<p>Hey everyone,
After having used this website religiously for over a year, I realized tonight how I haven't been giving anything back. So go ahead and use this thread to ask the new Stanford admits of any concerns you have regarding your applications. I'm sure the other entering freshmen would love to help you out too. Instead of posting random threads with individual questions, just put up your query here (Keep chances threads separate though)</p>
<p>Cheers!</p>
<p>thank you for taking such an initiative! i am sure it will help.
amongst the many questions you will recieve from me, the first is this- I have never previously planned for college or aimed to meet the needs of any particularly good ones. Only recently I have become aware about the entire college application process and I have fallen desperately in love with Stanford. But I feel thoroughly illiterate and under-prepared. Any pointers on how to get started with researching for college and meeting their needs, especially Stanford? Oh, and boasting self-confidence?</p>
<p>Hey motshokonna,
that’s okay actually. If you’re aiming for schools like Stanford, I’d say your confidence is an axiom that leads you on anyways. And about researching, definitely look at the websites first, and go through this forum. There is no such thing as a “Need” when it comes to the top schools, esp not at Stanford. But you should definitely hunt down this one thread on the Stanford boards that talks about an adcom’s opinions.</p>
<p>Don’t worry too much. one thing that a lot of highschoolers don’t realize is that colleges don’t want kids who’ve worked four years to get into college. They want people who’ve really learned for the sake of it and have grown as people. If you’ve managed those two, your safe. Just be sincere from now on! =D</p>
<p>uneverknow, tell me honesty. How nerve-wracking was the process? I know your name suggests otherwise, but were you swayed one way or the other about whether you’d get in or not?</p>
<p>I don’t know about uneverknow, but I thought the process was less nerve-wracking than i had anticipated. The most stressful aspect is filling out applications but you get into the rhythm of the essays and forms eventually. Having had a fairly heavy schedule senior year, it was pretty easy for me to “forget” about college and worry about finals and APs. When the slew of acceptance letters come around March/April, confidence levels rise. The first rejection letter always hits hardest but once you realize that you’ve gotten into other great schools, life looks a lot better.</p>
<p>Of course, being wait-listed can arguably be more nerve-wracking than outright rejection. But that’s what forced waiting tends to do, anyway.</p>
<p>Well from December->early March I was SURE I would be rejected so I wasn’t worried at all. I just convinced myself that I’d be rejected from all my reach schools (except maybe Duke where I was a legacy). When I got my waitlist from WashU I figured I’d be rejected at HYPS and accepted a Duke, so I still wasn’t worried. When I got my acceptance from Duke I was a little surprised and it boosted my confidence for the rest of my apps. The last couple days before HYPS came out I was getting really anxious, but less than I expected. Opening my Yale/Stanford acceptance webpages/emails was a lot less “life-changing/omgexcited” than I thought it’d be. I was just like: “Oh…***<em>…wow! Awesome haha! *text friends and parents</em>”. Then the rest of the day I just felt like “wow cool” but I didn’t jump up and down going crazy or anything. It was somewhat anticlimactic.</p>
<p>motshokonna -
I agree with what uneverknow said about not having to prepare for college your entire high school career. I did not think about college until late junior year when I knew I would need to start applying soon. People overrate the advantages of planning out 16 APs in 4 years and acing the SAT with 2300+ scores by hiring private SAT tutors and attending special courses. People overrate the advantages of hitting up as many clubs (academic clubs, haha) as possible in 4 years and taking a leadership position in each. </p>
<p>The college application process for me was more about gathering everything I had done in the last 4 years in and out of school and putting it in writing. I did everything I did because I enjoyed them and because I was truly interested. You have to look at even the more mundane things about your life and learn to express them in a favorable light, and find the value they hold. You will be surprised to find patterns in your regular activities that show what your true passions are, and that is important when writing essays, especially for Stanford. Don’t stress yourself out!</p>
<p>ExcitedG-
I point blank didn’t think I was getting in. Stanford was my only high-reach school, and I applied SCEA because I really liked what I learned about Stanford after an extensive college search. But it was more of a joke app for me. I guess because of this, applying was not as nerve-racking, ha. I just tried to put my best foot forward, worked hard on the essays, and then I moved on to other colleges that I saw as more likely. No one was more surprised when I received an acceptance letter, especially being SCEA; I cried pretty hard after reading the email several times just to make sure, and I rarely cry. I thought I would be going to UT Austin (rolling admission let me know pretty early) or UMD: College Park (my state’s flagship). It was a good day =]</p>
<p>If you apply to Stanford, you’ll probably be so busy with keeping up your all-important first semester senior grades and applying to other colleges that it shouldn’t be too nerve-wracking. I think its best to avoid CC during that time; it can make the wait all the worst IMO.</p>
<p>hey guys. I was just wondering…I am from Hong Kong and I am nationally ranked in the top 20 for Tennis. Is this too common between the applicants or will this help me get in? Thanks :)</p>
<p>Be yourself, your username is the perfect answer for your question (just as mine is about the entire college app process =P)</p>
<p>If you love this thing- which you obviously do- and if this helps you mature in any way, that’s just awesome.</p>
<p>On a different note, I still think this is awesome. Making Top Something of your country is always great, but being an athlete in a traditional sport from Hong Kong is very cool. Don’t get me wrong, I’m just saying that I haven’t heard of many tennis players living in the Orient. </p>
