<p>Hi! I would really appreciate any advice you could give me. I'm an NYC high school junior looking into colleges- particularly Stanford, which I absolutely fell in love with. I realize they basically look for the minority or the star athlete or the valedictorian, and I was just wondering what you thought my shots are for getting? I'm a 95 average student with about a 2150 SAT. For extracurriculars I have been on a community service 2 week trip in the summer, do weekly volunteering at a hospital,have my own blog that I write have been writing on for about 2 times a week (I am extremely passionate about my blog- it's a cooking blog), and have been taking additional language classes (i take them in school, too) weekly for a few years. I also have been doing an internship with a nutritionist for about a year, was on the debate team for a year, and was a holiday baking intern.I also take mostly AP classes.Do I have a good chance (for stanford, or any other top tier school for that matter- brown, upenn, johns hopkins?) Do you think my blog will be important in my consideration? Do you have any ideas to up my chances in the last few months that i have before I apply?
Thanks so so much!</p>
<p>Do you have a “good”/above-average chance at those schools? No, not really, but you are a decently competitive applicant and these would probably make decent “reaches” for you. Your passion for cooking looks like it would make a good essay topic.</p>
<p>I would say the most apparent (and immediate–you’re a junior, so improving already good grades and ECs isn’t really possible) thing you could improve on is your SAT. Your score is certainly not bad, and people with that score do get into the schools you listed, but topping it off a bit wouldn’t hurt.</p>
<p>Make sure you apply to some matches/safeties as well, and visit them. Even if you are qualified for the best schools you’re applying to, some part of admissions comes down to luck, and you can guarantee nothing.</p>
<p>Would you mind telling us your unweighted GPA in the 4.0 scale; I’m really unfamiliar with the 100 scale to know what a competitive GPA. You have varied ECs but seem to lack leadership positions or awards in any of your interests. Your internships are nice and all but don’t necessarily show accomplishment like an award would. Lastly, your SAT score, not to be mean, is not going to be competitive enough. 2150 is a good score, and if you study harder and take it again, I know you can get an even better score 
of course, you always hear of X or Y getting into Stanford with a 1900 but I have found a lot of those people have very prestigious awards or have special circumstances. Good luck! </p>
<p>Oh, lastly, if you’re serious about the top universities, better start those essays soon!! They make or break applications. No kidding.</p>
<p>Oh definitely mention that blog.</p>
<p>How many followers do you have on your blog? Does it have a large readership?</p>
<p>thanks for your advice! My school doesn’t give us our weighted/unweighted grade on a 4 point scale so I’m not sure. I’ll definitely work on the SAT score, but ECs are difficult because cooking is definitely my passion and I’m not sure how to channel that into awards and leadership and such…My school is a big commute from my house so it’s so hard staying after school for clubs and such so I’m really banking on my blog, although I was told that stanford “won’t care about it”. My blog, btw, has about 3 comments/ post and about 50 avg views per day. I’m reallly trying to up the views but It’s so hard!</p>