<p>Stanford is my dream school. I go to an early college high school so I’ve been taking general biology at my local community college. My professor let me take on an ecological research project, which entails 10 months of fieldwork being published in 2 scientific papers. Assuming I have the average stats for Stanford (2200+ SAT, valedictorian, 4.0 uw GPA, extensive volunteering and EC’s, etc.) to what extent does this research help my chances of admission? I don’t want Stanford for the prestige. I have a passion for research and its research opportunities are unparalleled elsewhere. I’m trying to get in a lab at UH or Rice this summer (I live in the Houston area). I plan on doing similar research with my general chemistry professor next year, and an summer research program the summer before I apply. So does research help or should I stop dreaming?</p>