Decision: Accepted
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1460 (700 math, 760 English) [but did not report it to Stanford]
ACT (breakdown): 34 in September (33M, 33S, 35E, 36R, 10W); 35 superscore (33M, 34S, 35R, 36R)
SAT II: 760 USH, 740 M2, 650 Lit (lol, hi-key did not want to report them, so I didn’t)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.73
Weighted GPA: 4.27
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School doesn’t rank (I have no idea what % I am)
AP (place score in parenthesis): World History (4), US History (5), Statistics (4), English Language & Composition (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Physics 1, AP Gov/Econ (accelerated; classes switch after the first semester), AP Calculus AB, AP Music Theory, Leadership (comparable to ASB)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NM Commendation, AP Scholar with Honor, SCHOOL SPECIFIC: Distinguished Scholar (4 semesters) and Award of Merit (2 semesters) (highest and second highest school award for academic achievement, calculated with GPA and AP scores)
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
- Six years in Thespians Honors Society (no leadership positions)
- Ten years in conservatory at Tony Award-winning regional theatre in Southern California.
- Commercial actor for 8 years
- Performed in school shows (as well as assistant music directed a high school premiere of a show)
- Award-winning soon-to-be-published Composer/Lyricist–Thespian Musicalworks recipient
Job/Work Experience: - Interned with the Asst. City Manager of a neighboring city to learn about municipal government
Volunteer/Community service: - Helped lead a theatre workshop of kids at a local Boys/Girls Club
- Performed in charity a capella choir at school (past two years).
- NHS (joined senior year)
- CSF (member for one semester junior year, and ongoing)
- Community service events through Leadership class (#Lunchbag, Rise Against Hunger, NESALL)
Summer Activities: - Attended the International Thespian Festival and had my musical staged with professional directors
- Was an education intern with the regional theater’s youth conservatory (helped lead workshops of hundreds of kids).
Essays (rating 1-10, details): 9; I am quite against giving myself a perfect grade, there were, of course, places where I could have improved on my essays (I could do with a few revisions on some word choice), but I think my essays really stood out and were diverse and thorough in my interests.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details): 8, I felt pretty confident about my recommendations, my Rec #1 was from a teacher with a fairly good acceptance rate and who famously writes great letters of rec. I was one of her favorite students (I tend to be a favorite among history teachers it seems). My second one I could have found a teacher who I clicked better with, but I hope/think she wrote a good letter (I’ll never know). My counselor had a plethora of background to write about me and my interests, and my additional rec was one of my closest/most trusted mentors.
Teacher Rec #1: First teacher recommendation was my teacher for APUSH (which I had my junior year). As stated above, I was one of her favorite students and she would always brag about the work I did to other teachers. She was friends with an alumna of my high school who now attends Harvard (who has been a close friend of mine since I was 8 or 9). Her letter of rec had a bit of a problem, because of Stanford’s two-letter limit. My teacher didn’t put hers in until the last minute and since Naviance got pushed through with a different teacher, we had to email Stanford, and she had to personally send it to them (which she promptly did, she’s the best).
Teacher Rec #2: My second recommendation came from my AP Statistics teacher (who I also had my junior year). This one I was hesitant about, because for the longest time I thought she didn’t like me, but I knew I needed a STEM teacher (and I got a B in APES, so you bet I wasn’t eager to get a letter from her). But, by the end of the year, I made sure she saw I was engaged with the material (which I was) and I think her letter was pretty good.
Counselor Rec: This is my counselor’s second year at the school, so she hasn’t known me for too long, but she was astounded by all the stuff I had done and I made sure to catch her up on everything I had done (she was maybe a bit overwhelmed when my questionnaire answers were six pages).
Additional Rec: My director at the regional theatre wrote my additional letter of rec. She is prolific and an incredible human being and she has known me since I was 8 years old. She has seen my growth as an actor and a person and she has had a lot of experience writing letters of rec (with acceptances into Stanford/Harvard/etc.).
Interview: My interview was okay. My interviewer apparently had a kid who was going to my school, which was a bit of an oddity, but it made for a good discussion. My interviewer was pretty passive about everything (infamously said that Stanford didn’t care what he said–that wasn’t the exact wording, but I don’t wanna use that language). The more I thought about it, the less confident I felt.
Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Theater and Performance Studies (but I also am considering minoring in public policy or political science)
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public Charter School
Ethnicity: White (non-Hispanic)
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: <need to="" check="" back="" on="" this="" one,="" i="" forgot;="" it’s="" higher="" up="" there,="" but="" just="" forgot="">
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): I think my biggest hook was my art and my interdisciplinary passion for political science. I think establishing myself as a writer gave me some ethos, and my essays showed my deep passion for politics and legislation (my experiencing a period of time essay was on the passage of Medicare and Medicaid through Congress). One thing that may have been a hook, despite the Common App trying to thwart me, was my brother’s attendance at Stanford. The Common App asks if any family member has “received a degree” which I had to answer “no”-- because he hasn’t, but I made sure to let them know that I did have a sibling and had visited the campus many times prior to applying (to show my interest and connection to the school).
Reflection
Strengths: I think I had really strong essays and my going up to audition for the TAPS department really helped show them I had an interest and passion for the school.
Weaknesses: I had low test scores and GPA. It’s a weakness of mine. I’m not the perfect student. I wish I was able to achieve a perfect GPA or get a 36 or achieve more than a commendation.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I like to think I was a good candidate. I had intellectual curiosity and a diverse set of interests, I was passionate about what I did. I don’t know any definitive reason, but I am nevertheless grateful they gave me this opportunity.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: This was my first school I have heard back from (we love an REA), so I will have to update this as time progresses.
General Comments: If you are on the fence or in doubt: apply. I know it may seem like this is one of the craziest of super reaches, but if you show a passion and think you would be a good candidate, apply. You never know. You may not have the highest test scores or GPA (I’ve read some of these and people with much higher GPA’s than mine and other good extracurriculars didn’t get in), but you just need to show them you. And if they like you, you may find yourself surprised. Go for it. You got it. 