Decision: Accepted
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1520 (750 math, 770 English)
ACT (breakdown): 35 (36 English, 36 Science, 35 Reading, 31 Math)
SAT II: 770 Math, 750 Chemistry, 760 USH
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: 4.6 (4.9 the way Stanford calculates it)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 5% (School doesn’t rank but announces top 5% at end of Junior year)
AP (place score in parenthesis): Calculus AB (5), Statistics (5), English Language (5), USH (5) Chemistry (4), 2D Studio Art (4), European History (3)… RIP I know
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus BC, AP Physics 2, AP Economics, AP Government, AP Computer Science Principles, AP Environmental Science, AP Literature, World Religions/Christian Lifestyles
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NMSF, some other regional awards for my photography and a lot from my school but nothing major
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Women in STEM club (cofounder and president), Amnesty International club (cofounder and president), track/cross country, coding class after school, worked in a community center for at-risk youth (aged 5-15), Ambassador for my school, mentor to the freshman, worked with a restoration society to help remove invasive species from an area, volunteered all over the place
Job/Work Experience: Worked in a water quality laboratory at a top 20 university looking at how meth interacts with wastewater treatment chemicals (IT WAS SO COOOLLLLL) for ten to fifteen hours a week for two years
Volunteer/Community service: Created a nonprofit that was based on the farm in Los Angeles that I grew up on (I adopted about fifteen animals, including a pig). I photograph pets to help make more adoptable, blog about animal issues, and advocate for reform for the teacup pig industry (fun fact: teacup pigs don’t exist!).
Summer Activities: Attended Stanford summer engineering institute, worked at a community center and tutored at-risk youth, took a physics class at UCLA that allowed me to skip AP physics 1 and go straight to 2, continued to do research
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
PS (8.5/10)- I wrote about the culture at my school and how it valued boys’ educations over girls’ (relating it back to a club I formed and the history and actions of the administrators of the school) and how I helped to change it through a lot of fighting and advocating in the community
Short Takes (10/10)- I was so myself, they were really funny and original while also providing insight into some of my goals, accomplishments, etc.
IV (10/10)- I wrote about my research and made it really funny, unique take on science and made it clear that I had a lifelong interest in water sustainability
Roommate (10/10)- I wrote about growing up in different places in America and how I used art to bridge the cultural divide between the places, eventually relating it back to how we could make Stanford a home through art, overall it was quirky and showed a lot about my childhood and ability to overcome obstacles
Meaningful (9/10)- I wrote it about my nonprofit, it was really interesting but was a bit more serious and factual than my others
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: My APUSH teacher (10/10)- I asked him to write one for me and he was so excited about it, telling em that he would do anything he could to get me into Stanford, he wrote mine within three days of me asking when it usually takes him about a month for other people, overall a strong rec from a good writer
Teacher Rec #2: My calc teacher (8/10)- I’ve had him for two years and he really likes me, but he gets a lot of requests so I’m sure it was a little less personal than my others. Still probably a very strong academic recommendation
Counselor Rec: (10/10)- My counselor loves, and we built a very strong relationship (She told me that I’m one of the strongest students who she’s seen in her career)
Additional Rec 1: (9/10)- My research mentor (who just got a PhD from Stanford) wrote me a really good one. He called a meeting with the whole lab and they team wrote it so I’m sure it ended up being pretty strong
Additional Rec 2: (10/10)- My teacher from the Stanford summer program that I attended wrote me one. This was the only one I got to read and it was really good. It was a lot about my personality in the classroom, and I think it helped me have another rec
Interview:
My interview was the first my interviewer had ever done so she was a little bit awkward, but we had a two hour conversation (the restaurant kicked us out bc they were closing so we had to stop lol) after things started to relax
Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: No
Intended Major: STS, Environmental Engineering, Public Policy
State (if domestic applicant): CA (RIP)
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Private, Catholic
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None
Reflection
Strengths: Essays (!!!) and recommendations… I think the subjective are a lot more important then pure grades because Stanford gets way too many qualified apps. Another strength would be that my whole app made a lot of sense when looked at as a whole. My intended majors and why I chose Stanford made sense given my essays. I never explicitly talked about why Stanford or why my major, but I worked to make sure it could be inferred pretty easily.
Weaknesses: Subject test scores, SAT score (but my ACT made up for it I think), no hooks
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I was really authentic. I talked about the good and the bad, and I think Stanford appreciated the realness of me. I was definitely not a kid who tailored their life just to get into college.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
No where yet but I’m going to apply to four other places
General Comments:
Stanford admissions are crazy, but don’t be afraid to apply if it’s what you want. I struggled with the decision to apply to Stanford early because the odds seemed absurd, but, at the end of the day, you need to apply where you think you’ll fit in. Be yourself. If they don’t want you for who you are, it is not the right school for you. Fear the tree and good luck to all future applicants!