What are my chances at Stanford?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

<p>High School Senior
Filipino male (I wanted to put myself as Pacific Islander but the common app specifically defines us as Asians -_-)
Average High School
Unweighted GPA: 4.0
Rank 1 of 394</p>

<p>Stats:
• SAT: CR 630, M 740, W 630; Predicted (Oct.): CR 700, M 760, W 670 (I'm worried about this part)
• SAT II: Math II 780, Chemistry 620 (Chemistry worries me a bit)
• GPA: UW 4.0
• Rank: top 1%</p>

<p>Subjective
• Essays: Decent in my opinion
• Teacher Recs: I'm sure they wrote great ones
• Counselor Rec: very good
• Supplement Information (Y/N): Y
• Hook: gay (though I haven't written my essays on it), music composer (senior project: concert band composition, directing my school's concert band to play it)</p>

<p>Personal
• Location: Hawai'i
• High School Type: meh; so-so public school
• Ethnicity: Full Filipino
• Gender: Male</p>

<p>Other
• Extracurricular: Leo Club President, past Leo VP, past Leo Secretary, past Math Team Captain, Songfest chief class arranger/transcriber for all four years, past Filipino-American Club music director, cast as lead male in The Sound of Music and as a principal role in Beauty and the Beast, Jazz band keyboardist, Concert band pianist, marching band 3-year veteran, Science Bowl captain-elect
• Awards: Published poet (local Star Poets contest), 2nd place in state for PTSA Reflections Program in Music Composition</p>

<p>AP/Honor Courses:
Freshman: Honors English and Physical Science
Sophomore: Honors World History, English, Biology
Junior: Honors English
Senior: AP Lit, Calculus BC, Physics B
AP tests: I plan to take AP Lit, Calc BC, Physics B, Music Theory (self-study) and Spanish Language (self-study)
Our school doesn't offer many Honors/AP classes and has six periods to fit whatever we can in. I'm worried about this part.</p>

<p>Volunteer/Work:
Through the Leo Club I've done about 200 hours+ of various community service projects
Jobless</p>

<p>**In Junior/Senior year, I helped to entirely rebuild our school website</p>

<p>If not Stanford, I'm going to UC Berkeley or UIUC; if I get the Regent's scholarship (the best), I'm going to U of Hawaii - Manoa</p>

2

<p>I mean, you’re not out of the running, but its a long shot if u don’t nail the essays.</p>

3

<p>Try to raise your SATs</p>

<p>Being Asian is bad :(</p>

4

<p>how is being gay a hook?</p>

5

<p>^Agreed. Especially if you don’t even talk about it in your essays?</p>

6

<p>Rofl gay as a hook?</p>

7

<p>Your test scores will hurt you a lot.</p>

<p>And being gay is not a hook. In fact, I’ve heard that admissions officers will look down on you if you try to present it as such.</p>

8

<p>You have a decent shot. Stanford loves musical applicants (I know many people with decent grades and excellent musical abilities who got in), so I would suggest emphasizing the “musical” aspect of your application, primarily in composition.</p>

<p>It’s great that your EC’s have focus within your school–try to bring your activities beyond your school and into the state/national circuit.</p>

<p>For composition, if you are truly good, I would suggest trying the MTNA (Music Teacher’s National Assocation) Composition Competition or MTA-whatever your state is- one. It would be great if you can have distinguished members of the musical community (work those connections!) perform your composition in a public concert, and garner media attention for your work. Jack Kent Kooke has a great scholarship program for musicians, and perhaps you can go for NPR’s “From the Top (at Carnegie Hall).” There are also plenty of international/national competitions and stellar programs you can go for.</p>

<p>I also recommend taking your musical abilities a step above and applying it to community service. Make a difference with your talent!
Perhaps you can hold a benefit concert featuring your composition that raises funds for…whatever cause you believe in. Go the extra mile: publish a work and donate the funds to charity, or, even better,
form an organization of young, talented composers who compose for a cause (Ah, cute name LOL: Compose for a Cause) and perform their compositions for…underprivileged children.<br>
…You get the point.</p>

<p>You have a very decent shot at Stanford: your grades are great and your EC’s are solid. Stanford is tough, so do whatever you can to maximize your chances.</p>

9

<p>Oh yeah, do not mention your sexual preference unless you have an extraordinary story to go with it (and with that story, you have to demonstrate how you used your situation for the general good). </p>

<p>Your SAT’s will neither be an advantage nor a disadvantage: 2250 is around the average top-level-college applicant’s score. Paired with your great grades, however, the SAT score may imply something about the difficulty of attaining an ‘A’ at your school.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

10

<p>Unfavorable chances.</p>

11

<p>Being from Hawaii is a tip factor, but work on the scores.</p>

12

<p>@Mamooie312: Thanks, I’m trying quite hard to stand out as a musician/composer in my essays.</p>

<p>@PokharaBoy: Tell me about it. -_-</p>

<p>@musechick: Thank you SO much for the excellent feedback, and I look forward to trying out some of those ideas! And I’ve never thought of the SATs in that way . . . let’s hope for the best tomorrow (SAT scores send out)! Thanks!</p>

<p>@RAlec114: Why do you say so?</p>

<p>@hmom5: Thanks, I didn’t really see being from Hawaii as an advantage.</p>

<p>@everyone else: I’ve seen some people on these forums put it as a hook, so I thought, might as well use it to my advantage, right? Hah . . . Maybe they thought it helps to bring diversity? I dunno. But thank you all so much for feedback to the actual content of the overall picture. Really.</p>

13

<p>UPDATED OCTOBER SAT SCORES:</p>

<p>CR 620
M 800
W 690 (71/80 mult choice, 8/12 essay)</p>

<p>I’m really happy about math, but then again, colleges will see that I’m Asian (and not to be stereotypical or anything). CR is horrendous. I haven’t improved from my March test. W is okay, but I know I could’ve gotten a 10 on the essay.</p>

<p>Do you guys think you could chance me on UIUC and Harvey Mudd as well?</p>

14

<p>i believe UIUC can be a safety-match school for you with your 2110
harvey mudd, sorry no idea</p>

15

<p>@i200258396: Thanks for you input!</p>

<p>Does anyone on these boards know the preferences for UIUC or Harvey Mudd applicants?</p>

16

<p>bump</p>

<p>Oh, and if it helps, I’m applying SCEA to Stanford.</p>

17

<p>Math scores look good for Harvey Mudd but your CR and SAT II Chem score would probably make it a mid-high reach. I would at least get a SAT II science score above 700, preferably 750.</p>

18

<p>@Suin: I’m taking the SAT II Physics and retaking the SAT II Chemistry in December, so hopefully it’ll reach 700+. Thanks for the help!</p>

19

<p>How do you start a thread or ask question on CC? I tried but doesn’t seem to work.</p>

20

<p>You seem to be from California… what do you consider the top 5 schools in CA? And, what ones have better acceptance rates for out of state students?</p>