<p>My ultimate goal is to attend stanford but i will settle for any ivy league school, MIT, or Caltech. I am hispanic, if that makes any difference.</p>
<p>My background: i had a very tough upbringing. I have had to change schools every six months for the past 8 years. I have 6 different schools on my transcript. My gpa is trending upwards starting from a 3.7 and going up to a 4.0 junior year. As soon as I achieved home stability my academics were greatly improved.</p>
<p>Here are my stats: </p>
<p>ACT- 36
GPA- 3.88
AP exams:
Language comp - 5
US history- 5
Statistics- 5
SAT ll subject tests:
Math 1- 800
Math 2- 800
Literature- 770
Biology- 770
US history- 790
World history- 790
Spanish- 770</p>
<p>National Merit finalist</p>
<p>EC's:
Varsity Basketball ***
Varsity Football
200+ hours community service
FBLA
Math club ***
Key club
Spanish club
NHS
Summer basketball program ***
Summer math program ***
Tutor ***</p>
<p>What are my chances of getting into stanford? What can i do to improve my chances?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any replies</p>
<p>My prediction: Stanford - Rejected</p>
<p>Nothing really stands out… You are good in terms of academic performance/achievements, however, your ECs are just too lacking…</p>
<p>If you are qualified, you can expect the admit rate to pretty much reveal your chances. 5 or 6%. Do you know about Questbridge for high achieving low income students? I know a low Hispanic student 2350/800/800/800 valedictorian rejected SCEA this year. So you see it is very difficult. It looks like the only thing in your control at this stage is your application and essays, and scheduling a challenging Sr year and doing well first semester.</p>
<p>What can i do to stand out?</p>
<p>“but i will settle for any ivy league school, MIT, or Caltech”</p>
<p>lol</p>
<p>Aside from the slightly rare combination of high testing scores/gpa with a double varsity sport, nothing stands out that much. All of these schools, including your “settle for” schools, want to see unique ECs that reflect your personality and interests, e.g. science olympiad, medicinal research, business internship, engineering awards, etc. It’s understandable that it’s difficult to establish these with moving around every 6 months, but it’s something that is extremely important to colleges. </p>
<p>Establish your interests… just looking at this I literally have no idea what you’re passionate about in your life. You don’t have to know if you want to be an Engineer or a Lawyer, but it would be hard to admit a student without any passions that are displayed…</p>
<p>You’ll be a competitive applicant at Stanford since you’re in their GPA threshold and ACT range, but 95% of applicants are as well.
Stanford - High Reach
All Ivies are also mid-high reaches, same with MIT and Cal Tech. </p>
<p>No i said i’m hispanic</p>
<p>To be honest, I think you have a very good chance (30-40 percent). With such scores, URM, and a hard background, most colleges will be salivating over you. Don’t screw up your essays, if they are good, I have no doubt you will be solid. </p>
<p>Thanks for the reply hobbithopeful. I am very passionate about math and science, mostly math. I want to eventually earn a master’s degree in computer software engineering. I also love helping other students with their schoolwork and ACT prep. I am passionate about sports which is why i am playing varsity in basketball and football. Math is by far my strongest subject; i just can’t think of many ec’s that go along with math besides math club. Also, i started an ACT prep class which is making me about $100/week</p>
<p>So my questions are:
What are some examples of math ec’s?
Where can i get a business internship?</p>
<p>I personally think you have a really good chance. I transfer a lot too and I know how hard it is to maintain such a high GPA. Your EC may be a little bit lacking, however, after considering your background, I think you did pretty well. It is hard to “stay” in any extra curriculum if you transfer that much. I have studied at four high schools by now…however, you could try to take more AP tests if possible, SAT subject tests are too easy to show how intellectual a person is. I personally think test preps class is a waste of time and money. I prefer to use the equivalent amount of money to buy books. Have you tried math competitions like AMC and AIME? You’ve already stood out with you background and your scores. You should write a really good essay narrating your stories (I am sure you have tons of stories), so I would suggest you to read and write a lot. Did you apply for Stanford’s summer programs? If you are good at programming, did you program anything in particular?</p>
<p>@Rurouni No offense…but why did you ask “are you Asian”…</p>
<p>How can you be a NMF as a junior? How can you be a NMF and have no SAT score? Suspicious</p>
<p>You can’t “settle” for schools of that caliber. No guarantee you will get into any of them. </p>
<p>Good luck. </p>
<p>Bad word choice… I was just saying that my number one pick would be stanford but if i get rejected i would still like to go to any of the ivies, MIT, or caltech</p>
<p>If it makes a difference, i’m also fluent in 3 languages: english, spanish, and french</p>
<p>@austin23. Let me be frank and tell you that your list of schools makes absolutely no sense. If you are interested in the top programs in engineering/CS/STEM (it sounds like you want to pursue a career in “computer software engineering”) I could see Stanford, MIT, Caltech…and maybe a few schools from the ivies…but, definitely not all of the ivies…</p>
<p>…to be blunt, I would eliminate at least two-thirds of the schools from the ivy group. Instead, you should be looking at schools like Carnegie Mellon, UCBerkeley, Harvey Mudd…along with state flagships like Georgia Tech, UIUC, Michigan, Texas, etc…</p>
<p>…even with your URM status…you need to be surgically precise in picking your list made up of a well-balanced portfolio of schools (reach to match to safety) strong in your interest of “study” and what you want to pursue as a career after your formal education ends…</p>
<p>Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Thankyou gravitas2 for your advice!</p>
<p>@katyHWQ the reason i asked is because of Affirmative Action. Affirmative action is really a huge game changer</p>
<p>@Rurouni Indeed…I am really concerned about this policy as well…however, the affirmative action only affect public schools in CA such as Berkeley, UCLA etc. It would not affect Stanford that much.</p>