so, what do you think?

Colleges & Universities Stanford University
21

<p>A brief note about the science research awards that get people on CC so excited: 25% of applicants to Siemens get an award. 300/1200. It’s impressive, but not some unattinable feat. And we all know that a fair number of those applicants piggy-backed on a brilliant science research teacher or a generous mentor. A handful of wealthy schools churn out ISEF/Siemens/Intel STS winners like factories, and I have a feeling that it’s not because their kids are brighter as much as it is the fact that their school and their teachers put the ‘dependent’ in ‘independent’ research and get them into all the right programs with all the right mentors. That said, I think this is partially what colleges mean when they say they look at applicants ‘in context’ and I think in the end adcoms can sift through the resumes. That Siemens Award means a lot more if the applicant went to a school with no research program and did all the research in their basement than if it was done by a student with every resource in the world in a twelve person lab.</p>

<p>That said, I think this applicant has about a 60% chance of getting in. Overall she is impressive, but I wouldn’t say she is the most qualified applicant on this board or a shoo-in.</p>

22

<p>I have definitely heard of ISEF- that is very impressive. However,

what exactly does that mean? Is that through ISEF also? Is this a prestigious award/program? You say that you have spent 18 hours/week for 5 weeks/year for three years- does that mean that it is a club or some kind of annual competition?
I was just wondering about that since you claim it as an international-level award but do not offer any details on its prestige or importance.</p>

23

<p>Additionally, if what TheMatrix411 said is true, how does your ISEF project measure up? Was it independent research or did you somehow earn a mentor through financial advantage?</p>

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<p>no the hydrogen fuel cell competition is not ISEF. I did not say the name of the competition, because it would disclose my secret identity haha. No, but seriously when you google my name about 20 intl websites come up in relation to that competition, so judge the prestige accordingly? I don’t think I have any ISEF websites :[</p>

<p>Also, we did have to qualify at regionals, and then again via interview. AND I did this one all by my lonesome, our chem teacher/chaperone had no idea…we(4 kids) just tinkered around with some parts. </p>

<p>I labeled the EC under our team name…the team was just me and another person. The competition itself was a week. Plus the creating process. And on top of that we have done quite a few expos/conventions where we present our experience and talk about energy efficiency/fuel cell technology (one of these was a week long). </p>

<p>As far as my research, yes I did complete it at UF so I had a professor as a mentor, and collected my data with a group of 4 grad/undergrad students. I used 50+ human subjects for pain tests…so it would have been impossible/illegal to do in my basement :]. I analyzed all of my data by myself though. </p>

<p>Oh I just noticed the financial advantage part…I was part of the UF-SSTP program which helped find me a mentor. You had to apply pretty much college-style, and the price was not all that bad(guessing just the cost of room and board + a little for the RCs), and many kids received scholarships.</p>

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<p>Well, a better way to assess prestige in my opinion is not to see how many times your name comes up when a person googles you, but rather an assessment of the program/competition itself. </p>

<p>The reason why ISEF is prestigious is because it is nationally recognized with many competitors battling for recognition, each project requires a lot of hard work, and there is a set standard of excellence for the top awards. </p>

<p>In my area, there are a lot of locally-sponsored awards and competitions, for example. We have one such competition in which competitors fashion a piece of art out of recycled materials, and the winners move on to “state” and “international” competitions as well. However, there are generally only 10 competitors at each level- local, state, national, and international- making winning not only easy, but also of questionable prestige. My friend recently boasted her 3rd place in the state win at an oratorical contest hosted by American Legion. When pressed, she admitted that each American Legion Post can send one competitor to the state competition. Turns out she was the only one who applied to that post, and one of five competitors at the state competition. Does this imply prestige? Not exactly. </p>

<p>Was it difficult for those people to fashion the artwork out of recycled materials? Yes. Was it hard work for my friend to develop three 10-minute extemporaneous-style speeches on the Constitution? Undoubtedly. But the fact remains that, although their feats were impressive when looked at out of context, since there is no set standard of excellence a la ISEF/Siemens, it is hard to assess the validity of their accomplishments.</p>

<p>So, back to the original question: your international-level awards. How many competitors were involved in the competition? Were all teams at the local, state, national, and international levels subject to the same qualification standards, or was it more of a “whoever is able to go” deal? Who sponsors the competition? What is its stated purpose or mission?</p>

<p>I’m not trying to give you a hard time, I am just simply saying that, while it would be easy for me to skim over your resume, looking for key words lieke “international”, “competition”, “valedictorian”, etc., that will not give you an accurate picture of your chances. Colleges are going to critically analyze your application and will not just accept at face value flashy terms like “international-level”.</p>

