What are my chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

Intended major: Computer Science

Indian female in large public school in Michigan.
Hooks: none, maybe female in CS?
GPA: 3.93 UW
SAT: 2370 (Math 770)
PSAT: 235
ACT: 35
SAT Subject: Math 2 - 800, Literature - 770, Bio (M) - 740 (might retake)
Course rigor: Most rigorous (APs and Honors all the way through)
Senior year courseload: AP Chemistry, AP English, H Calc 2 (no AP offered), AP Economics, AP Spanish, 2 Internships
AP: World (5), US History (5), Psych (5), Biology (5), Calc AB (5), US Govt (5), AP Comp Sci (5), AP Physics: Mech (3), AP Physics: E & M (2)
Yeah Physics was very hard for me (and we got a new teacher who was inexperienced with AP exams)

Piano (7 years) - few minor awards
National Honor Society (11-12) - 50+ hours
Spanish Honor Society (12)
DECA (10-12) (Officer for 1 year) - Internationals qualifier
Destination Imagination (10) - Globals qualifier, top 15 place
Volunteer at Science Museum - 75+ hours
TED Club (12) - Founder & President - I am super passionate about this, I am organizing an official TEDx Talk at my high school :slight_smile:
MMPC (Michigan math test competition) - Qualified for Part 2 (top 1000 scorers) in 9, 11
Interning at either Harman Kardon (audio company) or Mercedes senior year
Also interning at a health sciences location (probably a hospital) senior year

AP whatever scholar, likely National Merit
SCEEP at University of Michigan (Summer College Engineering Exposure Program) - this summer
SEE Camp at U of M (Summer Engineering Exploration) - this summer
Italian Online for fun (run by Wellesley College) - this summer
edX online classes for fun (MITx and Harvardx)

Won “Best Essay” at SCEEP, assume this means my essays are good enough
Teacher recs probably not the best, they don’t know me that well, neither does my GC
Supplemental rec from SCEEP advisor who went to Stanford for grad might help

Really want to know my chances, is it worth $75 to apply? Any recommendations for schools that might be more my tempo (still good for CS, but not as selective?) would be very much appreciated.

2

What did you find hard about Physics?

3

Everything

4

My teacher had a bit of a monotone, so I had a hard time staying awake in the class. When test time came, I tried to learn all the material and ended up hopelessly confused. I started off like this, so when I finally learned how to take notes and pay attention in the class, I had gaps in the fundamental concepts that made it difficult for me. We never finished E & M (semester 2) because I guess my teacher has to create a better lesson plan (and we had tons of snow days, which I’m not complaining about). Also, I never understood what directions the forces were supposed to be for pulleys?! And there are too many equations…

5

Yeah, it’s worth the application fee.

6

Yes, it’s definitely worth a shot. You have the grades, scores and curriculum, you just have to put it together.

You might want to get in touch with Jocelyn Goldfein. She’s a 1997 Stanford grad and former CS major who has had a successful technology career, including executive positions at VMWare and Facebook, and who has a strong interest in mentoring women in computer science. She can be found on LinkedIn and Facebook, and might have some thoughts on how to position yourself specifically for Stanford.

7

@JustOneDad @renaissancedad Thanks! I felt a little weird about it, but I did send Jocelyn Goldfein a message on Facebook so let’s see if that pans out :slight_smile: What’s your opinion: should I save my EAs for U of M (I’m in-state) and some matches or should I say screw it and apply SCEA? It’s a little weird that SCEA is more restrictive than ED in the fact that you can’t apply early anywhere else…

8

@itsmyusername

You can still apply early action to Michigan as long as it’s non-binding.

Here is a link to Stanford’s REA policy:
http://admission.stanford.edu/application/decision_process/restrictive.html

9

@itsmyusername, I helped Jocelyn Goldfein with her Stanford application 22 years ago. That worked out well for her. Good luck, and let me know if she responds.

You need to get your application together. SCEEP is a good credential to have, and a supplemental letter may help reinforce your engineering/CS focus. You need to get your GC and teachers up to speed with your background and direction, and make sure that you present a coherent focus. Presumably you have a good start on essays given your SCEEP award.

BTW, Stanford has recently created joint degree programs between CS and the humanities, with joint CS-English and CS-music programs:

https://undergrad.stanford.edu/academic-planning/majors-minors/joint-majors-csx
https://english.stanford.edu/csenglish
https://music.stanford.edu/academic-programs/undergraduate/current-undergraduates/joint-major-program-csmusic

The interdisciplinary program in Symbolic Systems may also interest you:

https://symsys.stanford.edu

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@Hoggirl You’re a lifesaver, thanks so much for the information! I would never have caught that! :smiley:
@renaissancedad Thanks, are you a Stanford alum too? The joint-degree programs are very cool; I always wanted to pursue English or History (but didn’t because of a lack of jobs), so they’re kind of perfect. I’m surprised you know of SCEEP…I was under the impression that it’s a relatively unknown program? How did you come to hear of it?

You all are super helpful, thanks a million!

11

@itsmyusername, yes I’m a Stanford grad, from the 1980s.

SEA and SCEEP are fairly well known engineering programs. They are competitive (about 20% acceptance), reasonably rigorous, and fully funded except for the application fee, so that gives them some prestige on college apps beyond just being a constructive way to spend part of your summer. It’s not going to have the impact of something like RSI, but it’s going to have some positive effect (rough similar to something like the Carnegie Mellon Summer Academy), in conjunction with rest of your credentials.