I realize the admissions are subjective, but...

Colleges & Universities Stanford University
1

<p><em>This is mainly for my first choice, Stanford, but please chance me for the other schools as well</em></p>

<p>Sorry if I come across as being either showy or incompetent :confused: that is not my attention. I just really need to know if I have even the slightest chance of making it into these schools.</p>

<p>Gender: Female
Age: Turned 16 yrs. In Nov. (I will be 16 yrs. when I apply—not sure if this matters)
Ethnicity: Caucasian
doesn’t help.
Location: California…unfortunately…I love it here, but for application purposes it’s not ideal. </p>

<p>SAT: 2130
Critical Reading: 750
Writing: 750 (My essays have killed me, but my SAT essay yesterday was quite good)
Math: 630 (not my strong suit
)</p>

<p>These is based upon the average scores I have achieved on 4 blue-book practice exams, as I only took the test yesterday and do not have my results back yet. If I received this score, should I retake the test in March?</p>

<p>Note: I am planning on taking two SAT II’s in June of this year, along with my AP exams. I am contemplating whether or not to do the ACT’s.</p>

<p>Class Rank
School does not do this, but if it did, I would be Valedictorian.</p>

<p>Note: I attend an extremely small private school to accommodate my competitive horseback riding. I do not know if this helps, but no one at my school will be applying to Stanford when I do. </p>

<p>GPA
Freshman-Junior Year:
Unweighted – 4.0</p>

<p>11th grade:
AP Language and Composition
AP Biology
AP Calculus
Pre-Calculus (Finished it quickly, moved on)
Statistics
Spanish III
Spanish IV (I finished Spanish III in 6 weeks, so I continued to Spanish IV)
Western Civilization
Newspaper </p>

<p>My classes for 12th grade:
AP Physics
AP Chemistry
AP Statistics
AP Economy/Government
Newspaper</p>

<p>My worst grade from freshman year to junior year has been an A, and I intend to maintain that senior year. </p>

<p>Note: My high school does not offer AP or honors classes, but I am academically motivated, so I have taken them online through a reputable program. </p>

<p>Extra Curricular:
-Competitively horseback ridden for
-Founded student government
-Student Body President (I have a considerable chance for reelection next year)
-Founded school newspaper
-Editor in Chief of school newspaper
-Along with my twin sister, I have developed a charity that has:</p>

<p>-Raised over $7,000 for Guatemalan orphans (which my sister and I have personally visited and cared for on two different occasions)
-Hand delivered over 30 cakes to local under privileged children </p>

<p>-Active member of JustWorld, Inc., an Equestrian charity organization that I have personally raised over $5,000 for
-Over 100 hours volunteering at Stanford’s Ronald McDonald House
-Freelanced for national equestrian publications, including ShowBiz Magazine, Sidelines, Chronicle Of The Horse, etc.
-Worked for Phelps Media Group, Inc. and Equestrian Life, Inc. (two of the largest Equestrian media outlets in the world)
-Photographed for a national modeling agency (as in my photos are featured in Models’ portfolios)</p>

<p>Note: This summer, I intend to continue all of this work, and I am currently applying to various summer class programs at colleges, including two different credited courses at Stanford. I am also up for a position working at the Stanford Daily, an internship for Condoleezza Rice, and a tutoring position in one ofStanford’s programs.</p>

<p>Contests/Awards (there are more I am forgetting):
-National Honors Society (9th grade-11th grade)
-Various equestrian accomplishments (I have many significant ones…but I doubt any of you are familiar haha.)
-Scholastic Achievement Photography Award
-Scholastic Achievement Writing Award
-My photography has been published in dozens of different magazines</p>

<p>Additional information –
-I plan to apply early action to Stanford
-I am a Stanford legacy (my grandfather went there, along with my aunt, uncle, and my cousin is currently a freshman there
also, my father did something important with SRI)
-Not to resort to this, but I have very good connections at Cornell/Stanford…as in name-on-the-buildings/stadium, Board of Admissions people
-I will vie to be on the equestrian teams at the schools I apply to…not to sound pompous, but I pin higher than the most advanced kids on Stanford’s team regularly
-I have begun developing the ideas for my essays, and so far they are strong. I am currently working with a woman who reads the Harvard admission essays
-I have good recommendations lined up
-I plan to submit a photography portfolio</p>

<p>Please chance me for these schools:</p>

<p>Reach:
1st choice: Stanford
2nd choice: Cornell
The rest of the Ivies (I’m not applying to all, just want to know my chances)</p>

<p>Basically…tell me if I have a chance at all and, if not, what I should improve. Maybe recommend some schools for me too? Thank you for your time :)</p>

2

<p>You are definitely a very competitive applicant. I recommend you work on that SAT math though, it seems to be your only weakness, but it won’t make or break your application. Plus, having a legacy doesn’t hurt :P</p>

<p>As for being a California resident, don’t be discouraged, since Stanford accepts plenty of Californian residents every year, more than any other state by far.</p>

3

<p>I appreciate you taking the time to respond! Yes, I really should bring up that math score. It’s unlikely, but
who knows, maybe my actual SAT scores will surprise me
anyways, thank you for your feedback :slight_smile: your comment about being from California definitely makes me feel better.</p>

