I have a 3.72 GPA (with a downward trend in junior year), have taken all the hardest courses at my school (10 APs and 5 Honors), have a 2370 sat score and 2400 super score, and am a national merit scholar. I have been involved in science fair, mock trial, and forensics for 4 years and have gone to state in each. I have also been involved in national honor society, spanish honor society, csf, math club, and science bowl. I have been to COSMOS science camp one summer and interned at a hospital another ( I plan on going into the medical field). I am also taking 2 classes online at ohs Stanford and took a biology class at the local csu. Would you say I have some chances of getting into Stanford? And does it make a difference to apply early vs. regular?
Very unlikely.
It’s certainly possible, but keep in mind that Stanford, perhaps the most competitive university nowadays, will have thousands of applicants with similar profiles (similar level of EC involvement, similar test scores, similar awards) AND a 4.0 GPA with tons of AP’s/Honors classes. Stanford first and foremost is an academic institution. They have to make sure everybody they admit can handle the rigor of Stanford. A 3.72 GPA, by Stanford’s standards, is not the best and you’ll be stuck on the first of many hurdles (academics) that is Stanford admissions. Downward trend is not very good as you probably took many AP’s junior year so not doing well in those courses will certainly cause Stanford to worry about your capability to succeed academically there.
You need something that can make admissions officers go “WOW!” in order for them to admit you.
I would strongly urge you to apply regular and use first semester of senior year to improve upon those grades. First semester means more AP courses and a chance to do well in them, and ultimately to show Stanford that you are academically capable.
It is the same long-shot for you as it is for virtually any applicant. Be sure to have a solid list of schools to apply to that include match and safety schools.
Your GPA is so so and there is nothing really standing out on your GC. That would make the chance very low. Stanford reject vast majority of applicants from SCEA. If you need to improve your credential such as taking SAT2 tests, you may want to wait for RD.
“and am a national merit scholar.” This sounds futuristic since you can only be national merit semi-finalist now.
If you have any Cs, you may not make the cut.
I’m sorry, but that is substantially incorrect. It is much more unlikely for this applicant. Having a 3.72 GPA puts them in about the lowest 15% of the applicants, of whom about 1% get admitted.
1% X 15% = 0.015% where applicants average 5% success.
That’s not even to mention the “downward trend”.
Aside from the GPA issue, the OP is a competitive applicant for Stanford - but that just puts him in the “long shot” category. There is nothing in particular about his ECs that stand out. It is possible that he may put together a strong application, but that’s not particularly easy unless you have something strong to write about in the first place.
The GPA issue is a complex one. On the one hand, Stanford is very holistic, and they have repeatedly shown that they will discount any one area if an applicant stands out in others. However, the OP doesn’t particularly stand out. In addition, Stanford re-calculates GPA ignoring freshman year, and the OP has had a downward trend, so his re-calculated GPA may actually be lower than 3.72. As @JustOneDad notes, the admit rate for applicants with a GPA below 3.7 was less than 1%:
http://admission.stanford.edu/basics/selection/profile.html
On the other hand, the admit rate for an 800 SAT score varies from 9-14%.
All things considered, I would guess that the odds for the OP are at best no better than the average, and probably a bit worse.
I bet the OP meant National Scholar for the AP achievement.
“On the other hand, the admit rate for an 800 SAT score varies from 9-14%”
I think the way to consider that is to understand that the rejection rate for an 800 score is 86%-91% and the acceptance rate for the OP’s GPA is less than 1%.
Then, consider what kind of hooks the few successful students with those lower GPAs had.
@JustOneDad - math doesn’t work that way. If the OP is in the bottom 15% of the pool of which 1% get in…
Then the OP has about a 1% chance of getting in.
(Don’t multiply the %s)
If you are comparing it to the overall chances, it does.
The OP is a part-time student at Stanford OHS, which has extensive advising. They would better be able to predict his chances.