To those who have attended or are currently attending Stanford, I have a question.
If I have a 3.7/4.0 unweighted, 4.4-5 weighted GPA, 33 ACT, proficient SAT 2 scores, more than enough extracurriculars, head of a leadership organization while being involved in a few more, 200+ hours of community service, and glowing teacher recommendations, etc., what are my chances of being accepted to Stanford?
Not to sound lazy by asking the College Confidential community to do any work for me, I’m asking for honest answers based on the information stated above.
I imagine I have similar stats to many of you seniors. If so, I appreciate all input pertaining to my decision to apply. If you think Stanford is above my league, I welcome all criticism. If you have any suggestions, those are welcome as well.
This is my first post. I’m not expecting clear-cut answers. But i would really appreciate anyone who has applied or will apply to Stanford to pitch in this discussion.
For extracurriculars, I am in 3 clubs at school, I am the president of an extensive art program, did 1 year of college art, worked at an academy tutoring kids in math. Along with the other information above, these are my extracurriculars. Maybe I do not have “more than enough” but I always find myself doing something aside from school.
Do you know your class rank? Is a 3.7 very good at your school (grades harshly, everyone gets B’s), or is it not that good (good amount of people getting 4.0’s). Do you have any hooks (you’re a minority, first in family to go to college)?
I haven’t attended Stanford but I have talked with former deans and current professors there.
I can’t stress enough how much of a lottery the admissions process at Stanford is.
Your GPA is quite low, which is why I asked how it compared to the rest of your school.
Also, you say you have “more than enough extracurriculars”. Stanford doesn’t care how many you have. In fact, it looks worse when you have a laundry list of activities that you couldn’t have all been extremely involved in. Stanford wants quality instead of quantity.
I encourage you to apply regular decision, to utilize first semester senior year to improve those grades. Stanford will be a high reach.
@rdeng2614 thanks for the input, and yes, my gpa is low, considering i’m only in the top 30% of my class. At my school, they do not rank based on the year, but on freshman through senior year. My freshman year, at a different, much harder school, was abysmal. But my soph and junior year made up for it.
I will apply regular decision and to be honest, this is the school I do not expect to get accepted. UCs and other smaller schools focused on engineering are my top choices. Stanford is just an incentive because if I do get in, I will most likely go for free.
What would your major be?
If you’re lower income, also apply to 100% need schools beside Stanford, and definitely UCLA which has special scholarships for lower income/first gen students.
Frankly, at Stanford, your odds are 5% at best, probably less. So, apply, but mostly for the “what if?”… apply then forget about it. Invest time and work on your other applications.
Another reach that meets 100% need is HarveyMudd. Columbia SEAS is easier to get into than Stanford and meets 100% need too. Same thing for Cornell. Of course, all three are among the most selective in the country but they may be fairly cheap.
In addition to the UC’s, don’t forget to apply to Cal Poly SLO, SDSU, and CPP.
Stanford is truly a reach for everybody. We have the experience that even with GPA4.0, ACT35, 800s in SAT2, 5 in all APs, 200+ hours volunteering/community service, state level outstanding piano soloist, etc and yet got rejected in REA. Academically, you are surely not standing out from the crowd at all. Think about if you have anything superior over other applicants.
@MYOS1634 yeah, that was my goal: to apply for the tuition but I know my chances. They’re not good and I don’t expect to go there. Thanks for the info about the other schools. Since i am lower income and first gen, benefits will come to the right schools.
And I know SLO and I think CPP do not require essays, surprisingly. I am applying there for sure.
Also look into Tufts (strongly strongly recommended) , Olin(if you like hands on projects ), Rose hulman, trinity (ct .) An act 33 is truly exceptional overall but especially for a first gen kid because test scores correlate tightly with income.
It is not, on its own, sufficient for Stanford. Make sure your teachers tell little stories in their recommendations, read "good essay"examples on Connecticut College or JHU ‘s websites for instance and read the advice in the website “essay hell”’
Your list is good and you’re lucky in that you live in a state with an excellent public university system that is well.funded and offers sufficient financial aid to lower income students. Between cal poly slo, ucsc, etc you have excellent and affordable choices I even if you don’t get into Stanford, Harvey Mudd, etc.
