Hello! I really loved your video and how insightful it was. I saw that you have a lot of extracuriculars that you did throughtout your high school years. I was wondering as to if you have any advice for managing your time with all of the activities that you did. Also, how did you manage to dedicate some time to learning or studying such as programming languages, studying for exams and projects?
Wish you the best, and congrats for getting into Standford!
Hi, @LemonCake678, I’m glad you enjoyed the video! Admittedly, I only fit in all those extracurriculars purely because they were all stuff that I was interested in, so I never really got tired of them. If I were to give any advice in this respect, I’d say to follow your passions. Don’t do something because you think it’ll look good, do something because you genuinely want to do it! It’ll be more fun for you, and make you a stronger applicant. As for the programming languages, I picked most of those up through jobs/projects. Once you’ve mastered the fundamentals of programming, it only really takes a couple days to get a solid grip on a language; so it’s not like learning Spanish, French, etc.
Hi, during my first years of high school, I did good in school with a GPA of 4.04/4.7. By end of high school I did terrible with my GPA was 3.6. I have taken the SAT with a score of 1580. I help babysit my younger sibling and I have a part time job. I am attending community college so far with my GPA is a 4.0. I want to transfer to a top college. Do I have a chance?
So far my list is University of Notre Dame, University of Rochester, University of Texas at Austin, Northwestern University, Johns Hopkins University, Washington University in St. Louis, Wake Forest University, Lehigh University, Vanderbilt University, University of Southern California, Northeastern University, New York University, and Villanova University.
Could I get into UCLA cs with a 3.7 unweighted and 4.4 weighted gpa. With an internship at Airbnb in the summer. Officer position at a few clubs in school. Running a high school hackathon. Having a job as a programming teacher. Having lots of experience in cs.
Congratulations!
Hi, @dreamcollege24! Unfortunately, I don’t know much about transfer admissions, but I definitely think you’ve got a good shot. The fantastic SAT scores will definitely help; and if you have any extenuating circumstances, make sure to explain those on the common app. The only thing that I’d say is that your list is a bit top-heavy, maybe add some safety schools in the mix? It’s a good idea even though I, personally, think you may not need them.
Hi, @Cocakolla! While you’re certainly qualified, remember that UCLA still has a low acceptance rate. If you’re in-state and have solid SAT scores, that’ll definitely help your case; but if not, I’d recommend that you write some really solid essays. UCLA is famous for caring much more about the essays than other public ivies.
Hi Austin! Congratulations on your acceptance to Stanford. I wanted to ask what projects did you do for your Computer Science Extracurricular?
Hi, @collegefreak_789! For my CS extracurriculars, I did the following:
Congratulations on your admissions. I really liked your video. It was very authentic and it was refreshing to see someone who embraced their high school experience and not singularly focused on stats and competitions. Stanford is lucky to have you. I have two questions:
(1) where did you apply early decision/restrictive early action?
(2) what opportunities did you pursue over your summers?
Congrats Austin! Stanford is in a quarter system. Most books are written for the semester system. Any concerns?
Hi, @CubbieBlue16, thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the video. I pursued restrictive early action at Stanford, and was admitted after deferral. REA at Stanford is a little bit different than, say, Harvard or Yale; because instead of deferring like 60% or more of applicants, Stanford typically defers less than they accept. After deferral, they make you send three more essays; but the accept-after-defer rate is like 25%, so it's well worth it.
Over my summers, I did the following:
9th Grade – Took Summer Geometry at my school and was a camp counselor
10th Grade – Took courses at Carnegie Mellon through their AP/EA program
11th Grade – Worked in web development for my school and did AP/EA again
Hi, @smithsonian29! Actually, part of the reason that I liked Stanford so much was the Quarter System. I thought that it’d give me greater flexibility and more opportunities to explore classes. As for the textbooks, I plan on studying CS, so I’m not sure that there’s as much of a reliance on them; and for those requiring textbooks, I’m sure that they have them. Also, for some subjects, Stanford does a 3-quarter class series, so I’d imagine there’s some overlap with the semester system. That’s definitely a good point for others to consider though!
A Quarter System may give you more flexibility to double major or pursue a minor. But it’s probably more intensive. Good luck in your studies and hopefully some day you can report here on the differences you found between Stanford and Carnegie Mellon.
