<p>I just came back from the Stanford Admit weekend and during the welcome ceremony the Dean of Undergraduate studies named off a list of the accomplishments for the incoming class of 2015. It was very impressive from a world champion tap dancer to a world champion skeet/trap shooter. His list consisted of about 15 very different things that kids did before they got to Stanford. The point being that Stanford really appreciates individuality. They aren’t looking for cookie cutter students. Its not all about grades for them. Yes, you have to have very good grades but individuality, leadership and service are really key components. My S was accepted this year and I’m pretty sure that it had a lot to do with his extra curricula activites. There were at least 2 or 3 kids from our very large and competitive school who also applied and were waitlisted. Two of these kids were our valedictorian and saluditorian. They both had 2400 on the SAT, (first sitting), all of them were intel national finalists and one of the even came in 2nd in the country (recd a 50K scholarship). However, they were all very similiar in that they were all work and not much else. My s had started his own community service programs for our town and created 90% of his own opportunities for leadership and community service. When he received the acceptance letter in the mail there was a hand written section where the Admission counselor made mention of his work with the environment. She mentioned how his service work would fit in perfectly in the Stanford community. </p>
<p>So although I think its necessary to have a few things on your resume like VP of student body etc. try to do something on your own. Create something new. Stanford is all about creativity, and ingenuity. In the college process its so important to stand out. You have to look different than the other 34,000 applications that they are receiving. My s applied to 12 schools and got into all of them. I really think he did something right. He was different! </p>
<p>Good luck…</p>