Stanford and Inventors for Acceptance

gravitas2
Mon, 29 Jul 2013 12:51:21 +0000

Strive to be the best academically in and out of classroom (not just “above average” as you say), after all, Stanford is FIRST and foremost an ACADEMIC institution looking for the brightest students (they don’t have to SETTLE for mediocrity no matter what your outside talents may be)…and, what you do for extracurricular activity(ies) like “inventing something new” is totally up to YOU…it should not be up to Stanford students/alumni/parents to advise you on such a PERSONAL matter…find your passion whether it be inventing, research, writing, athletics, music, art, whatever…pursue what you love…not what would “look” good in your application.

…the most important point that prospective applicants don’t seem to understand is the following: NO ONE can divine HOW many students will be “inventors” applying with a similar profile as YOURS…so if there are 20 so-called inventors applying in the same application cycle as you…and they all have similar GPA/test scores…which 1 of the 20 (about 5%) do you think they will pick?..hard to say…isn’t it? (by the way I just used 20 as a simple number for calculation purposes…it could easily be hypothetically anywhere between 1 to thousands for all I know)

…the above example of “inventors” can be substituted with top pianists, cellists, violinists, artists, singers, actors, dancers, writers, debaters, app-developers, Intel winners, Olympiad winners, athletes, etc…the BIG unknown is NO ONE knows HOW many of these people with special talents will be applying at any particular application cycle to Stanford in the early round versus the regular round…

…that is why one’s extracurricular endeavors pursued with CONVICTION and PASSION to the FULLEST and HIGHEST levels (…in your particular activity did you separate yourself from others with national, international awards or accolades) plus one’s ESSAYS (best-MOVING ESSAY to worst-GENERIC ESSAY) become the INTANGIBLE components of your application that no one can predict…no one can predict how the admissions officer(s) will be FEELING that day (they may have awoke on the wrong side of the bed) when they read your file…there is and always will be a CERTAIN amount of UNCERTAINTY in college admissions…c’est la vie.