For test scores, I got an 1880 on the SAT in June.
I blew that score out of the water by getting a 34 on the ACT in October (36 reading, 36 English, 32 science, 31 math). I took SAT subject tests in Math 2 and Physics in november. I’m taking the ACT again in December.
I have pretty strong extracurriculars:
Eagle Scout
Student Body President (and student body VP, class president, and class VP)
Portrayed lead role of Robin Hood in school play
Member of the cross country team for three years (two years on varsity) and the track team for three years (three years on varsity). I’ll be participating in track again next season. I’ve never qualified for state, but I have participated and worked hard.
During my freshman and sophomore year, I spent about 8 hours each month volunteering with a local nonprofit. The work focused on ecosystem restoration at a river near my city, which included removing invasive plants and reintroducing native species. I also participated in the collection and analysis of scientific data related to the river’s rate of erosion, flow, temperature, turbidity, and biodiversity; all of which are affected by the presence of invasive species. This year, for my Eagle Scout service project, I went back and coordinated with their volunteer manager to lead about 30 people in a community service project that planted several hundred native saplings.
During my junior year my school spent three weeks in between semesters following a program modeled on Stanford’s D school. We developed and pitched solutions to problems in our community to local government members, non profit officials, etc. This year’s winter term will focus on bringing some of the best ideas to fruition.
I’m a member of the National Honor Society and the Spanish National Honor Society.
Demographically, I’m a middle class white male. My grandfather and cousin are both Stanford alumni, each has received a BA and MA from Stanford. My Algebra 2 teacher last year is a Stanford alumni and is writing my math teacher recommendation.
The biggest thing that I have going against me is my GPA. Due to family problems during my Freshman year I only had a 3.00UW GPA. I got a 4.0 during my sophomore and junior years, though. This year I’m taking AP Physics, AP Calculus AB, AP English Lit, AP Computer Science, AP US History, and Honors Spanish 4.
For the common app essay, I’m answering the prompt about an event that marked transition from childhood to adulthood. I’m writing about how my role in my Boy Scout troop has changed as I’ve gotten older, how more has been expected of me as I’ve grown up, and how now, as the oldest member of the troop, I have the responsibility of being a good role model to the younger scouts. Also included is reflection on how I viewed the older scouts when I was young and how my perspective has changed.
For intellectual vitality, I’m going to write about the research into fields of philosophy that I’ve done over the past two years. I’ve been both watching and participating in live debates broadcasted via Google+ hangouts. Several times, I have co-hosted broadcasts with hundreds, sometimes a few thousand viewers. Its been a great opportunity to learn, explore new ideas, and interact with some very interesting people. I’ve made acquaintances from around the world, including a PhD biologist in Scotland and a philosophy professor from a university in Canada. I’m eager to take some actual, formal philosophy classes as part of my post-secondary education.
For the letter to a room mate, I’m going to write about one of my most memorable experiences from Scouting.
For the thing that’s important to me, I’m going to talk about income equality and poverty. This will connect to the winter term that I had during my junior year. In particular, it will be about how the experience affected my perspective as a privileged private school student in a relatively poor community. In particular, my principal spent some time talking about how unaware we are of their lives outside the gates of our school. The experience helped open my eyes to their lives and their problems as my group partners brainstormed potential solutions.
For my first three years of high school, I attended a very small private school. My math teacher is also the school pastor and religion teacher (he entered Stanford with the intent of majoring in mathematics; at some point early on, due to a collection of experiences, he decided to also major in religious studies). I had him for religion classes for three years and math for one, so we know each other very well. He’s been my favorite teacher for the whole time and I think it’s safe to say that I’m one of his favorite/best students. Last year, for our Church History class, I was the only student that did honors level work (explanation: the class was designed to offer truly challenging, collegiate level work. At the beginning of the year, everyone had to sign up for what level they wanted to do, which would become their maximum possible grade in the class. B level was supposed to be like a hard high school class, A level was supposed to be like an entry level college class, and honors was supposed to be like a hard college class).
Through all of my years in his classes, I took time outside of class talking with him about things because I was genuinely very interested in the material. This connects to my passion for philosophy that I’m doing one of my essays on. Last year, I spent a lot of time outside of class with him learning about some more complex mathematical topics that I had read about that interested me. This time made it possible for me to skip Precalculus (I took algebra 2 last year and am taking AP Calc AB this year).
Last spring he was someone that I went to for advice regarding my student body president campaign (it was very heated). He knows how much effort I spent campaigning and the dedication that I had to student government.
This summer my high school closed suddenly due to financial reasons and I’ve transferred to a larger private school. I’ve been one of the only students that’s remained in contact with him.
TL;DR I’m confident he’ll say absolutely glowing things.
My other rec is coming from a science teacher that I’ve known for five years (my first high school was PreK-12, and I had the same science teacher for 7th-11th grade). My relationship with him is similar, and he was our class adviser, so he knows exactly what I did as class VP and class president.
Stanford also allows applicants to submit a third letter of rec from someone not a teacher or counselor. I think I’m going to ask my scoutmaster for that.
I didn’t study for it at all. I think that the math section especially I can bring up, I might be able to get a 35 or perfect 36. I was already signed up to take it before I got my scores from October so there’s no reason not to.
I agree with @4kidsdad, it will be a reach because of your GPA.
Legacies aren’t guaranteed, especially when it’s not your father or mother. You are relying too heavily on that and are trying to convince the posters here that you deserve a spot. No one can REALLY chance you for Stanford because Stanford is a reach for everyone.
You say you had an EC in freshman year spending time working on an Eco system. Your GPA was 3.0. The adcoms will look at that and say, well he had a personal family issue, so the freshman year is scratched but he was able to work on this project?
Um, stanford does not look at freshmen gpa, … @“aunt bea”
However, I am worried about how the OP’s school rank students and calculate GPA. If the op school does include freshmen year, the OP’s rank will be messed up and the counselor recommendation will probably be subpar as well. While Stanford doesn’t look at freshmen gpa, his extremely low freshmen gpa on his transcript might raise a brow or two when the officers scan over his entire transcript. Had his freshmen gpa be a mix of As and Bs , that would have probably not been a very big problem.
In case OP gets rejected or deferred, I suggest OP look at other school’s that does not consider freshmen grades. I am sure there are other elite universities that does not look at freshmen grade besides Stanford. However, this does exclude the entire Ivy League as all eight members look for the entire high school record. I am not sure about UChic, MIT, or Caltech, JHU, CMU, Duke and what their policies are, OP should look into those unis.
Oh BTW, OP should try to take ACT again as you will likely get 35 since you are taking AP Cal, Phy, and CS which all require a lot of math. I suggests after the end of semester one at the end of AP Cal.
@Desiree2, the adcoms look at the whole transcript. They don’t use 9th grade for admissions but they look at trends.
(FWIW, my dh is Stanford Alum and has served with interview recruitment events).
@auntbea My bad, apparently, they do look at it or at least consider it to some extent,
Here is from my email to them a year back asking the same thing
Here is their reply
“I am pleased to learn of your interest in Stanford. Please send the entire transcript, as we require grade 9 marks. I hope this helps! Please contact us again if you have other questions.” Stanford admissions.