For those who haven’t seen your Youtube video (including me), can you give the title or link to the video? Thanks!
Hi, @aesthiko! Here’s a link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72UaoocZEH4
Congrats again on all of your amazing college acceptances! Did you apply to Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering or to the Trinity School of Arts & Sciences? Thank you.
Hi, @BlueDevil666! For Computer Science, you can apply to either school, but I applied to Trinity because of Program II and the smaller core curriculum.
Hellooo @bennettge314 
do you happen do have insight on international admissions? Im a Canadian (sometimes ppl dont consider us as international but just the friendly ppl north of the border, but clearly and (in this case) unfortunately i have a different citizenship) Stanford has been my dream school for a while now and im already getting pretty anxious abt it.
Right now im going through a dilemma of where I should apply Early action. Ik it seems too early for that, but for international students admissions is crazy slimmm and even more slim if u apply for financial aid (need aware for international students).
Thats why REA/ED is so important to get in. Since most unis have a cap of like ~10% international students, it is hyper competitive and they usually only choose like IMO or ISEF winners or someone who is super dedicated/fitted (guess that applies to most). Since they only have a certain amount of spots and want like dedication, REA ensures that the international student spots wont be like mostly full unlike RD.
*(im assuming and basing this info mostly on what my guidance counsellor said)
Another issue that comes with being an international student is financial aid. Ig you know that stanford is need aware for international students. So if I want to use my REA spot on stanford, I would most likely not apply for financial aid, which puts a burden on me if i do get in and choose to go. Whereas if I dont apply for financial aid, my chances are basically next to none, and I will probably waste that 1 wonderful REA opportunity that I have.
Interestingly enough, the way Harvard admits Canadians is actually quite ridiculous. I knew of someone a quite a few years back (btw this may be false but tbh i dont think so) she said that there are like 20 canadians at Harvard for one year i think. So Harvard is actually nice to Canadians and doesnt accept only like under 5 a year! saddd. Harvard also is need blind for international students.
I honestly love Stanford so much. I went to SPCS last summer and it was one of the best experiences of my life (+amazing weather).
Ultimately Im comparing two of the hardest unis to get into. But I still can only REA to one of them. Based on your experience at Stanford and their international students’ aid would you say it is worth it? To apply REA to Stanford?
Do you have any insight abt this? is what i said mostly true (since i heard most of it from others)
also btw ill need like a decent amount of financial aid and the more aid the worse so ;-;
Hi, @fettaalfredo! I don’t know too much about international admissions, but I’d assume that applying from Canada is not as bad as you think – there are definitely more than 5 Canadians in the Stanford Class of 2024. Conventional wisdom says that you should apply to the school you like the most early, but I know the REA/ED game is difficult to navigate, so I’ll share some thoughts on the matter.
I’m a CS Major, so there were basically three tracks that I was considering: (1) EA MIT, UChicago, Caltech, (2) ED Carnegie Mellon, EA MIT, UChicago, Caltech, (3) REA Stanford. In the end, I applied REA to Stanford, simply because it was my top school and I felt that it was my best application. If possible, I’d encourage you to consider ED options as well as REA, because the advantage is, typically, much, much bigger in ED.
If you’re dead-set on REA, however, Stanford will probably give you less of a boost than Harvard, especially because Harvard is need-blind for international students. The difference in admit rates at Stanford is like 8% vs 3%, as opposed to the 14% vs 3% difference of Harvard. To be fair, Stanford does accept ~25% of deferrals RD, like myself; however, they typically defer less than they accept, so their overall REA acceptance rate is probably closer to around 10%.
All things being equal, if you’re truly okay with applying early to either school, I would encourage you to apply to Harvard REA over Stanford REA. I would guess that while Harvard and Stanford are similarly difficult for college admissions, the admissions rates indicate that it’s probably easier to get into Harvard than Stanford in the early round. Granted, I’m not a college admissions officer, and you should trust your guidance counselor’s opinion over mine.
That being said, whenever you choose to apply to Stanford, please do not indicate that you are not financially needy to improve your chances. An extremely slight bump in the admissions process is not worth financial duress for you and your family.
Hope this helps, and feel free to PM me if you need any clarification!