<p>Make yourself unique. I’m sure you know how much emphasis stanford places in its essays by now.
Beyond the acamdemia, I’m sure you have some interesting ideas/activities that people could find interesting. Don’t fall into stereotypes. ie. “I worked in a soup kitchen and therefore became a better person” doesn’t work to well.
Don’t worry too much about “amazing recs”, as long as you don’t select someone who will actually write you a negative rec letter you’ll be fine. Be polite and provide them with your CV, stamps, envelopes etc.</p>