Tips on Admission

Colleges & Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>I've already posted on some other forums, but I would like to know my chances for Stanford.</p>

<p>Do any of you have tips on essays or the admissions process?</p>

<p>I'm going to register for a Discover Stanford tour. Are they really informative?</p>

<p>What should I do to improve my chances? </p>

<p>My school only offers 7 AP classes. By the time I graduate, I would have taken 6 APs.</p>

<p>User Name: nhsharvard
Gender: M
Location: California
College Class Year: 2012
High School: Public
Will apply for financial aid: Yes</p>

<p>If race is considered, I'm Filipino.</p>

<p>Academics:</p>

<p>GPA - Unweighted: 4.00
GPA - Weighted: 4.527
Class Rank: 1
Class Size: 504</p>

<p>Scores:</p>

<p>Bad SAT score: 1640(Writing: 490)</p>

<p>Practice ACT: Composite-27</p>

<p>English: 20
Math: 28
Reading: 31
Science:28</p>

<p>I'm currently studying for the ACT in Sept. 15.</p>

<p>SAT II U.S. History: 720
SAT II Math Level 2 (IIC): 640
I'm retaking Math II and I'm taking Biology E.</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:</p>

<p>Significant Extracurriculars: Debate Club, Marching Band, Wind Ensemble, Jazz Band(possibly, All state honor band next year), Honor Band, Nature Club, CSF, APUSH Club, GATE, Boys State, NSHSS, Junior Statesmen, Academic Decathlon, Model UN</p>

<p>Summer programs: Boys State, JSA Summer symposium</p>

<p>Leadership positions: School Site Council Member, ASB Sophomore Class Treasurer, Band Council Treasurer(next year), CSF Honorary Officer, Founder of various clubs for next year: Model UN, Acad. Decathlon, National Honors Society, JSA</p>

<p>Volunteer/Service Work: Library, 2 years, Teacher's Office(21 hours), Conference(7 hours), Tutoring (2 days/wk); Next Year: help improve math tutoring program and start language arts tutoring program</p>

<p>Honors and Awards: 9th grade: 3 Band awards, Renaissance program award 11th place, honor band award
10th grade: 5 band Awards, Renaissance program award 2nd place, honor band award
11th grade: band awards, Renaissance program, honor band award
College Summer programs: Concurrent Enrollment(at Fall), Bridge, ACE Program(Spring and Fall)</p>

<p>Colleges of Interest:
Stanford University
Harvard University
Yale University
University of California - Los Angeles</p>

<p>Area: East Coast, West Coast
Importance of cost: Secondary</p>

2

<p>you need to bulk up your test scores</p>

3

<p>make sure you express who you are in your essays</p>

4

<p>Given your class rank, it is surprising that your SAT score is low. Are you just not great with standardized testing? You clearly did very well in all your classes so I'm just curious what's going on. Test taking anxiety? Never officially been taught grammar rules? The good news is that it should be pretty easy to increase your writing score a lot. You just need to learn the few grammar rules they are testing you on, learn to recognize them, realize that often the correct sentence still sounds awkward, and learn to write a very very basic four or five paragraph essay. A little bit of studying should make a huge difference. </p>

<p>Make sure your essays express who you are. </p>

<p>The Discover Stanford tour consists of an hour-long information session followed by an hour-long campus tour. The information sessions tells a bit about Stanford and a lot about applying to Stanford. The tour covers basic academic information, residential life and student life, and more specifics about academic programs that Stanford offers. Your tour guide can answer questions after the tour, as can anyone working at Hoover Tower Observation Deck or Visitor Information Services, since they are all Stanford student tour guides too. Most students on campus during the summer are not Stanford students. If you have particular questions, you can ask them during or after your campus tour.</p>

5

<p>I'm taking the ACT in Sept. I don't think I'll retake the SAT, if I do well on the ACT. If I score 32+, I might retake the ACT and ignore the SAT because I'm horrible when I write about first-hand experiences.</p>

<p>As I stated, I got a 27 on a practice ACT, so I'm currently studying to raise my score up to at least a 32.</p>

<p>I think I'll have more hope to get in, if I start new ECs, continue my current ECs, get a high ACT score, high subject test scores, and pull off a great essay. A counselor at my school helped a few people get into some top schools 2 years ago, so I'll ask her for help on my personal statement.</p>

6

<p>As I just noted in another thread, Stanford describes what it is looking for in applicants as "intellectual vitality." Whatever you can show that shows you have that will help your cause. I know a current Stanford student who had significant marching band involvement when he was in high school. But he also pursued, evidently, much more challenging courses in high school (partly by dual enrollment in a local college, as I recall) and he had many more high test scores as part of his application. </p>

<p>See </p>

<p><a href="http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2006/april26/minutes-042606.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2006/april26/minutes-042606.html&lt;/a> </p>

<p>for talk by Richard Shaw (admissions dean) on Stanford's admissions strategy. That may provide you with some tips.</p>