Bay Area girl requests Stanford Eligibility

Colleges & Universities Stanford University
1

<p>Hi guys!</p>

<p>My name is Christine. Do I have any shot at all for Stanford? An honest, realistic opinion would be great! Don’t worry, I can take brutal honesty. Also, any other advice to make my resume better is welcome too. </p>

<p>School: Large, competitive, San Francisco Bay Area.
<em>Grades</em> (Haven’t gotten a B yet. Hopefully won’t get a B next year either.)
9th: All A’s/A-'s
10th:
AP European Hist: A. Score on AP Exam: 5
Geometry: A-
Spanish 3: A-
English: A
Adv. Speech and Debate: A
Art II: A</p>

<p>Schedule for next year, a junior: AP Art, AP English, AP US History, Honors Spanish 4, Advanced speech, Algebra II, Chemistry (:0()</p>

<p>Sadly, I was hoping on taking AP Environmental Science next year, a class I really wanted to take. I’m not the best at math, so I tried taking a Chemistry 108 class at the junior college, but the pace and material was simply too difficult, fast paced and stressful on top of my commitments and AP homework (which I might not have been able to finish on time if I continued with the class. For this reason I have a W on my transcript and will be taking Chemistry next year.</p>

<p><em>ECs</em>:
community:
-By the time I graduate, 5 years of very involved volunteer work at Lindsay Wildlife Museum/Rehabilitation center. Founding member of Exhibits team there, where I have constructed numerous large floor puzzles, painted scenes on various items, and painted a mural on the doors.
-Volunteer at the San Francisco Zoo for this summer, hopefully next school year and next summer as well time permitting. (1.5 hour commute by public transit both ways but totally worth it).

  • girl scout member, 9 years. summer camp counselor, 2 years. currently working on Gold Award (Eagle scout equivilant.) project is to create and install a program to teach inner-city kids about wildlife and conservation.</p>

<p>art:
-taken figure drawing classes at local art college for 2 or so years.

  • artwork published in Teen Ink 2004 edition, school literary magazine (multiple times, my art was the cover this year.).
  • artwork displayed at lindsay wildlife museum.
    -Named California State Art Scholar, attended 1 month state subsidized intensive college animation program at CalArts, recieved college credit.
    -paid, contracted position at small publishing company. Created artwork for the cover of a paperback novel.</p>

<p>school:
9th and 10th grade: Enrolled in Monte Vista Academy, U.C recognized “Special Program: that focuses on interdisciplinary instruction and technology integration.

  • One of two freshman out of a class of 700 selected by administration to participate in school Diversity Committee. (unfortunately short-lived)
  • varsity speech and debate team. not extremely dedicated (my passions are art and wildlife), but Earned honor, excellence distinctions in NFL. Congress and extemporaneous. Attended state and national qualifier tournaments this year.
    -Member: National Honor Society, California Scholarship Federation. Science Alliance (Helping 5th graders create science fair projects.)
    -Leadership position: Art and Literary Magazine, 2 years. Contributing editor 9th grade, editing staff 10th grade, will be Head Art and Photo editor junior year. </p>

<p>other stuff not listed from Summers:
8th to 9th – Took Art history course at community college.
9th to 10th- Had exchange student from Spain for 1 month.
10th to 11th (this year): Africa trip.
Next Christmas/Summer: living with exchange student in Spain for 4 weeks</p>

<p>my dad is a legacy at stanford and harvard. my mom went to university of arizona. </p>

<p>Other random things:

  • has synesthesia, rare neurological condition where all numbers, colors, etc. are hardwired into brain as colors. mozart, feynman, among others had this condition. Was interviewed by the BBC for a documentary about synesthesia. not seriously debilitating in any way, but makes math a little more difficult, perhaps accounts for my love of art.
  • recieved over a million hits in one week and became somewhat of an internet phenomenom briefly to my personal website for some chalk drawing stuff i found and posted. Called by ABC News reporter about my post.</p>

<p>I WISH I could take more than just 3 ap’s and 1 honors class next year, but my math ability is not up for advanced math, which sadly restricts me from AP sciences next year. </p>

<p>I’m a good writer and could probably write some really crazy essays about animals and travel. </p>

<p>THANKS SO MUCH!</p>

2

<p>Well, we can’t know for sure – don’t have your junior/senior year grades, test scores, or any of that. But so far you’ve got a shot (like everyone else…)</p>

<p>What will help for Stanford is narrowing your ECs and such down to a list of things that you really find important (they only allow you 8 slots – I used them for only 4 activities, but 8 listed leadership roles and projects and such, to show them the level of dedication to these things) and writing good, personality-filled essays. If you can do those things and really stand out as someone who cares about their life (and it looks like you have a lot of material), while maintaining those high academic standards… well, you’re obviously not a shoo-in ('cause no-one is), but you’d have a shot.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the reply! Since it seems like Stanford might be a little out of my league, do you think I might be a match for UCLA or UCB? Or are those also big reaches?</p>

<p>Also, just curious, do you currently attend Stanford? I looked at your “stats” page you linked in your profile and I was very impressed! How much did you study for the SATs?</p>

4

<p>Oh, also one more thing: When you mean “narrowing down” my list of ECS, do you mean just picking a couple out of my list so far or focusing really hard on a couple of those things and get “better” recognition for it?</p>

<p>Should I seek new/more opportunities in these areas or just continue to improve with what I’m doing? I’m not sure if I could do much more, I already work pretty hard but if I need to make my activities more impressive I can do that.</p>

5

<p>Haha! I forgot I had that stats website up (funny, typing out the whole name makes it come out in asterixes as though it’s a curse word). I’m gonna be a freshman at Stanford next year, actually… and as for studying for the SATs, I took a couple of practice tests, went over them and analyzed my mistakes and then took the test. Nothing that intense…</p>

<p>And I wasn’t saying that Stanford was out of your league; it’s a reach for everyone (never a “match”). Even maybe more so than the Ivies… just because Stanford admissions seem more idiosyncratic, harder to predict. Which means that if you can really show who you are as a person, what you care about, etc. through a good focused list of ECs and well-written essays, it really helps. The bit about “narrowing” your ECs was just that the Stanford app only gives you 8 lines to describe your ECs and doesn’t allow any additional material, so you’ve got a limited amount of space to show what’s really important to you. (But you also get space for talking about summer activities and/or jobs – that’s separate). I’d definitely suggest that you do what you want to do as far as EC’s go, because that’ll serve you better as human being than blindly going for national recognition; I actually also think that it’s better for you in college admissions, too, because colleges can tell when you really care about something versus when you’re just doing it to have it look good.</p>

<p>If you keep your grades up, and your test scores are in keeping with your grades, I’d say you’d definitely be a match for UCB and UCLA, and you should aim high as far as reaches go (like, say, Stanford).</p>

6

<p>Thanks for the clarification! I’m continuing to look for opportunities in the areas that I like, and I’m going to try to get a research spot in Costa Rica for environmental studies/impact next summer. They accept only 4 high school students, but I think I have a pretty good shot at getting it considering my volunteer experience at the SF Zoo and Wildlife rehab/education center. I’m really excited for it!</p>