Decision: Rejected
Objective:
Took all standardized tests only once, so don’t think I took like an insane amount of tries to get to these:
SAT I (breakdown): 1590; 800 Math, 790 RW; 7/6/8 on essay
ACT (breakdown): 36; 36 Math, 36 English, 36 Writing, 36 Science; 10 on essay
SAT II: 800 Math II; 800 Physics; 800 Chemistry
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Weighted GPA: School doesn’t do this, but if calculated is a 4.55
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School doesn’t do rank. But definitely top 3 out of class of 420.
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Calc AB (5), AP Calc BC (5), AP Stats (5), AP Phys C: Mech (5), AP Phys C: E&M (5), AP Chem (5), AP Comp Sci (5), APWH (4), APUSH (4), AP Lang (4), AP Economics (4/4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): Not offered
Senior Year Course Load: AP Gov, AP Bio, AP Psych, AP Literature, AP French, Differential Equations (math class at local college), Theater Production and Academic Coach (basically a TA)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Made AIME every year from AMC, National AP Scholar 2 years, Placed top 3 in like 8 events in the state science olympiad over 3 years, same with the state Mu Alpha Theta.
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Swim Team (Captain), Water Polo (Starting Varsity), Math Club (Treasurer), Science Club (VP), National Science Honors Society (Founder)
Job/Work Experience: Lifeguard in the summer between junior and senior year. Explained that couldn’t work before that because I wasn’t 16 yet.
Volunteer/Community service: Volunteered at local Boys and Girls Club. Volunteered at a local Science Center, and got promoted to a position that only people who were over 18 years were allowed to have. Swim Instructor.
Summer Activities: Work, Volunteering
Essays (rating 1-10, details):
8/10 Common App: Wrote about my move from India my freshman year, and how I joined the water polo and swim teams and found my place. Tried to steer away from cliches of being sad or having a jock story. Just described my first week of practice, and how that was super hard and how staying with it showed different aspects of my personality.
9/10 Supplement: Wrote pretty witty answers that I thought showed various aspects of my behavior. Humor and the fun side, but also a thoughtful and dedicated person.
Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #1: 9/10 English teacher who was in awe of me. He was an extremely good writer so I’m sure he made his letter like a work of art.
Teacher Rec #2: 9/10 Physics teacher. He was super chill and a great teacher and friend. I used to love talking to him about physics stuff and he knew I wanted to major in astrophysics too so I’m sure he wrote about that.
Counselor Rec: 6/10 He knew that I was a great student and everything, but I don’t think it would have been very personal. I hadn’t really put in the time or effort to get to know him or even talk to him much.
Additional Rec:
Interview: 8/10 Came off as very passionate about the college and knew what I was talking about in terms of both Stanford, astrophysics and how the two came together.
Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes
Intended Major: Astrophysics
State (if domestic applicant): Washington
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Indian (like the country)
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: Prefer not to say
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None
Reflection:
Strengths: Great test scores, GPA, extracurriculars, and volunteering.
Weaknesses: Maybe my essays or rec letters, although I don’t think it was that.
Why you think you were rejected: Like 7 or 8 people applied from our school, and as an almost steadfast rule, only one gets in. I thought it was going to be me, but other people had some other factors cough cough race cough on their side. Maybe even despite the extracurriculars and roundedness that I tried to display, they still thought I didn’t have anything super significant like a research paper or something.
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
Have applied to UW, UCSB, UCLA, UC Berkeley, Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Johns Hopkins, Dartmouth, Columbia, UChicago. Waiting to hear back, but in my mind I’m going to UW (my safety), and if I get in anywhere else that’s an upgrade…
General Comments: I literally made this profile for just this post, to get this off my chest and hopefully show through comparisons, how the admissions process is effectively just luck once you reach an acceptance rate <10%. Hopefully, all of you great people keep in mind that a rejection from Stanford is an acceptance for some other college, and that other college will be happy to have you. It’s Stanford’s loss. Stay strong, and remain happy!