Stanford-Chance Unique Applicant

Aj39vn23cf2
Sun, 31 Jul 2011 11:16:38 +0000

Rigorous school, low GPA, sunstandard/mediocre APs, low PSAT, no ECs, average SAT, Martial Arts, The Mayo Clinic, classes in paid, not-that-competitive systems (CTY & EPYG), no legacy.

1st thing: The school may be competitive beyond belief. The amount of work that needs to be put in may be beyond belief. But that does NOT excuse your son from having a low GPA. Admissions officers may have (probably will have) a good understanding of how rigorous that school is. The problem is this: if the school is THAT rigorous, and your son has to put in THAT much work, then why does he have substandard AP scores? You can get a 3 by reading through a review book once the night before the test. Your son doesn’t have an excuse (like being a bad test taker, with a 200+ PSAT/mid 700 practice SATs) for doing poorly on these AP tests. The reason colleges look at AP tests is so that they can judge the relative difficulty of the school, judge whether or not the student will be able to perform admirably in whatever college is looking, and judge how well the student is at time management - if a student who attends such a competitive school that the highest UW GPA is a 3.75, then colleges will judge the UW GPA relatively…but if the student performs poorly on standardized AP exams, then the advantage gained from attending such a competitive school is slim to none, especially if the student doesn’t have but two things outside of school (martial arts & the mayo clinic) to do! If your child is not able to study efficiently, cannot learn subject material easily, and cannot manage his time efficiently enough to perform well on easy, standardized exams, then you have to question whether or not your child will do well in schools as rigorous as Stanford.

2nd thing: As said before, 205 is NOT NMS. You can assume NMS based on practice test scores, but you definitely cannot assume NMS based on that (relatively low) score.

3rd thing: The lack of ECs will kill your child’s chances. As I’ve stated before, no ECs + substandard test scores/grades shows poor time management/studying skills. Many, MANY other sophomores were able to balance multiple ECs, self-studying APs and getting 4s/5s, work, and getting high grades (myself included). You should not expect special treatment from admissions officers because he has to follow such a rigorous schedule from “such a young age”. For applicants at Standord-level schools, a rigorous course load is the norm.

4th thing: This should have been the first thing. Your child is, despite what you may believe, not unique in terms of college admissions. Substandard AP scores also indicate a low writing level - something that will hurt your college essays, which is where Stanford applicants truly need to shine.

I’m sorry for the bashing. We kids on CC like to play the Devil’s Advocate! Make sure to take everything I’m saying with a grain of salt. After all, I am in the same grade as your son. Please, however, don’t completely disregard what I’m saying just because of my age - advice is advice, no matter the source.

And I’m not saying that your son shouldn’t apply to Stanford. Admissions is a crapshoot for everyone, and he has an entire year ahead of him before he applies to colleges. Anyone and everyone has the potential to get in, but since so many people apply, anyone and everyone has the potential to be rejected, too. All you can do is hope. Good luck to you and your son!