To EA or not to EA

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>Hi, I'm debating on whether I'm competive enough to apply EA. I would REALLY like to, but obviously I want the best chance possible so I'm trying to figure out if EA/RD would be better for me. Here are my stats:</p>

<p>Objective:
-SAT I: 2340 (800 CR 760 M 780 W 10 essay)
-ACT: 35 (34 E, 34 M, 36 science, 36 reading, 10 writing)
- SAT II: 800-Math II, 790-US History, 770-Lit,
- Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
- Rank: 1/525
- AP: Euro (5) USH (5) Lit (5) Psych (5)
- Senior Year Course Load: [Most Rigorous] AP Bio, AP Micro/Macro, AP Calculus, Elementary French II @ local CC, College Composition, Journalism II, Music Appreciation
-Major Awards: National Merit Finalist, Outstanding Community Leader, Leaders of Tomorrow</p>

<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars:
French Honor Society (President)
College Prep/Volunteering Club (President)
Executive (Vice-President),
NHS (Vice-President)
Newspaper (News Editor)
Speech and Debate (Secretary)
Varsity Cross Country
Communications Advisory Board (sub-board of the Schoolboard, I'm the only person out of 20 who is under 40, we are rebranding our district and advising the communications department on how to most effectively improve the image of the District and how to help advocate change)</p>

<p>Job/Work Experience: tutor, political intern (150 hours, hopefully, still working on this)</p>

<p>Volunteer/Community service:
-100 hours at Church
-250 hours at Military Museum
-35 hours Hi-Step
-50 hours A+ tutoring</p>

<p>Summer Activities:
-Missouri Scholars Academy
-HOBY
-NSLC-International Diplomacy
-Trip to France
-Journalism Summer Camp</p>

<p>Essays: I'm going to spend forever on them
Teacher Recommendation: fantastic (Euro/Econ Teacher and AP Lit teacher)
Counselor Rec: loves me, hopefully amazing</p>

<p>Other
State: Missouri
School Type: large, uncompetitive public
Ethnicity: white
Gender: male
Income Bracket: 80-100k
Hooks: none </p>

<p>Thank You for ANY feedback!</p>

2

<p>Great numbers!</p>

<p>I’m sorry I can’t provide any insight, but what exactly would be the drawback of applying EA?</p>

3

<p>If you like your essays by Nov 1st, I’d say apply EA. the odds are better.</p>

<p>you have solid numbers, so I wouldn’t worry about that. (obviously)</p>

4

<p>@ powerbomb, eventhough EA has a higher admit rate (~10% EA to 7.5% RD this year?), some speculate that it is only higher because that is when they recruit athletes, legacies, etc, and that it can actually be more difficult.
lol I’m going to spend so much time on my essays it’s not even funny XD</p>

5

<p>Stanford has a SCEA right? (I think yes but I’m not totally sure)
But I think you have a great chance at it</p>

6

<p>but competition is must likely weaker in SCEA (because people have less time to prepare, ect).</p>

<p>and EVERYONE that I know that got deferred SCEA ended up getting rejected, leading me to believe competition is greater in RD than EA.</p>

7

<p>ok thanks for the advice! =D</p>

8

<p>I am an international student and am trying to do SCEA too. I have a good and handful amount of ECA’S inside my community, my school and uptill district level. My grades are highest in my class. I have a score of 22^ in SAT and perfect score in SAT II Phy Chem Math II.</p>

<p>I unfortunately belong to a school that is more study-focussed and hence they administered very less no of such ECA’s but I have managed to commit many activities all by myself. While my peers from other schools are provided oppurtunities and offers to participate in international and national competitions. I feel that this may prove a deterrent on my side if other guys too apply to Stanford, coz they accept at most two Student from our countries every year.</p>

<p>What to do yu think? How should I make this clear to adcoms that I made a fullest use of whatever was available for me at school and my community. I am really depressed whether this would go against my chances.</p>

9

<p>If Stanford is your first choice && you like your essays, then you should apply Early Action. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be happy with your essays, given that you have all summer to work on them + a couple of months during the school year. </p>

<p>It is Single Choice Early Action (SCEA), and hence, there are some drawbacks. But, even so, I think you should apply early. You’re stats are great, and you have time to work on your essays. </p>

<p>Apply early! It worked out for me.</p>

10

<p>Missouri is an underrepresented state. Your numbers are stupendous and you seem ready. Do it. The athlete/URM thing is true for SCEA but they DO take unhooked whites as well… especially those from underrepresented states. Good luck.</p>

