Standford chances?

[I'm not a cat]

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Hey everyone,

I'm heading into my junior year. My GPA is 3.98 and I'm a biochemistry major. Right now I'm studying for the MCAT and hoping to get a high score. My dream medical school has always been Stanford. I have always doubted my ability to get in. Could anyone offer advice on what to improve for my application next application cycle?

Here are some of my extracurriculars

I'm in an organization where we bike 4500+ miles from Austin, Tx to Anchorage, Alaska. We're raising money for cancer research and donate directly to MD Anderson. To date we've raised well over $4 million dollars. The org occupies a lot of my free time. I've met cancer patients and heard countless stories that reaffirm my desire to become a doctor.

I honestly have no idea how many hours I have volunteering. I'm volunteering somewhere every week in various places around Austin.

100+ hours volunteering at the Oncology and Neurology department at the local hospital

I have a job as a Math instructor for elementary-high school kids. Another thing I did is take a course where I gave science lessons to children in the Austin community.

Right now I'll only have an opportunity to do research my senior year, the whole biking to alaska thing is really time consuming. The preparation and planning is hectic.

I'm bilingual, I know spanish and english. My mom is from mexico so it didn't require too much effort learning another language.

Some of my letters of recs will be coming from stanford alumni, will this help?


Sorry for the long message, I'm just really determined to get into Stanford. Chances of getting in are low, but I want to aim high. Also, I come from a low income family and I'm not sure if that helps/hurts. I've already told my parents to save money for a plane ticket if I can somehow get an interview next year.

What do I need to work on and how do my chances look right now?

 

[jeghaber]

Hey everyone,

I'm heading into my junior year at the University of Texas at Austin. My GPA is 3.98 and I'm a biochemistry major. Right now I'm studying for the MCAT and hoping to get a high score. My dream medical school has always been Stanford. I have always doubted my ability to get in. Could anyone offer advice on what to improve for my application next application cycle?

Here are some of my extracurriculars

I'm in an organization called Livestrong Texas 4000, we bike 4500+ miles from Austin, Tx to Anchorage, Alaska. We're raising money for cancer research and donate directly to MD Anderson. To date we've raised well over $4 million dollars. Texas 4000 occupies a lot of my free time. I've met cancer patients and heard countless stories that reaffirm my desire to become a doctor.

[....]

Right now I'll only have an opportunity to do research my senior year, the whole biking to alaska thing is really time consuming. The preparation and planning is hectic.

[....]

I've already told my parents to save money for a plane ticket if I can somehow get an interview next year.

What do I need to work on and how do my chances look right now?

Rock your MCAT. It's difficult to determine your chances without knowing your MCAT.

Since Stanford is a research powerhouse, make sure whatever you end up doing for research senior year is meaningful -- it doesn't have to lead to a publication anything, but make sure you're learning and taking an active part in the work you're doing. Not sure if you're planning on a gap year, but if you're really set on Stanford and want to improve your chances, it might be a good idea to build on your research/clinical ECs your senior year so you can include them in your application.

In general though, I'd recommend you look into other schools in which you'd be interested. Stanford has a 2.8% acceptance rate, so many many qualified applicants are turned away. Might make the process easier if you're not fixating on one school.

 

[kmp0410]

Rock your MCAT. It's difficult to determine your chances without knowing your MCAT.

Since Stanford is a research powerhouse, make sure whatever you end up doing for research senior year is meaningful -- it doesn't have to lead to a publication anything, but make sure you're learning and taking an active part in the work you're doing. Not sure if you're planning on a gap year, but if you're really set on Stanford and want to improve your chances, it might be a good idea to build on your research/clinical ECs your senior year so you can include them in your application.

In general though, I'd recommend you look into other schools in which you'd be interested. Stanford has a 2.8% acceptance rate, so many many qualified applicants are turned away. Might make the process easier if you're not fixating on one school.

This

People get into Harvard and rejected to Stanford and vice versa. Its kind of a crap shoot at these top schools and outstanding applicants will get turned away.

That said, I would plan on killing the MCAT (I'm sure you know their scores), and then try to get more research. A gap year for research is not a bad idea if possible.

 

[Thego2guy]

Since Stanford is a research powerhouse, make sure whatever you end up doing for research senior year is meaningful -- it doesn't have to lead to a publication anything, but make sure you're learning and taking an active part in the work you're doing.

So happy to see on SDN that having a publication is not a per-requesite necessity to meaningful and outstanding research experience (especially when discussed in the context of Stanford). 👍

 

[khrisskhoras]

Hey everyone,

I'm heading into my junior year at the University of Texas at Austin. My GPA is 3.98 and I'm a biochemistry major. Right now I'm studying for the MCAT and hoping to get a high score. My dream medical school has always been Stanford. I have always doubted my ability to get in. Could anyone offer advice on what to improve for my application next application cycle?

Here are some of my extracurriculars

I'm in an organization called Livestrong Texas 4000, we bike 4500+ miles from Austin, Tx to Anchorage, Alaska. We're raising money for cancer research and donate directly to MD Anderson. To date we've raised well over $4 million dollars. Texas 4000 occupies a lot of my free time. I've met cancer patients and heard countless stories that reaffirm my desire to become a doctor.

I honestly have no idea how many hours I have volunteering. I'm volunteering somewhere every week in various places around Austin.

100+ hours volunteering at the Oncology and Neurology department at the local hospital

I have a job as a Math instructor for elementary-high school kids. Another thing I did is take a course where I gave science lessons to children in the Austin community.

Right now I'll only have an opportunity to do research my senior year, the whole biking to alaska thing is really time consuming. The preparation and planning is hectic.

I'm bilingual, I know spanish and english. My mom is from mexico so it didn't require too much effort learning another language.

Some of my letters of recs will be coming from stanford alumni, will this help?


Sorry for the long message, I'm just really determined to get into Stanford. Chances of getting in are low, but I want to aim high. Also, I come from a low income family and I'm not sure if that helps/hurts. I've already told my parents to save money for a plane ticket if I can somehow get an interview next year.

What do I need to work on and how do my chances look right now?

Not sure what your chances are for Standford, cant find it on the msar...😛

But a good mcat (35+) with publications should get you consideration from Stanford.