OFFICIAL Stanford University RD Decisions - Class of 2013

<p>Decision: Accepted</p>

<p>Objective:
• SAT I (breakdown): Critical Reading = 730; Math = 730; Writing = 660; Total = 2120
• ACT: 31
• SAT II: US History (780); Math Lvl 2 (670…ouch); Biology-E (760); Chemistry (750)
• Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
• Weighted GPA (out of 5.0): 4.5
• Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 5%
• AP (place score in parenthesis): Calculus AB (5); US History (5); European History (5); Biology (5)
• Senior Year Course Load: AP English Lit, AP Psych, AP Chem, AP Calc BC, Symphony Orchestra, Biomedical Research, Teacher’s Aide, AP Chinese</p>

<p>Subjective:
• Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Symphony Orchestra; Math Team; Junior Varsity Badminton (10th grade)
• Hobbies: Writing fantasy novels, learning origami
• Volunteer/Community service: Since I like reading and tutoring, I did a lot of peer tutoring (and tutoring for elementary kids). I also worked in the library a lot promoting summer reading programs.
• Summer Activities: See above.
• Essays: I liked my essay. It was a bit of a risky topic as I wrote about something very personal. Although it wasn’t particularly fancy in prose, I felt it was very sincere (hopefully the adcoms felt the same way). Writing is my passion so writing the essays were my favorite part of the application.
• Teacher Recommendation: Hmm, I did the waiver thing, so I didn’t get a chance to look at the letters, but I assume they were good.
• Counselor Rec: See above.
• Additional Rec: I was waitlisted, so I accidentally sent a letter from my AP English teacher (before I read their little blurb on their site about them not accepting supplementary stuff). Anyways, I don’t think it counted against me.
• Interview: Didn’t have one.</p>

<p>Other
• State (if domestic applicant): California
• School Type: Public
• Ethnicity: Chinese
• Gender: Female
• Income Bracket: 20,000-22,000
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First generation college</p>

<p>Reflection
• Strengths: I really don’t know. I think my strongest points were my essays. And maybe my GPA (which is really not that spectacular because at least twenty other people at my school have 4.0’s)
• Weaknesses: SAT scores, lack of leadership roles, not a ton of extracurriculars (but I’m really into the few activities I am involved in—I love my violin to bits <em>kisses the wooden scroll of her battered instrument</em>); didn’t get any national level awards, just local
• Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Yeah, again, I was wait-listed at first. But I guess there must have been something that the committee liked about my application. It just goes to show that you don’t need to do groundbreaking research or solve global warming to get into Stanford (this does not mean that one shouldn’t do these activities—the world needs more people like these!)</p>

<p>General Comments: Besides Stanford, I had gotten wait-listed at Harvard, Yale, and Pomona, so I was on pins and needles ever since the decisions came out. But during the wait, I had made myself happy with the top school I had been accepted to—UCLA. So, I have until June 5th to make my decision. Depending on how the financial aid goes (and hopefully Stanford’s awesome financial aid program will pull through), I’ll be attending Stanford this fall!</p>