I am in my final school year (class of 2019) so how do you think should one prepare their resume in order to be a competitive applicant for Stanford Masters program (which I think is slightly less competitive than Undergrad?) ?
Move number 2 and 4 way down the list. The thing that you are missing is recommendations. They can be very important in grad school.
GPA, GRE, recs, research, internships
more importantly, why Stanford. Is there someone there doing what you want to do? In general, for graduate degrees, who you work with is more important than where they are. That is if the Stanford Chem E MS is even thesis based. For ME, it isn’t. That was a large factor in my son deciding not to go there. He chose a funded, thesis based program instead.
Good luck.
What is a “pointy factor?” Otherwise, let me reorder this for you and add in a thing or two you missed.
Filling out your application correctly
GPA
Research experience
Recommendations
GRE Q (and sometimes AW) score(s)
Undergraduate institution
Relevant activities
Internships
Luck
Alignment of the planets
GRE V score
Some of these things will move around depending on the particular program.
When a friend’s daughter was touring Stanford as a high school student a number of years ago, the presentation and tour guides apparently kept using the word “pointy” to describe the type of student they were looking for. It’s still a family joke. Possibly OP had looked at Stanford for undergrad and heard the same spiel.
The grad school application process is entirely different from the UG one.
You really need to look at the Stanford Chem E website: https://cheme.stanford.edu/admissions
Their only terminal masters program is an online part-time masters program that’s kind of meant for people who need industry-relevant Chem E knowledge. For research, you can only apply to the PhD program. The only other ways to get a MS in ChemE from Stanford is to co-term (if you’re already an undergrad at Stanford) or to go into the PhD (you get a MS upon completion of candidacy requirements).
Other Stanford Engineering programs have terminal MS degrees that tend not to be funded. The classes can be pretty big. I think EE has something like 200 MS students and ~20-30 PhDs students. It’s no secret that some of the MS programs are money makers for the department, and most people who go for that option tend to have a few years of work experience.
It’s not quite right to say that graduate program admissions are less competitive than undergrad admissions - the admission rates are certainly higher for grad programs, but it’s more like they’re differently competitive, because the admissions requirements and expectations are more focused.
You should be ‘pointy’ - in chemical engineering. If that’s what you’re going to graduate school to study, you’d better like it and be committed to becoming good at it.
For the love of God, what does “pointy” mean?
“Pointy” is the term for “We have no idea why we were admitted over any of the other thousands of fully qualified applicants who were rejected, but we must have had IT.” 
I think Stanford and MIT do put some emphasis on GRE, even verbal, as both institutions sport pretty high means for both sections. That could very well mean that all the applicants assume they are important because of the mean and thus continue the trend, but suffice it to say, if a GRE is low, it will stand out.
I would also assume experience/internships would have some relevance for Stanford’s terminal MS programs because they are not research based. They are course only masters programs.
At the end of the day, unfunded, terminal MS programs have a pretty high admission rate, and seem pretty much like a cash grab.
There is always some emphasis on GRE, but it is usually less than most people think, and I don’t think that’s any different at places like Stanford or MIT. I’d bet they are more willing to take the undergrad who scored in the 80th percentile but has a publication over the one who is in the 95th percentile and has nothing. I know they’d weight the first candidate far ahead of the second if those percentiles were in verbal.
GRE is really just a hurdle. As long as you clear whatever a department’s standard happens to be, you are fine. Knowing those standards is basically impossible, though, as it likely changes depending on the composition of the department’s graduate studies committee from year to year.
I know when I evaluate prospective graduate students (not at MIT or Stanford), I have a GRE in mind above which I consider them to be acceptable and below which they would have some serious catching up to do in the other categories.
Thank you all for your guidance! But would you all have a general idea on what the minimum GRE scores are that should be maintained?
and any other way to stand out to the admission officers?
You never answered the most important question…why Stanford? It’s fully online, non-research based, and without the possibility of even a project based thesis. Also, can you afford an unfunded masters?
A minimum GPA for graduate school is not really a concept that makes sense. The opinions of every individual faculty member at every institution will vary, and opinions on what is good enough for admission versus what is good enough to work in their labs are likely different as well.
The best I can tell you is what my own standards are for students I recruit into my lab. I like to see Q of at least 160 and AW of at least 4.0. I don’t care at all about V. Whether or not someone can memorize a bunch of big fancy words is irrelevant. I want to know if they have good quantitative reasoning skills and whether they can write competently.
@boneh3ad Thanks for the list.
If research is accomplished during internships includes published paper with the opportunity to use expensive capital equipment not available at a university, do these internships get included in your research body of work?
How important are your undergraduate professors to guide you to a PHD program/lab fit and make the connections? How else do students research programs before applying?
Do certain awards/scholarships (Goldwater as an example) stand out?
Affording wont be an issue…but is Stanford Engineering Masters only online?
It depends on the department. It appears terminal MS in Chem E is. Which again begs the question…WHY STANFORD???
Here’s the story I am making up. You have no idea how to vet an engineering graduate program and are instead trying to use the rules the general public thinks is important for vetting an undergraduate institution, big brand name. That is a great way to end up with a very expensive post-secondary degree that may have far less cachet than you thought it did.
@ibgirl333 - I am a bit confused. It seems that as late as November 2018 you were applying to undergraduate programs? Now you are graduating with a bachelor’s degree in May?
AHAHAHAAH noooo!!! I am going to be giving my 12th grade finals in May 2019 and then to start my undergraduate program. But, I mean if I want to get masters from a top tier university I should plan out the standards I need to achieve for GPA and GRE.
Uhhh, that ought to close this thread. :))
Ugh.
Focus on you undergraduate degree for a few years before worrying about graduate school. This thread is essentially useless at your point in your academic career.