<p>I have dreamed of Stanford ever since I was little. I want to become a pediatrician and this is my dream school. I was wondering what my chances were with:</p>
<p>all A’s since I could remember
a 4.17 GPA right now in the tenth grade
in 11th grade- taking 4 AP classes and Spanish 3 and ASB [or leadership]
in 12th grade- taking 4 AP classes and Anatomy and physiology, and ASB</p>
<ol>
<li>relax, you still have a long time…</li>
<li>grades are only a fraction of the admissions process…test scores, extra curriculars, and essays are all really big (especially essays)…</li>
</ol>
<p>Grades like these don’t much matter - almost everyone that gets in to Stanford has essentially identically high-achieving high school academic transcripts.</p>
<p>You don’t want to worry about something thats simply going to show that you’re just as qualified as 25,000 or so other applicants. </p>
<p>You need to get them to believe in your abilities because of how you are different than those other 25,000 qualified kids.</p>
<p>Don’t get too excited about Stanford. While you might love it, there is, unfortunately, a huge chance that you’ll get rejected. There was a girl at my school this year who has dreamed of Stanford all her life and has built all her EC’s, jobs, etc. around getting into Stanford. She was even a URM. However, she got rejected outright in the SCEA round. This just completely crushed her, and she’s not the happy person she used to be : (
So don’t count too much on going to Stanford! Try not to get too excited about it, especially this early, so that you won’t be let down so badly if things don’t work out.</p>
<p>Now, for the advice. Find something you can do really well or that you really enjoy. This should be, preferably, something that most people don’t do/don’t think about. Then mention it in your app (although don’t make it the focus of your essay!). This should help you stand out among the ~35K applicants.</p>
<p>soxfan, when you say “Find something you can do really well or that you really enjoy. This should be, preferably, something that most people don’t do/don’t think about. Then mention it in your app (although don’t make it the focus of your essay!).” …why shouldn’t we make it a focus of our essay? or is it ok to talk about a passion in our essay (for example, if we talk about our passion through a significant event)?
sorrry, that sounds terribly worded…</p>
<p>Ok first of all, take a deep breath.
Ok now that you have done that (at least I hope), you have to make sure that Stanford REALLY is your TOP choice. I mean do you REALLY want to go to Stanford? Does it fit for you? (This is in no way to discourage you from applying, it is a great school)
But many people apply to Ivies and top schools just because they want to feel the “respect” people give towards Ivies students but then they go and discover it is totally not what they want. Do some research on Stanford, go visit their campus, go to their administrative office and talk to them. A college is a match to be made, not a prize to be won.
Also it seems like you are too involved in school and nothing else, I mean go out, explore what you like, grades are only a quarter of what they look at. Top colleges love ECs</p>
<p>I really feel that one shouldnot devote an entre essay about their particular eca on essays. Man, cmmon your guidance counsellor raps a lot of it into her reccomendation, you have your resume too. Essay is the only chance you get to define yourself and explain something different from other application materials… Talk about some incident that is really a good read for others and describes your personality and passion. Don’t waste an essay on a thing that has already been pre-mentioned in other application parts…</p>
<p>I mean i wrote on my first bunk from college…with positive explanations. And i tried to include evrything and described it. The story proved to be a composite amalgam of my personality, my passion for things, my grades, my eca’s. You just require the logic to connect things together and paint a good picture.</p>
<p>^ Exactly. My admissions officer said he doesn’t want an essay that just touts your main extracurricular accomplishment over and over again. The place to talk about your best/favorite extracurricular is in the short answer box (right after the place where you list your activities) on the common app, not in the common app essay. It doesn’t make you look well-rounded, and it makes it seem like that one activity is the focus of your life. Even if it is, you don’t want to make it look that way! : P Instead, like Gurung said, try to weave together a story that includes important life experiences, lessons you’ve learned, and some of your main interests, preferably academic, and how you’ve tied them to extracurricular experiences. That’s what they want to see, and getting that point across to them is crucial.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to sound rude, but I do have a lot of extra curricular activities. I am in Interact(a community service club), habitat for humanity(builds home for homeless), wrestling stat girl, Csf, track and field,and I have over 400 hours of community service</p>
<p>Your grades and volunteer hours are definitely good enough, but again, your essays are what truly distinguish you as an applicant. You could have a 4.0 UW, be valedictorian, 2400 SAT & SATIIs, 1000 hours of community service, and still be rejected from Stanford. They want unique, interesting applicants who show not only talent but also passion in their respective areas. So although you seem to be quite a good student, you still probably don’t have higher than a 20-or-so percent chance of getting in (unless you are a recruit, internationally acclaimed, or a URM). Make sure you have other schools you would also be happy to attend. I hope you end up at a college where you can be happy and successful in getting into a good medical school where you can pursue your career goal. Good Luck!</p>
<p>And just remember, Stanford isn’t looking for people that just pile up ECs. They reject thousands of people each year who participate in a myriad of ECs but aren’t really passionate about any of them. Stanford would much rather have a kid who does one activity but is super passionate about it/super involved with it than a kid who signs up for all the school clubs and activities but clearly does them all just for how they’ll look on a college application. While Stanford wants depth as well as breadth, make depth your priority, as it’s much more important.</p>
<p>@soxfan2048, if i’m involved in a lot of clubs at schools and stuff, but am passionate about all of them (have been in them for years and hold positions in them), how would i go about proving that i’m passionate about them and not just trying to pile up ECs?
