Stanford SCEA 2014?

Colleges & Universities Stanford University
1

<p>I want to apply to Stanford SCEA. Should I use my early option elsewhere?</p>

<p>BACKGROUND</p>

<p>-Male caucasian junior
-Decent public HS in Utah.
-I have Corsican + Persian + American ethnicity.
-Family income ~ $14,000 / year. No assets over $1,000.</p>

<p>ACADEMIC</p>

<p>GPA: 3.6 unweighted, 4.1 weighted.</p>

<p>SAT Subject Tests:
800 French
750 Math I
730 US History</p>

<p>SAT: 2200 projected (taking this June!)</p>

<p>AP courses: 9 including senior year</p>

<p>AWARDS</p>

<p>-Questbridge CollegePrep Recipient
-Cross Country MVP, Most Improved awards.
-Honor roll many/most semesters
-High School Academic Letter I
-Nominated by teachers for “Keys to Success”</p>

<p>Teacher Rec’s will most likely be excellent.</p>

<p>EXTRA CURRICULAR</p>

<p>-Cross Country (3 years) varsity.
-Track (4 years) 1600m, 800m, long jump
-French club (2 years) (president)
-FBLA club (1 year) went to state
-Debate Team (1 year)
Service Club (1 year) (raised awareness for drunk driving, funds for leukemia, raffles, assemblies, invited guest speakers. acted as the “Respect Campaign Organizer”)
-Jr. Scholar’s Academy (3 months) (was selected among 50 students in the district for a course on the founding fathers)
-Interned at Zion’s Bank. shadowed one of the big dogs. (1 month)</p>

<p>WORK</p>

<p>-Educated an autistic boy for a family (1 year)
-I single-handedly made a website (e-commerce!) for someone else’s product.
-I worked for a small real-estate company in Los Angeles and did graphic design work.</p>

<p>MISC</p>

<p>-My father took his life while he was a senior at Stanford. My mom discovered her pregnancy with me only a few days later. Her father had abandoned her, and without US citizenship she raised me from almost nothing. She then divorced step dad when I was 2, which is why I have a little sister.</p>

<p>-I had a rough sophomore year because my family went through a financial crisis and we were basically undeclared homeless for months. We stayed at a family friend’s home. Sometimes I did my homework in our car full of newspapers, where I would then sleep. this brings my GPA way down, otherwise I have always been a straight A student…</p>

<p>-I educated a 9 year old autistic child, Spencer during all of 10th grade on my own time twice a week. I taught him how to speak correctly, write, think and express himself. Over the year, his family saw improvement, and I am very proud of this. In my essay I want to compare his obsessions with an elaborate train-set he built, to my obsessions of constantly thinking of how I could better teach him during my daily life, and help him “build” himself. I am considering neuroscience.</p>

<p>-Also, my father cared for an autistic black kid, Archie, at his high school. He would bring him home and clothe him / feed him for years. Surprisingly enough, he later apparently showed up to my parent’s wedding, finding his way on a bicycle. I didn’t know about all this until after my experience with the autistic boy I educated. He ran the 800m, like me, something I only learned afterwards as well.</p>

2

<p>Your resume looks great. Unfortunately, many Stanford applicants will have comparable, or perhaps even more impressive, applications. But go for it! If you like Stanford, then go ahead and do SCEA. Can’t hurt. Don’t do it if you don’t love the school though. They’re pretty perceptive with weeding out SCEA kids who only applied because they wanted to use their EA option somewhere.* Make sure your app is sincere. So basically, don’t apply SCEA if you don’t love Stanford. You have the numbers and scores to be accepted, but so do many other kids. Like I’ve told all the other juniors who’ve asked, find the thing about yourself that sets you apart (in your case, it looks like taking care of the mentally-challenged), and make sure Stanford sees your passion for that activity. Don’t try to be someone you’re not; they’ll more than likely see through you.
So just go ahead and do it. It can’t hurt, and you’ve got a better chance than lots of people! Just remember, the admit rate this year was 7.6%, so don’t get your hopes up…</p>

<p>*Most top colleges are good at this. I applied to Harvard regular decision this year against my will. Stanford was, and is, my dream school, and I only applied to Harvard because my parents and uncle wanted me to. I’m pretty sure my insincerity and lack of interest in Harvard came through in the supplement. Needless to say, I was rejected. : )</p>

3

<p>Also, it sounds like you’ve had what most people would call a “rough” upbringing. You might want to include how you’ve overcome the struggles of living in a single-parent household to make excellent grades and test scores. That could really help; Stanford looks for kids who have excelled despite extreme adversity.</p>

4

<p>Flyingllama, you’re truly a very remarkable person. Your profile is very good, but as soxfan points out, it’s not out of the ordinary for Stanford to receive such great profiles. What impresses me more are your life experiences and your obvious perseverance. That is a special attribute you have, and you mustn’t lose it.</p>

<p>It may feel a bit awkward to you to portray the struggles and adversity of your life in order to gain the favor of the admission committee. I can relate, because I’ve had to do the same in a few cases. However, you should remind yourself that you’ve worked hard to stay on track under very difficult circumstances and you deserve your reward, and if that means you’ll have to tell someone about your experiences, don’t hold back.</p>

<p>Best of luck with the admission process, and I sincerely hope that you’ll do well!</p>

5

<p>Thanks, uneverknow. : ) That’s exactly what I was trying to get across, but I think you put it in plainer terms/said it much better than I did.
flyingllama- don’t push your EC’s, push your story. Your common app essay should be your story. Talk about your life, and the challenges you’ve overcome. You have a great story to tell, and Stanford will want to see how you have overcome adversity on your journey. Your extensive EC’s will be a nice supplement, but you are fortunate enough that you don’t have to push your activities to try to get in. I would say, while reminding you to take this with a grain of salt, you have a MUCH better chance than the average “overqualified” Stanford applicant. Stanford is looking for kids from all sorts of different backgrounds, and you definitely have a very unique perspective on life to offer.</p>