<p>You’re in the 8th grade. Honestly, the person you are now is NOTHING like the person you’re going to be when you apply to college. Like you, in the 8th grade I wanted to go to Stanford. In high school, I completely forgot about it until the end of junior year, when I started thinking more about college apps. You don’t need to be planning this early. To be totally honest, I spoke to a Stanford admissions officer and people who plan like crazy aren’t the type of students that do well there. They want passion, intelligence, and love of learning. If you have all those things, there’s no need to worry about admissions. I never once planned anything just for Stanford. I did what I loved, what I felt I should do, what felt right, and nothing more. </p>
<p>Follow your interests, do well in school, but most of all have fun. High school should be for enjoyment, not one long resume culminating in a college app. And don’t worry at all about the SAT. I took it once no studying, and then took it again with a week of light review, both times during my junior year. I was just admitted EA.</p>