic though..</p>

6

<p>Apply to Stanford SCEA if it's your first choice. Don't worry about the odds; no matter how you apply to Stanford, the odds are overwhelmingly against you (and I don't mean you specifically--it's hard for everyone to get into the school).</p>

<p>But seriously, if you were to get rejected SCEA, then you would have been rejected RD; if you were accepted SCEA, you would have been accepted RD. They defer students when they need to compare the student to others in the RD round to make a decision. However, as Stanford says, they are committed to giving as many final decisions as possible SCEA, so when they make a definite decision (accept/reject), they are sure of their choice.</p>

7

<p>Are you playing SC for WCG this year? </p>

<p>And I think you have a good chance, so if you want to do SCEA go right ahead.</p>

8

<p>zomg, you are probably the fifth or sixth fellow forensicator that I've met on these forums with awesome stats!!
We speechies are just plain superhuman :D</p>

<p>Did you go to Vegas this year??</p>

9

<p>lolcats4: No I am not playing WCG this year. Though If I did I would qualify for sure :P Sadly I have to study for SAT IIs, do internship, write college essays and stuff. Next year for sure though. You should go too!</p>

<p>hookem168: Haha yeah I love S&D. But no I didn't go to Vegas. I am nothing special, just an average debater.</p>

10

<p>cool beans. what kind of debate? LD? Policy? I watched LD finals this year (both fellow Texans! w00t!) and those 2 kids should get automatic admission wherever the heck they want lol</p>

<p>Really the only debate stuff I do is Extemp (which....dude...would be an instant plus on my app if any adcoms knew what it was. what a beast of an event haha)</p>

<p>but I got 18th in Oratory at nats this year!</p>

11

<p>Whoa! So you play SC really well? That's nice! Your stats are really good, and even though the adcoms may not respect what it takes to play SC at a highly proficient level, I do. I think you have a good shot, but I won't lie to you and say you're definitely in or that you can't be rejected. What other schools are you considering applying early to? If you have no other option in mind, you might as well select Stanford. SCEA is not more competitive than RD, it's equally competitive. Good Luck! If you do end up choosing Stanford, make sure to hit me up so we can enjoy a good game of SC (or SC 2 if it comes out by then).</p>

12

<p>dude ***, you're presbyterian too?! we might as well be the same person lol</p>

13

<p>Haha wow we really are similar then huh. I do CX debate + impromptu speech. 18th at Nationals? Damn, that's really impressive. I wish I were that good. I don't think I am even top 3 in my state lol.</p>

<p>Cervantes: Yeah those adcoms have absolutely no idea what competitive SC takes! All those hours of analyzing replays, surviving through days with instant ramen+soda, the callous on my wirst, and all those times I have punched my pillow after losing stupidly. Thanks for the advice though! I think I will go ahead and do the SCEA. Man only if I somehow got into Stanford, we will have some hardcore SC/SC2 sessions. Starcraft 2 = SICK.</p>

14

<p>Dude, impromptu is beastly, too. After I dropped in quarters at Nats (gah! one point away from semis!) I did Impromptu for the first time as my Consolation event. First topic: "Vegas Showgirls." My judge was a college male. Needless to say, I took the 1.... lmao</p>

<p>Yeah I'm realllllly hoping that adcoms know how hard it was to get 18th. Forensics is a hardcore EC, even if you don't get to nats, so they better recognize it as such!</p>

15

<p>What is awesome about Joan and Todd (the two finalist) I debated Todd at Nat quals and yes he handed me my butt. But Joan is going to Yale and Todd is going to Georgetown. Anyway Texas pretty much rocks, at our state tournament alone we had seven of the top 16 debaters in the nation. My friend (Cockroft) got to quaters. Yeah Texas pretty much rox!</p>

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<p>Who here does extempt, i wish i could have gone to Nats, but in Texas on the Houston circuit, you have to be able to win at nationals to go. (Out of the four ppl who qualified at our tournament 1 of them won nats and the other was like 10th or someting).</p>

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<p>Haha stop taking over my thread you intense debaters! ;P</p>

18

<p>Yes, f'sho, Texas is tops in debate, I would say. Closed out LD finals (with a couple more in quarters/semis, I believe), won StuCo (idk which), did well in other debate events......basically we are animals haha</p>

<p>Yeah I do Extemp, but only on the local Texas level. I was a novice this year, so I won a couple of novice FX/DX tournaments, and got to semis in varsity a couple of times (once at the Hays tournament, which is beastly for debate). Anyway, yeah, extemp at our district tourney was insane. There were like 5 guys in finals that could've easily made it to quarters at nats, but didn't qual.</p>

<p>ANYWAY, I'm done hijacking your thread, MrPrez, sir! :)</p>

19

<p>Thanks hookem! You and Dbate can PM each other, I suppose? ;)</p>

20

<p>lolz can you tell that most forensicators are fairly passionate/long-winded people?! haha it'll serve me well in my interview and essays</p>