4

<p>

</p>

<p>You’re in.</p>

5

<p>You still have time to improve your scores. 2130 is a great score but bringing it higher won’t hurt. Do try an ACT, some students prefer it over SAT. </p>

<p>You look like a very strong applicant overall. Good luck and congratulations on your accomplishments so far.</p>

6

<p>I think you’re overestimating the power of being a legacy
I don’t think it helps too much. Who knows though; both of my cousin’s parents went there, as well as his/my grandfather, and he took no AP classes whatsoever
hmm.</p>

7

<p>@keylimepie
Thank you; yes, I do have time to improve, but I’m worried that my scores will get worse as opposed to better
I don’t know, we will see. I will definitely look into the ACT.</p>

<p>Thank you very much! Good luck to you too! Unless you have already gone through this daunting process
</p>

8

<p>Regarding legacy, I agree with iceui2
According to this article, there has been a trend suggesting a huge boost for legacies. Also, Stanford is known for accepting “legacies” and athletes as opposed to some rather qualified applicants. Those applicants generally get into one of HYPM though.
<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/09legacies.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/education/09legacies.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

9

<p>@mitigated
This is interesting information
thank you! I appreciate the link.</p>

10

<p>That study is flawed–I’m 100% certain that if Stanford were to ignore legacy status altogether (i.e. be blind to it), legacies would still get in at much higher rates. Why? Anyone who knows anything about socioeconomic factors in admissions will tell you, the higher the income a student’s family has, the more likely that student is to be admitted to colleges, esp. top ones, which is why students from the bottom economic quartile make up 3% of the top 130 or so colleges, whereas students from the top economic quartile make up some 75%. Not only that, but studies show that the more educated the parents are, the smarter and more successful their children are. So consider that people leave Stanford with an *elite *education and become successful; their children are given every opportunity to succeed, raised in a stimulating environment, and are already primed to get into Stanford. Now consider that because alumni loved their time at Stanford, they will likely push their kids to apply, not to mention the kids are going to be hearing about Stanford from a very small age, so they disproportionately consider Stanford their first choice. Add on that Stanford has become even more attractive over the past 20 years (more prestige, beautiful campus, top programs, etc.), and it’s no surprise that legacies *seem *to have a significant advantage in admissions (and of course, regardless of their legacy status, they will typically rank among the top applicants to all colleges). I’d love to see a full study of “legacy cross-admissions,” i.e. how much more likely are Stanford legacies to get into a school like Harvard or Yale? I have a feeling it would produce similar results, as the article says: “Education researchers point out that students whose parents attended elite colleges are also more likely to have advantages like family wealth and private school education.” It’s like the study realizes its statistical flaws but doesn’t really try to control for all the variables.</p>

<p>This is further supported by this statement:</p>

<p>"Those whose parents did graduate work there or who had a grandparent, sibling, uncle or aunt who attended the college were, by comparison, only twice as likely to be admitted. "</p>

<p>Grandparents are not as influential as parents in making their children successful. Thus there’s less of a statistical significance between admission likelihood and legacy status (for which Stanford considers grandparents and parents). But there still seems to be an advantage, which isn’t surprising: grandparents raise the kid’s parents to be successful, which then gives their children an advantage.</p>

<p>Legacy admissions are exaggerated. So are URM admissions. So are athlete admissions. In general on CC this is probably because of bitterness (from rejection) or just plain elitism.</p>

11

<p>@phantasmagoric
There is validity to your argument; however, my cousin is a good counterexample to your theory. Not to demean him, as he is very bright and a great guy, but he got into Stanford without recruitment with less than stellar stats (including no AP’s at all) and extra curriculars
his essays were sufficient, but not dazzling. He does have 3 legacies
but his parents are of low incomes and certainly did not prepare him for his success. He was rejected from both Harvard and Yale.</p>

<p>I know all of his stats, read all of his essays, everything–the only thing that REALLY made him stand out was the fact that he had 3 legacies, but, as I stated before, they did not groom him for Stanford. </p>

<p>This is not to debase him in anyway; I love him and I am VERY happy for him. I am just trying to make a case.</p>

12

<p>You can’t draw any conclusions from a single data point, though. (I also think cases like his are not very common.) Also, you mention that he’s a low-income student. Stanford sees this as a form of adversity, which can help you.</p>

13

<p>Very true.</p>

14

<p>GreenWithIvy,yesterday you posted in GrizzlyMan’s chance thread in this forum that your cousin’s essays were “fantastic”, but here you call them merely “sufficient”. Does not compute.</p>

15

<p>You’re right zenkoan. I did not give them enough credit in this post. They were great.</p>

16

<p>I would say you have a great shot at getting in. Cornell seems like a solid match and as far as Stanford you just need to continue to get good grades, challenge yourself and take a rigorous schedule. Good Luck!</p>

17

<p>Thank you very much, I will certainly try my best! Good luck to you too!</p>

18

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<p>Assuming these are true, they render your academic profile mostly irrelevant</p>

19

<p>^^ the ‘connections’ part makes everything else mostly irrelevant, including the “I’m better than the equestrian team members” part.</p>

20

<p>There’s no such thing as a shoo-in at Stanford, but if there was, it would be you. Just make sure your essays are spectacular (I’m sure they will be), and retake the SAT, focusing on the math section.</p>