<p>ok, so there comes a point in time when one is applying to college when one has to concentrate a little less on the impressiveness of one’s grades/ECs and concentrate more on the impressiveness of one’s character. Stanford applicants are amazingly talented. Out of the 22,000+ students that apply I’m sure exists tons of valedictorians, 100% SAT scorers, and amazingly talented scholars. But what makes an applicant into an admittee is how they present their character through their application. How are YOU reflected in your many extracurrics and amazing grades? What do you value? How do you handle challenges? etc. Show them your personality, your character, your integrity and you will win them over. And be genuine because they can usually tell when someone is being fake.</p>
<p>And I’m not too sure about the “ethnicity giving an edge” thing. If you think about it about 12% of applicants get accepted. Of those 12%, 40% of them are white while 7% is Latino.</p>
<p>I’m almost positive what they mean by saying that they can’t guarantee your rush scores will be seen is that, if someone else screws up and doesn’t get them the scores in time, they can’t and won’t hold your application–they have to view it without them. That’s because they can’t handle 1,000 kids calling them up and asking for special dispensation because a third party screwed up the scoring of their tests.</p>
<p>Thank you docketgold, once again your advice is useful and insightful =)</p>
<p>BTW Guys & Gals, i think you should know the following information about me. Ever since eighth grade i have been an aspiring sociologist. Last summer i worked with a professor at stanford taking a sociology course as part of the EPGY program. Though this was a minor accomplishment, i have spent the past summer on an incredibly significant project. </p>
<p>I am currently working at Columbia university with a team of graduate students, under the supervision of the sociology dep’t chair and oral history dep’t chair. I am working on the 9/11 Narrative and Memory project, and was selected for one of three positions out of 250 +applicants. I am a published sociologist, and i am currently working on publishing a second article (to be published in the Columbia historical review). </p>
<p>Because of this programme, i will be getting a recommendation from the sociology department chair at columbia university, as well as the head of the humanities department. This is a huge deal for me, and hopefully it will help tremendously with my application. </p>
<p>I just need to know the following; whether or not i should use this recommendation as one of my teacher recs or as a tertiary recommendation? I can imagine it will hold more weight as a teacher rec than as a supplemental recommendation, and therefore I am leaning towards this choice. Please give me your insight, and share with me your opinions about having two department chairs at an ultra presitigious university write my recommendation - could this potentially “raise my application from the dead”?</p>
<p>I am not 100% positive of what I’m about to say so run it by your counselor first, or better yet, email the Stanford admissions people to get it from the horse’s mouth.</p>
<p>I think when they ask for teacher recs they are asking for someone who has taught you in your 8-3, everyday high school. Now, think I understand the point you’re making that these people are university-level teachers, you’re working (and hopefully learning) under the tutelage, so they should be able to write you a rec, but I don’t think the admissions people would agree with that logic.</p>
<p>I think they’re looking for someone who has seen you work in a strictly academic setting, surrounded by your peers, so I would lean towards using these people as additional recommendations, but not as teacher recs.</p>
<p>Hmm i understand your angle, and i am leaning towards that now - i just thought that they would devote more attention to the teacher recs and less to the supplemental recs. Therefore if i were to submit the dept chair recs as one of my teacher recs they would be pleasantly surprised.</p>
<p>To the race card, Iranian is NOT an URM. My friend is Iranian, but he is still considered Caucasian.</p>
<p>Um, well on this thread you sound really really impressed with yourself. Make sure you get that in check on your application. They read a lot of applications, many of which have more impressive qualifications than yours (even with all of the sociology stuff), so you should avoid turning them off with that attitude. </p>
<p>Being a URM (which you are not) does not give you that much of a boost, especially if you come from an affluent background or school, so I wouldn’t count on your ethnicity a whole lot. Has it impacted your day to day life? If it has you can write an essay about that, but otherwise it is not going to give you a significant edge over an equally qualified applicant, and most certainly won’t help you with a more qualified applicant (of which there will be many).</p>
