Hi!! Pls chance me for REA @ Stanford class of 2030. Just for more context, Stanford added 150 more seats this year and I applied REA and I have 6 bs (all in STEM) and I’m applying for a STEM major but I have a pretty high rigor relative to the rest of my class at my school.**
Unweighted HS GPA: 3.88 (I have 6Bs: 1 B in AP Calc AB second term; 2 Bs in honors chem; 1 b in AP bio; 2 bs in AP Physics)
Weighted HS GPA: 4.4
ACT/SAT Scores: 1540
List your HS coursework
(Indicate advanced level, such as AP, IB, AICE, A-level, or college, courses as well as specifics in each subject)
English: Honors (9th, 10th), AP Lit/AP Lang
Math: AP Calc (AB+BC), AP Stats
Science: AP Bio, AP Physics, AP Environmental Science, AP CSA, AP CSP, AP Pysch, honors chem
History and social studies: AP Gov, APUSH, APHUG, AP World History, Econ
Language other than English: honors spanish 4 (school doesn’t offer AP)
Visual or performing arts: Drawing 1
Other academic courses:
Awards
Extracurriculars National Level Sports player (top 30 in USA); intern @ stanford’s lab; intern @ local college; started own nonprofit; Int/National level debater (NSDA Nats x2)
You asked for a percentage chance and it’s around 4% - that’s the Stanford acceptance rate and, without a hook (recruited athlete, legacy, major donor, etc), that’s where you are. Your SAT is right in the zone, but your GPA is on the low side. That won’t rule you out, but it also won’t strengthen your case as many other applicants will have 4.0 (and most of them will ultimately be rejected despite this). It’s a tough admit for anyone. But it’s worth a shot, and sounds like you’ve taken your shot, so now all you can do it wait, and start your applications for the other schools on your list.
This concerns me, and largely guides my response. This is a huge number of B’s for Stanford (or Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Caltech, UC Berkeley, …). Also, having these B’s in STEM classes is unfortunate for someone applying for any form of STEM major.
This is the main reason that I think that you have any chance at all at Stanford.
However, Stanford is a LOT of work. Classes go fast. There is a lot of homework. With the quarter system the end of the quarter and associated final exams are going to come up more rapidly than you might expect, and you better be ready.
I still fondly recall when I was a graduate student at Stanford (master’s degree) spending six hours on a Saturday (late morning through about 5pm) working on one single homework problem, out of six problems on one homework assignment, out of five classes that I was taking at the time. Then I went out to dinner with my girlfriend. Suppose that you similarly spend six hours on a Saturday doing one really tough homework problem, and let’s suppose that you are able to solve it. Would you feel that you just wasted six hours on a sunny Saturday afternoon? Alternately would you be excited that you were able to solve the problem?
And I spent lots of time in other cases on Saturdays and Sundays doing homework. This is part of attending any highly ranked university. You need to want to do it.
And how does this fit into a schedule that also includes competing in whatever sport or game you are good at?
How did you get so many B’s? Given that you did, do you want to be a student at a university that is a LOT tougher than high school with significantly larger amounts of homework and significantly tougher exams?
Chances are very small but not zero. Your academic record alone will not get you into Stanford. The things that will make the difference are exactly the things that commenters here do not (and should not) know enough about to assess their impact.
Hence, nothing anyone says on this thread will change the reality that nobody knows, and you’ll have to wait and see. What are you hoping to achieve here? If someone says you won’t get in, they could be wrong. If someone says you will get in, they could be wrong. You’ll find out next month; until then, nothing will alleviate the suspense except, possibly, going on with your life and thinking about other things. You will be fine either way. Good luck.
You’ve taken your shot. Stanford’s tough. Pretty much every top 20 or so kid applied for the 10 years I followed our high school’s results closely. They passed up all the valedictorians and rest for the 4.0/36 kids for the excellent students who were also recruited athletes (which they took 1 maybe 2 each year). You’ll find out soon enough. As hard as sounds, put Stanford out of your mind and work on your remaining apps, and in particularly making sure those essays and supplements really shine.
There is absolutely no way to reliably chance someone on their acceptance to Stanford. Better than 95% of applicants do not get accepted. In that 95% are a ton of extremely well qualified applicants, like you. Oh…and 4% or so do get accepted.
You applied. So now just wait and see. If you don’t get accepted you will never know why. I’m sure there are a lot of other colleges that will welcome you as a student, and where you will thrive.
Hopefully you are applying to all of the UCs and not just UCLA and Cal which are also very competitive for admissions. But there are plenty of other UCs that are great too. @Gumbymom@MYOS1634 might have more to add.
Other posters have addressed Stanford. Would you like any advice or suggestions for the “likely” and “target” parts of your college list, or do you feel that’s all settled already?
You asked on another thread about your chances for MIT.
I think the multiple Bs in STEM would make MIT a very long shot. (Although I don’t know about the rigor at your high school. Maybe you attend a high school with severe grade deflation?)
Of course if you don’t apply, the chance is zero, and applying would increase your chances.
If MIT truly inspires you, I think it can be a good experience to put together its application, even though it is somewhat long and complicated. My daughter applied EA, and she told me that writing the MIT essays and putting together her portfolio was a valuable experience for her, during which she learned more about herself.
She also thought there was a fair bit of overlap between the MIT essays and the UC PIQs, so she felt that it helped her write better PIQs also.
Would you like some help with the “likely” and “target” parts of your college list? That part of your list is important too!
Personally, I think that MIT is probably less likely than Stanford, and I think that Stanford is a high reach. I also think that my last paragraph from my post above applies to MIT at least as much as it applies to Stanford.
Hello thank you so much for your response. I agree there: I do really enjoy learnign and to answer your question I would feel pretty happy that I spent time and was able to solve the problem…mostly I would feel doubtful if I was studying enough though as it would take me a whil to solve the problem. or i would be worried i didn’t check with my peers so maybe i was wrong
thank you for your response! yes, i am applying to stanford since its my dream since ive been little; MIT I just heard of but I really am liking the culture it has; I do agree that certain aspects of both these schools are available at unis across US so I’ll be looking at RPI and more!
hello! thank you for your response; for my likelys i have mostly it down and then safeties as well. As of right now, my gpa capped also is 3.88 so we’ll see…thank you tho!
