<p>LATE.</p>
<p>Decision: Rejected</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 1690 - 600 CR, 560 M, 530 W
[</em>] ACT: 29 - 29 E, 32 R, 28 M, 28 S, 8 Essay
[<em>] SAT II: 640 US History, 580 Math Level II
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.92
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/243
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): AP US History (3)
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: (Block Schedule)
1st Semester: Honors Physics, AP Calculus AB, AP English Literature & Composition, Honors Economics/Government
2nd Semester: AP Calculus AB, Sociology, AP English Literature & Composition, Intermediate Theatre
[li] Major Awards: Not dropping out is pretty big here.[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Subjective:[ul]
[<em>] Extracurriculars:
Fellowship of Christian Athletes, 9th-12th (Male Co-Captain 10th, 12th, Head Recruiter 11th)
Varsity Tennis, 9th-10th, 12th (Captain 12th)
Varsity Cross Country, 10th-12th
Student Council, 9th-12th (Representative, President -12th)
Academic Team, 9th-12th, (Captain 11th-12th)
Junior Volunteers, 11th-12th
[</em>] Job/Work Experience: Tutoring junior high/middle school students, 12th Grade
[<em>] Volunteer/Community service: 150+ doing assorted activities for church, hospital volunteering.
[</em>] Summer Activities: Junior volunteers, helping with my church’s vacation Bible school.
[<em>] Essays:
Common App: I wrote about the idea that little lessons never really end, but instead they follow you and influence how you live your life and connected it with my experience at FCA leadership camp.
Why Stanford: This essay probably had to be the worst one an adcom as ever laid eyes on. I had talked about how Stanford was a distinct community and it was where I wanted to be.
Roommate: I didn’t do anything too daring here. I just talked about some of the things I wanted to do outside of class, my obsession with high-fives and breakdancing although I’ve never done it myself.
Intellectual Vitality: I liked this one. Started out with my wonder of the evening sky and brought in how a lot of different branches of academia explain the world around us and perhaps these explanations could be linked together to form a composite picture.
[</em>] Teacher Recommendation: Really generic. It was one of those ‘copy+paste’ affairs although I was hoping they didn’t do that.
[<em>] Counselor Rec: I did not get to see this recommendation, although I’m hoping it was good since she was a sponsor for one of my ECs.
[</em>] Additional Rec: Cross country coach. It was pretty good.
[li] Interview: N/A.[/ul] </p>[/li]
<p>Other[ul]
[<em>] State: Tennessee
[</em>] Country: USA
[<em>] School Type: Public school, on the ‘target list’ for the NCLB program, not a very high graduation rate, even lower rate of students going to college.
[</em>] Ethnicity: Asian-American
[<em>] Gender: Male
[</em>] Income Bracket: < $50,000
[li] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): First-generation college student[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>Reflection[ul]
[<em>] Strengths: Essays might have gotten me in the door.
[</em>] Weaknesses: Then they looked at my scores, ECs and read my Why Stanford essay and immediately threw me out. My lack of AP classes because of my school and lack of self-confidence to do self-study more than likely screwed me over. Perhaps I came across as one-dimensional to the adcoms, because I talked about FCA and church a lot.
[li] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: It’s kind of obvious. I was a good student in my hometown but I wasn’t competitive enough in the context of the applicant pool, probably the bottom echelon. My scores are far from solid and the inconsistency between my SAT and ACT scores probably got them doubting that I would do well at Stanford. Overall, I just wasn’t competitive for admission.[/ul]</p>[/li]
<p>General Comments:
I had dreamed about going to Stanford for a while now, and hoped and prayed that perhaps they would pull for me. It was a pretty romantic concept of taking a guy whose parents never went to college (one parent not even graduating from high school) living in a blue-collar factory town, attending a small high school and putting him in one of the most rigorous universities in the nation, perhaps the world. Of course, with a concept like that, it was easy to become oblivious to the real chances of that happening. So yes, I was a bit devastated after reading that e-mail, especially after a rejection from Duke days earlier.</p>
<p>However, to everyone who has gotten a rejection, either from Stanford or another institution, remember this: you went for it. There are tons of people who are given opportunities but choose to ignore them, and even many more who want an opportunity but were never given one. Stanford isn’t the only opportunity-giving school out there. I ended up at Baylor, which is actually my first-ever dream school and the best fit for me, and I think I can excel there. Sure, Baylor doesn’t have as big of a ‘wow’ factor as Stanford does, but any school is a great school - it’s how you approach it.</p>
<p>And I am aware that this is way late in the game to actually say this. I was really embarrassed about my outcome and I was terrified to post here, but now that I’m more familiar with what I’m about to go into, I don’t have much of a reason to be embarrassed. Stanford said ‘no’ in a very nice letter. It’s okay. I’ve learned more about myself in this experience with college admissions than I have my whole career in high school.</p>
<p>What I’m hoping with this ramble is that a hopeful Stanford '14er, '15er or '16er and so on, will realize that just going through the process is worth commending. The outcome of it may or may not be what you wanted, but hey, you survived.</p>
<p>And of course, congratulations all you Stanford applicants and admits, I’m proud of all of you.</p>
<p>Now have the best four years of your life.</p>