<p>Otherwise, If it makes you happy and you know it clap your hands!</p>
<p>Well I plan on applying to Stanford later this year, and I’ll certainly be back to this thread.</p>
<p>Great Idea.</p>
<p>For anyone who went to admit weekend:
What happens?</p>
<p>Q: How do you feel about Stanford’s Quarter System?</p>
<p>Thanks for starting this thread. My question is…</p>
<p>Do AP scores play a vital part in the admissions process? Does the adcom look at them to see if you’ve made all 5s and 4s?</p>
<p>@ Junie- I hope someone else here can help you out because I wasn’t at Admit Weekend</p>
<p>@Harambee- I think it’s great. It definitely increases load, but you get to take many different courses than is usual under the semester system. Many would complain that the more-frequent course selections make courses lack depth, but then again, you will only choose courses from different subjects if you want a general idea about those subjects anyways. You can always take a more advanced econ class if you wanna keep learning, but stop taking a philosophy class if the introductory course was enough. Plus, you get to take advantage of stuff like spending only 10 weeks abroad for study abroad, taking 10 weeks off for Stanford in Washington etc.</p>
<p>@forsaken- They definitely do play a vital role. But you really won’t be judged by the number of 5’s u have. Just as it is with any other academic course, they’ll judge you by the weight of your classes and the overall impression insinuated by your transcripts</p>
<p>@uneverknow,
Thanks a lot for your consolation. I am one of those people who get really agitated over every single matter, no matter how trivial. I blame my DNA. So you must understand that college applications might just give me a heart attack.
@aberdeen15,
As I read through college Admission websites it dawns on me how this entire college application process is all about self-realization. Especially Stanford’s. You say we should project our normal experiences in an aeshthetic light but this worries me. I find many of the things that I regularly do or enjoy doing to be very cliched but they are an important part of who I am. I want to write about them, but I fear they will make my application casual and trite.</p>
<p>@Junie </p>
<p>Admit weekend was a great experience! It’s basically an opportunity for all admits to visit the school and gives Stanford a chance to persuade its admits to actually commit to Stanford. This year it started on a thursday and ended on sunday. They provided us with complimentary food/housing; you get paired with a current freshman who lets you crash in their dorm and they are there to answer your questions/show you around. </p>
<p>Throughout admit weekend, there is a variety of activities; so many that you have to choose which ones you want to go to. Some of the more notable activities are the picnic with admissions officers (you get to meet the person that admitted you!), the academic expos (academic lectures/presentations on various topics…I went to one discussing the current economic recession and another discussing what “obama should know about Russia”). There is always something to do… ranging from pick-up basketball to a cappella concerts. There’s also a lot of useful seminars …for example, I went to one discussing what it takes to be a pre-med. It’s just a great time to get to know a lot of great people and helps you decide if you want to commit to Stanford…which for me I knew right after I opened my acceptance email : ) </p>
<p>Hope this helped! Hopefully other students can share their experiences at admit weekend</p>
<p>another 2013 admit here…</p>
<p>yea i absolutely loved admit weekend. i was kinda sick at the time so i was super tired and missed some of the evening activities, but the expos are awesome and i loved meeting my adcom officer. at that point i realized stanford was the place for me - she remembered exactly who all of us were, even months later, and i knew it wasn’t a fluke. also, at the picnic and at pretty much every other activity (even the opening speech thing at the auditorium - i made a ton of friends), you get to meet your prospective classmates. we went to a volleyball game against USC for free, a party planned for us (kinda middle school-ish but it was still fun), explored campus… it wasn’t too structured, and we got to go fountain-hopping. i loved it.</p>
<p>I’ll try answering questions that weren’t touched upon much by other admittees.</p>
<p>
I also think it is great, and it seems to get better everyday in my mind. Right now, I’m kinda stressing over my Autumn class schedule. It’s a relief to know that I have two more chances to take new courses this year. There are SO, SO many crazy interesting courses, and I’m having a difficult time managing my course load. I don’t wanna be stressed out with too much work, but it’s tempting to just go for it. Anyway, the Quarter system seems to lend itself to that type of thinking and interest in just taking a lot of whatever peaks your curiosity.</p>
<p>
I got a 2 in AP World History my sophomore year. It sucked. A lot. But I didn’t remove it from my record, and I was still accepted. It’s hard to pick one aspect of the admissions criteria and determine its importance, you know? Just do what you can do, as frustrating as that advice may be.</p>
<p>
Well, when you write about these supposed “cliched” activities, write about them in an awesome way. A good writer can turn the most trite subject matter into an amazing and captivating experience for the reader. Aim for that. When listing your activities, they give you room to write a short caption about it, if I remember correctly. Be short but descriptive. If you just let your strong emotions for what you do and what you’ve been through flow throughout the entire application, I believe the admissions officers pick those vibes up. It really is about self-realization!</p>
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<p>I feel like I’ve read that somewhere…is that from Strunk and White’s Elements of Style?</p>
<p>Just a question: for the essays, should I be writing about a wonderful experience I’ve had from one of my EC’s and how passionate I am about it? Because I have heard ppl say you should show the University what can u bring back to the school community n I am a bit confused…if you know what I mean :S</p>