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<p>if stanford rejects you, i will lose confidence in the concept of college.</p>

27

<p>we were sponsored by progress energy.</p>

<p>and I dont put value in the intl prestige as much as the involvement. A hydrogen fuel cell competition is kind of unique so there are not 1000s of kids fighting for it…but there were 4 regional competitions in the US I believe, with about 30 or so teams of 4 at each. From the first place winners at regionals, 2 teams of 2 were selected via interview to compete at internationals (both teams happened to be my original team or 4 :]). We smoked the competition at our regionals, because our engineering design worked amazingly. The Int’l competition consisted of 1 team from Germany, 3 from India, and 1 from Japan. While the odds of winning SOMETHING are good, we did pretty well in various levels of the competition (1st, 2nd, 3rd). The German team was amazing, although technically they were 13th graders… but anyways, the competition requires pretty good engineering skillz and was not the equivalent of a BS speech</p>

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<p>I know that obviously you value your involvement in the competition, and that’s great. The question is: will Stanford feel the same way? </p>

<p>If I understand you correctly, there were 4 x 2 = 8 U.S. teams represented at internationals, along with the 5 other teams for a total of 13 teams? Or were there just the 2 teams from your original team? Either way, it sounds like a tiny competition and I would not count on it being a hook or even considered in your admission decision. </p>

<p>Since you took a little jab at my friend- she also had to work to develop the research for that competition. There were three topics on the Constitution, and at both competitions she had to randomly draw out one of the three. The resulting speech had to be a cohesive, 10-minute response on the topic- for example, “How does the X clause of section X of the Constitution promote freedom of expression for students?” or whatever. So as quickly as you could write off her work as “bs”, she could also write off your “tinkering with fuel cells”, and even more quickly Stanford could write off BOTH of your accomplishments as “bs”. </p>

<p>As for the rest of your application, it looks good. Your SAT/GPA both are stellar, you have obvious leadership positions and community service, and you are involved in your school. But do not allow the skimming and uneducated responses that you see on CC cloud your perception of reality. Students getting accepted to the top schools are very competitive, and are going to have several national-level awards and a wide range of activites (yet still give a clear picture of the student’s goals). </p>

<p>For example, a lot of the students accepted to the Ivy/Sub-Ivy classes of 2012 last year had not just one science/math-related award but several, i.e., Siemens, ISEF, AIME, as well as high scores on their science/math APs & SAT IIs, a heavy math/science courseload, and ongoing independent research. In addition to those sorts of activities, they also showed aptitudes in other areas, like sports, music, art, debate, foreign language, community service, etc. They had their best accomplishments in the area that they wanted to major in (for your sake I used math/science), but they also had impressive accomplishments in other areas as well, showing their well-roundedness. </p>

<p>After seeing a girl with valedictorian, 2370, AIME qualifier, all 5s, and captain of three varsity sports rejected from Stanford, it is hard for me to say “you are a shoo-in” like everyone else is saying.</p>

29

<p>we’ll see, I think she differs from your friend for quite obvious reasons</p>

30

<p>haha sorry for calling your friend’s speech BS…but I read your post as “Was it hard work for my friend to develop three 10-minute extemporaneous-style speeches on the Constitution? DOUBTEDLY” </p>

<p>idk a lot of ppl on my debate team get american legion whatnot, and extemp is not that bad ha, my friends DO BS it and make it to NFL nationals. </p>

<p>and there were 2 teams of 2 from the U.S.<br>
Why wouldn’t my time/effort into the expos/competition be at least regarded as a VERY passionate EC…</p>

31

<p>oh and I know I am not a shoo-in. I thought 50% chance was generous to be honest.</p>

32

<p>dear dear me, if people could only understand what stanford looks for, dear dear me.
That is the last thing I have to say on this issue. I have full gurantee you made it.</p>

33

<p>I typically refrain from saying anything, but seriously, stop being so haughty/arrogant. Those aren’t redeeming qualities.</p>

34

<p>^who was that comment directed too?</p>

<p>I sorta agree with st. aegis on this one though. I don’t see why they wouldn’t accept.</p>

35

<p>…
very well
…</p>

36

<p>was that for me, aegis, or CTL?</p>

37

<p>i think it was directed toward me…</p>

38

<p>much will depend on your essays and letters of recommendation. You’re in the running, but will need continued outstanding performance in these other two categories.</p>

39

<p>Did you apply early?</p>

40

<p>St. aegis. I don’t mind you at all, don’t get me wrong. But sometimes you act like you have this Stanford thing in a bag and it annoys me.</p>