Stanford-Chance Unique Applicant

Dungareedoll
Sun, 31 Jul 2011 09:29:12 +0000

pebatty: I had a similiar concern with my s. He, too, went to a very rigorous HS and I was concerned that the colleges wouldn’t appreciate all his hard work. However, they do. The admission counselors are divided up regionally. Consequently, they make it their business to understand how each of their schools function. Hence, if your school is so rigorous they will probably understand that. However, just because your school doesn’t offer any EC’s will not exempt your S. HE MUST SEEK SOME OUT!!! EC’s are extremely important in the college selections process. His grades are certainly very good but not so stellar that any school will over look his lack of EC’s. Even kids with perferct SAT scores and GPA’s will most certainly be turned down, if they don’t have enough EC’s. As for programs like CTY, most schools will not find them to be a plus. Any program that you have to pay for, will not impress a college. The simple reason is that “you paid for it”. So anyone with enough money to pay for the course can, basically take it. In the case of CTY, I understand that it is based on a score but once again only the privileged can take it because you have the money to pay for pricey programs. The basic rule of thumb is never pay for a program if you want to use it on your college resume. You must be selected and receive a scholarship, that schools are interested in because it evens the playing field for everyone else out there.

Your S needs a lot of community service, school service (a completely different service then community) and he needs to do some sports, music, or clubs. Since your school doesn’t offer them, then you need to seek these things from your community. In addition, since he is still young remember to chose your EC’s and stick with them for the next few years. Your S needs to show a passion for something, show consistancy.

Good luck