I come from a small highschool of only ~650 students in the Sierra Nevada Foothills of California. Our high school only offers 9 APs, and our demographic likely reflects this.
I’m considering applying Restrictive Early Action to Stanford University, and Stanford is my #1 Choice.
My GPA is 4.37/4, which is the highest in my school.
My SAT Scores on the New SAT are
Reading: 770
Math: 780
Composite: 1550
Essay: 13/24 (my question lies here)
I have extracurriculars ranging from coaching a tennis rec league to starting a competition team for the National Science Bowl for the first time at my school, and even taking it to 5th place in regional competition. In addition, I have an above-average number of community service hours, from youth group and coaching rec league tennis, among other things.
What are my chances in application to Stanford?
As you probably saw, my essay grade was not too hot, to say the least. I have the opportunity to retake the SAT in November, attempting to fix my essay grade, which I was dismayed at receiving. Now, upon reading several other articles about the importance of the essay grade, I was comforted by the fact that many call it “the least important thing from the testing category,” because the composite score is so much more important. I’m wondering if it’s a dealbreaker, and I’m looking for advice on whether I should apply Early Action or retake the SAT and apply Regular Decision.
Also, I was looking for help on what to do with the essay. I have a rather interesting circumstance - I myself just turned 15 in December. I’m applying without intent of taking a gap year, which means I’ll be entering college as a 15 year old. Shold I write my essay about this?
Thank you for all your help.