11

<p>i say go for it. i wasn’t going to but i did. </p>

<p>and now i’m going to stanford. :)</p>

12

<p>You seem like a very strong applicant! I’d say apply early-I think you have a great shot!
Good Luck :)</p>

13

<p>I would not recommend that you apply SCEA to Stanford. Your strengths are your test scores & grades. Your EC’s are good but “ordinary”. All of that matters less to Stanford than any other top school. I would apply early decision to a different school where those things matter more, and apply to Stanford regular decision.
You are a white male with no hook, and your chances of acceptance are much less than you think, and won’t be improved much by applying early decision.</p>

14

<p>how much less graddis?
and the problem is that of my top 3 schools (Stanford, Harvard, Duke), none have EA except for Stanford
I’m also curious why this is your only post? it just seems kind of random XD
but thank you for the advice!</p>

15

<p>If you really want to go to Stanford over any other school, obviously don’t apply Early DECISION elsewhere and bind yourself to another school. Else, I honestly concur with Graddis (and the 1 post made :)) that you probably should consider using your “early” thing on schools that are more likely to admit you for what you are. If I were you and interested in a school like Harvard, for instance, maybe apply there early, and leave Stanford to regular decisions. If I were to think back to my high school days, I think none of the 3 who went to Harvard got into Stanford, and this wasn’t the only case. I think maybe 1 person who got into Stanford was ranked in the top 10, yet everyone who got into Harvard was in there, majority in the top 4. </p>

<p>It just seems like someone like you has better chances there.</p>

16

<p>but like I said in my earlier post Harvard doesn’t have ANYTHING and Duke has ED…</p>

17

<p>Oh my bad, I didn’t know they don’t have “early” anything. Maybe Princeton then? </p>

<p>Worst case, if no other top private school you’re into has an “early” plan, then there’s little reason not to apply EA to Stanford. I hope you make it in :)</p>

18

<p>well the problem is that I want to/need to do NROTC, which is why H S & D are my tops (they are the best schools w/NROTC for me & what I want to major in)</p>

<p>Thank you =D It’s really annoying that so few schools have NROTC :frowning: </p>

<p>Oh well I’ll just do my best to make my application the best it can be :)</p>

19

<p>USNAgolden2014, it is simply a numbers game, and that makes it tough for kids like you.
No doubt, it is a bit of a lottery for anybody to get into a school like Stanford.
But on an objective (grades, test scores) basis, you are in the top 5K-10K applicants in the country. But that’s not really the whole story. If you look at the common data set for Stanford, you can see what I am talking about.
For 2008-2009, 1,723 applicants were accepted. 536 were white, 214 were race unknown, and I think it is a safe bet that 99% of those were white or Asian.
So let’s say, probably generously, 700 white kids were accepted. Guesstimate 150 of those were recruited white athletes, so that leaves about 550 spots available for you.
Now, Stanford says that it is need-blind, just like most other elite private schools. But, is it really? Depends on how you define it. They certainly don’t look at whether you checked the box or not in evaluating your application. But on the other hand, they are certainly going to take their fair share from “elite” private prep schools, most of whom are white. Those people are paying big bucks for private high school for some reason, aren’t they? So how many spots are left over for you. Well, not many. Can’t say for sure, but fewer than you think.
If you look at accepted students, 1,020 out of 1723 applied for aid. 761 were determined to have need. So 962 did not have need. How many of those do you think were white or Asian? Most of them would be a good guess. So how many spots are really available to smart white kids from uncompetitive public high schools? Well, you do the math. Your test scores would indicate you are pretty good at it.</p>

20

<p>lol thanks for the analysis graddis, now I can understand where you are coming from THOUGH I probably won’t be applying for financial aid (but I won’t know until ~September), if I get my NROTC scholarship I definitely won’t apply for aid.</p>

<p>Whether to apply (or not) for Fin Aid is definitely something weighing on my mind </p>

<p>hmm yeah I just ran your numbers and that would say that I have ~10% chance XD
but in their common set data they state that they accept 18% of all 800 CRs, + my other SATs and 4.0/class rank I would think that that would boost my chances to at least 30%</p>

<p>ugh this whole process is so irritating, I guess I should just pretend that I’ve been rejected until I get the letter; it will either be confirmation or a fantastic surprise XD</p>

<p>thank you for your post graddis, I’m glad that you weren’t a one post wonder ;)</p>