<p>Thank you for your advice ferrets, i can assure you i am not “impressed” with myself in anyway, in fact, i only posted this thread because i needed some hope. I apologize if I came off as arrogant or narcissistic, i certainly didnt mean to (and am in no way like that on my application).</p>
<p>You won’t stand out from the packs of geniuses applying except potentially for your soph/junior summer work. If you can distinguish yourself in some way with that, you have an ok shot–develop it and work it into your application in a way that a person would say “thats really cool, I want that to happen here.” Otherwise you’ll look a lot like the 70th percentile applicant, and on the 90th and above get in.</p>
<p>Thank you for your advice. I think it would be helpful to mention what i believe is my major source of “uniqueness”; I am an opera singer. It may just appear as a side note on my stats, but i spent a good five years of my life working and performing at the metropolitan opera (lincoln center). Basically, i held a real job from 5th-10th grade working 3-5 times a week up until 2 A.M some nights. It was a major, major commitment and greatly affected my gpa. But the experience was invaluable, and i have chosen to write my essay about it. </p>
<p>I hope it will “set me apart” from the rest of the applicants. I would really love to continue singing at Stanford!</p>
<p>Be sure to send a sample of your opera. I know an opera singer who was accepted and they are trying to beef up their music program. Good luck!</p>
<p>evig99 - thank you very much, how do you recommend i send this in? And how did your friend go about the process, if you don’t mind i, i am very interested to find out how he/she submitted samples and/or contacted the department. Thanks again, please let me know!</p>
<p>Follow these links to the 08-09 Arts Supplement:</p>
<p>[Arts</a> Supplement : Stanford University](<a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/application/freshman/arts.html]Arts”>http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/application/freshman/arts.html)
<a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/pdf/08-09_Arts_Supplement.pdf[/url]”>http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/pdf/08-09_Arts_Supplement.pdf</a></p>
<p>Follow the instructions. Be sure to pay attention to the deadlines which are earlier than the normal application deadlines. Also, as I remember it, you have to turn in your Common Application also by the early deadline. So you would have to have your whole application (essays and all) ready by Oct 15 for EA. That’s the downside, but as Stanford is really working on their arts programs, the arts supplement could be really beneficial. Of course, that depends on your level on excellence in you artistic field. Basically, don’t go to the trouble if you think it won’t help you. </p>
<p>I can’t comment about the music auditions, because I applied for dance which has no auditions. </p>
<p>I never had to contact the department because once my supplement was in, it went to the department for review. As I understand it, they give a recommendation to the adcoms about the quality of your work and whether they would like to have you; much like coaches do for recruited athletes. A positive recommendation could definitely aid you in the admissions process especially for SCEA which seems to have admitted a lot of students with unusual talents last year.</p>
<p>I don’t know what specifically my friend did to apply, but I am sure she used the Arts Supplement.</p>
<p>The Best!</p>
<p>Thank you!
Bump</p>
<p>Please continue posting your advice, i truly appreciate it!</p>
<p>haha im also very ambitious too
but still not as ambitious as you
hope u can get into one of those top skls
from all the posts ive seen on CC so far, the more i look at the more pessimistic i get abt getting into the ivy league skls
sigh</p>
<p>Im not sure if you guys realized, but Stanford’s admit rate isn’t exactly 11% for competitive people.
Based on this link,
[url=<a href=“http://news-service.stanford.edu/stanfordtoday/ed/9801/9801fea5.html]9801fea500.shtml[/url”>http://news-service.stanford.edu/stanfordtoday/ed/9801/9801fea5.html]9801fea500.shtml[/url</a>]
Stanford simply discards non-competitive people in the first round (assuming solid C’s and D’s and bad test scores/essays). They claim it’s about half the applicant pool. In 2008, I believe around 22000 people applied (roughly estimating). So, halve it, it becomes 11000. From this is where the people are actually selected. So, in 2008, about 2400 people got in (Again, roughly estimating). 2400/11000* 100 = 21.81 or 22% of the competitive people who apply, get in. Naturally, Im assuming the OP is competitive.
Also, the same probably happens for the Ivy league schools and MIT and Caltech and Tufts. So, you do have high chances i guess.
Note: You can substitute the exact numbers to know the exact percentage.</p>
<p>But then again, define “non-competitive” and “competitive”</p>
<p>joeyyang: I try to avoid chance threads unless it’s Stanford chance thread because all they do is make you worry more. :[ I really need to stop looking at them altogether</p>