Hey! I was hoping for some insight on my chances of getting accepted into Stanford. Anyone feel free to offer your honest assessment; it’s appreciated either way.
First: I'm a 26 year old African American male, from NJ, as well as a low income household, and I am in my final semester at a local community college. I'm an english major and hope to perhaps get into law school afterwards.
The Catch: When I was in highschool I was a good student, not great, although my family overhyped me (alot of that had to do with me being a first generation college prospect). I had about a 2.85 Unweighted GPA and a weighted one of closer to 4 (took a lot of honors) back in 2008. Just before graduation I was incarcerated for a Felony-Murder charge. No! I didn’t kill anyone, nor did I know that a murder was going to happen. I was the driver and remained in the car the whole time. But I was charged anyway. In NJ, just knowing that a robbery would occur (I was aware of this unfortunately) is enough to be charged, regardless of whether you was the shooter. My role in this was deplorable, and I deeply regret it, but I’m doing my best to better myself. Anyway, I had a public defender (family had no money) and I didn’t trust him at all. So I represented myself at trial as a pro se defendant and was acquitted on the major offenses. I was 21 at the time. I spent 7 years in prison. While inside I enrolled in college. I gained 25 credits and had a 4.0 Gpa. When I was released I transferred to another local c.c. and maintained a 3.65 gpa. My GPA is about a 3.8 now. I figured I should try my luck to get into Stanford. Mainly because, as a convicted felon, it is extremely difficult to find work unless you have extraordinary distinguishing qualities. I figure graduating grom an elite college like Stanford would help. I took the SAT recently. Have yet to receive the scores but, to be honest, they may be low. I’m thinking 1150-1350; anything below or over would be a surprise (although I do feel confident in my essay portion). My extracurriculars are focused to 1: I spent the last few years doing motivational speaking at Drug Programs and even my own high school, something I thoroughly enjoy and has a redemptive quality for someone like me. I don’t have the time to participate in any other clubs or anything because I work 50 hours a week to help my family (I’m the only one working now). But I am working on a memoir and although its not published, I’m on my 3rd manuscript and plan to send it to an agent very soon. My essays are strong (at least I think so) but I won’t over hype them. I talked about my experiences in prison and representing myself at trial and based it around the theme of doing the impossible and how it resulted in me applying to Stanford, despite the small chances of acceptance. I was apprehensive about discussing this, but my professor thought I should: although marred by tragedy, it is sincere and unique (successfully representing myself at trial, I’m aware, is extremely rare and could both be looked at as laudable or bad considering I put myself in the situation initially). I know my chances are slim but I’m hoping that maybe my hooks, extra curric, recommendations, and overall uniqueness of my story could off set my potentially low SAT. Maybe being African American, low income and from the east coast could help as a diversity factor. Hell, even the fact that I’m 26 and experienced may be factored in: i do believe I could have a positive impact on other students, maybe.
Well, thanks for your time and feedback. Let me know what you think.