really aspiring to go to stanford

Multiverse7
Wed, 05 Oct 2016 19:42:33 +0000

FWIW, here’s my opinion:

Right now, assuming you are a normal unhooked applicant, your chances are pretty close to zero.

If you achieve your goal of obtaining a 3.5-3.6 gpa by the end of junior year, your chances are still probably under 1% and probably pretty close to zero. Also, please keep in mind that Stanford recalculates your gpa dropping your freshman year grades and rounding a plus and minus grade to the letter grade (i.e. a B- and a B+ both are counted as a B).

If you also obtain your goal of at least 1510 on the SAT, your chances are probably still low single digits given your subpar gpa.

If you do all the above and become an Intel Semifinalist it will probably not change your results.

If you become one of the 40 finalists, then every single aspect of your application will probably be scrutinized to see if your mediocre academics in HS should be overlooked. Your letters of rec and essays as well other achievements and leadership positions will be evaluated. You MAY have a shot at getting in if the other parts of your app are superb.

I would caveat this by saying that every Finalist that I have met also had stellar academics so this is pretty much unchartered territory for me (and for perhaps adcoms as well). I also know quite a few Siemens and Intel Semifinailsts who did not get into their first choice schools but they all did get into pretty selective colleges. I know of one winner who was waitlisted at Harvard despite a perfect SAT and ACT, perfect grades and 5 800’s on the SAT 2, they were admitted to Stanford though. I also know of a Finalist who was rejected by his first choice school but was accepted to all his other schools. His academics were top notch though.

In summary, if all of your hypotheticals come to pass than you may have a shot at getting in but your grades will have to be overcome. Good luck with everything!