<p>answering your question ordinaryguy, it's because all of these people applied early... they all received their decisions on dec 15th</p>
<p>i was rejected with a 2230/800-790 SAT II... on the other hand, another person got in with a 2100 SAT and sub-700 SAT II's in three subjects... i asked for her essay, and it was truly extraordinary.</p>
<p>you want to find a standard for stanford admission? don't look at SAT scores, cuz they wont get you anywhere. ask some acceptee's for a look at their essay, most of the people on this board are friendly enough. chances are you'll see that their essays are stellar, and that's what got them in.</p>
<p>one thing:
you've gotta get it in your head that stanford's admissions process is TRULY unique. i dont know of a school that holds the essay in such a high regard. ivy league schools consider essays incredibly crucial, just not the same way stanford does. looking at stats in the common data set and trying to fall into each one of those categories to increase your chances is the wrong way of going about it. make yourself an interesting person with ambitious goals, unique opinions, and engaging stories... and you're gonna do just fine.</p>
<p>my friend who got in SCEA actually had an admissions officer write him a note relating to his essay in his invitation to admit weekend (or the local acceptance banquet, not sure which)...his short essays were pretty great i have to say...then again he also had a 1600</p>
<p>Stats:[ul]
[<em>] SAT: 800 verbal 800 math 760 writing
[</em>] SAT IIs: 800 math, 770 lit, 760 chem
[<em>] GPA: 3.79 UW
[</em>] Rank: 9/225 (rank is based on weighted GPA)
[li] Other stats: AMC/AIME/USAMO = 143/10/yes(i got an 11)[/li] 8 APs with 4-5s, 7 on IB history
various latin awards</p>
<p>[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Essays: Amazing, some of the best i've done
[</em>] Teacher Recs: i'm sure they were great
[<em>] Counselor Rec: i don't know about this one, but it was probably pretty good
[</em>] Hook (if any): i do a lot of theater, and i did a research program over the summer at Florida State University. i'm pretty well rounded?
[/ul]Location/Person:[ul]
[<em>] State or Country: Florida
[</em>] School Type: public, poor
[<em>] Ethnicity: white
[</em>] Gender: male
[/ul]Other Factors: i think my writing did it for me General Comments: I can't believe it. I applied regular but got admitted early. It said at the bottom:</p>
<p>"Ben, you are among a very small group of applicants for whom I have the great privilege of approving early for admission to Stanford. I now look forward to the oppurtunity to welcome you to "The Farm" during Admit Weekend as well as to our Stanford family next fall"</p>
<p>Then at the bottom next to his signature the dean wrote "Come to Stanford!" and underlined it twice.</p>
<p>I have gotten a C semester average before, and numerous B semester averages - I'm a procrastinator.</p>
<p>" i did a research program over the summer at Florida State University."</p>
<p>The common denominator for Stanford admits (without other hooks) from our school district seems to be serious (perhaps competitive) academic research programs.</p>
<p>awesome job codeblue
it's the math thing
if you get into the USAMO, your chances for HYPS increase exponentially. but i dont say that to discredit the rest of your accomplishments.... making stanford early. wow. you're a total stud.</p>
<p>codeblue congrats, i would be so excited...</p>
<p>reading your stats, you seemed a lot like me except with higher scores/more hardcore math stuffs, then I read the "note" at the bottom of the letter starting with "Ben." Holy hell, I nearly had a heart attack, as thats my first name as well!</p>
<p>Anyway, thought it was interesting, go Bens!</p>
<p>What diamondT said in his earlier post is subject to heavy debate. "Plenty" of Asians get in with mediocre scores and grades but great EC's? That needs some clarification, bud. You also didn't even cite examples. Show me "plenty" of those Asians with incredible EC's and who got in that basis alone. This kid is either lucky or trying to over-compensate for something. He's wrong though no matter what.</p>
<p>I feel that his advice was not only dubious but completely irresponsible. Sure, there's the odd Asian kid who made it in with mediocre board scores and a sense of humor or his own non-profit or a varsity letter in basketball. They ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN. Asians, you will always have it harder and to take this approach is incredibly risky with a much lower chance of payoff. Make sure you keep your grades as close to a 4.0 as possible, take the hardest curriculum possible (college classes, not AP, always help) and make sure your boards are high! Everyone thinks that they will be that single Asian who wows the adcoms with evidence of their non-Asianness. It even happened to one of my friends, who made it into MIT RD with a 1340 and nothing more than being valedictorian at a small midwestern high school. Oh, he was also prom king and he rocked in every way as a person. But sorry, kids, the overwhelming odds are that it will not be you. So play it safe and definitely pursue your passions on the side. That seems to have worked well for the vast majority of Asians out there.</p>
<p>I read somewhere that you could apply to both Stanford (SCEA) AND UNC (EA). Is this true, because if sort-of defeats the purpose of SINGLE CHOICE early action....?</p>
<p>No, you cannot, ubetteraccept_me. UNC (EA) would let you apply to other EA schools, but any SCEA school will not allow you to apply to any EA school (if my explanation makes any sense). :] Let me know if you want me to clarify.</p>