for example, i’m involved in Amnesty International (human rights), Muslim Student Association (most involved in…most important to me), Students Against Destructive Decisions (really involved in), and I’ve been involved in a couple other clubs throughout the years (may leave some out because i’m not very involved in them and they’re not that important to me…)…I’m also planning on founding Palestinian-Israeli Alliance next year because it’s very important to me…</p>
<p>Does it sound like im just padding my resume? My ECs outside of clubs include retirement home volunteering, summer camps with less fortunate kids, summer camps with Autistic kids (want to work with Autistic kids when I’m older), and I’m gonna start volunteering with an organization that helps disabled kids this summer and throughout next year as well…
All of these are really important to me, but I want the admissions officers to see that…</p>
<p>Wow…that was a long post haha</p>
<p>you seem like a good kid, who isn’t resume padding. maybe get teacher rec to highlight your passion for helping others (extra rec)</p>
<p>thelovepizza, thanks…that’s a great idea! is there a limit on how many supplemental recs we can give the schools? aside from the 2 main ones, do they like to see a certain amount?</p>
<p>I think that giving one or two extra resumes is fine, but make sure that you don’t make it too excessive. Recs are only a small part of the admissions process, but a few from teachers who truly know you can really illuminate you as a person.</p>
<p>How would you set yourself APART?</p>
<p>Dana- you do sound very sincere. Typically, the sorts of activities in which you have been involved aren’t the type chosen by resume-padders. Unfortunately, most top schools, Stanford in particular, don’t want to have to sort through extra recommendation letters. However, one extra letter shouldn’t be too much of an issue, as long as it is pertinent to your application (which I’m sure it would be) and doesn’t restate information that’s already in your application.
Another alternative place to put more information is the “Additional Information” section of the common app. On mine, I went into more detail about my tennis prowess, my involvement with youth orchestra, and my extensive community service involvement. I also included a book list. While you don’t want to put a whole essay in there (I trimmed all that into just one page), that would be a good place to perhaps go into more detail about why you’re passionate about a few of those activities. Good luck!</p>
<p>rollercoasters- that’s up to you to find out, not anyone else. No one on an online forum can tell you what sets you apart from the crowd. Think carefully about everything you’ve done over the past four years of school, and try to pick something out that you do especially well or that most other people don’t do. If you can’t figure out what you’re interested in/good at, and how it sets you apart from the average student, then, at the risk of sounding harsh, you probably don’t belong at Stanford.
I’m not trying to be mean; I just know that Stanford is looking for kids who haven’t just piled up an impressive list of EC’s and high grades, but have discovered something that they’re good at and that makes them unique. That’s the kind of kid that Stanford wants.
I’m sure you can find something! Everyone has some kind of talent, and, if you make it clear to Stanford that you’ve used your talents to the best of your abilities, then you just might get in!</p>
<p>soxfan2048, thank you so much! so for the additional information section, they give you enough room for about a page of writing? Do you think it’d be more effective to have me write more details in the additional info section or receive an extra rec letter really illustrating my love of helping people?</p>
<p>For recommendation letters, does it matter which teachers write them? I know I’m getting my Spanish teacher to write me one already. I was also considering my English teacher who I had last year and will have next year hopefully…but does it matter that those are both language teachers?
when you say you included a book list, do you mean you just listed different books you’ve read that you really like? </p>
<p>Sorry for all the questions =/ haha</p>