How to get into Stanford

So, we’ve just finished ushering in the Class of 2009, reunion homecoming weekend has come and gone, and the Class of 2010 is starting the college admissions process. This is also about the time I start getting asked occasionally, “How do I get into Stanford?” Obviously, there’s no sure fire way of getting into Stanford or any other university, but nevertheless, there are plenty of people who will try to sell you books and other materials full of tips. The Admissions Office will answer your questions about the recommended high school curriculum and the application process and taking a quick look at their Web site, they have a pretty good overview of what they’re looking for and how you should approach the application process. But at the end of the day, admissions is a recruiting business and not about giving you a personal assessment on your chances of admission. Their road show is about telling you how great Stanford is and why you should come here. So, here’s my spiel on what it takes to get into Stanford.

Of course, let me remind you that I don’t work in the Admissions Office nor do I affect admissions in any way, shape or form. This is all just based on what I’ve gleaned after getting into Stanford, getting my degree, and working here for the last four years. So, here it is:

Now, (again) there’s no clear answer on how to get into Stanford and even after hearing all of your qualifications, there’s still no clear way to know if you’ll get in. Your application is assessed in its entirety and in the context of the others in the application pool. But there are certain hurdles that you will probably have to get over and certain things you should remember to be competitive:

First, your high school coursework, GPA, and SAT scores. Yes, yes, no university’s admissions office will tell you that there’s a minimum number of AP courses, a minimum GPA or a minimum SAT score. But let’s face it: the profile of students accepted at Stanford and other universities at this level is pretty consistent. Of course, there are exceptions to the following guidelines, but when you look at the distribution, you want to shoot for the center or higher to be safe. So, you should have a challenging high school courseload (and if you’re from an unheard of high school in the middle of nowhere, it should probably be the most challenging possible) and a pretty high GPA, somewhere between 3.7 to 4.0 (not taking into account weighting and normalized on a 4.0 scale). You should be at least in the top 20% of your class, 10% is better. As for your SAT scores, you should be breaking 1300 (based on the original 2-part test’s verbal and math scores). The higher the better of course, but what can you really say about the difference between someone who scores a 1490 and a 1520? Your standardized test scores, whether for the SAT or the AP, only really serve to validate your transcript– it provides a way to get an idea of whether you have a 4.0 because you went to an easy school or because you can compete with students who have just as good grades from some of the best and most challenging schools in the country.

A note about SAT classes: I know parents love to send their kids to these classes, thinking that they will help their kids get that “edge,” thinking if they just score a little higher on the SAT, it will give them a better chance of getting into whatever school of their choice. To be honest, the only thing these courses teach you is how to take the test better. If you’re a bad test taker, the class might be worth it, but I would suggest working with the books and studying on your own first. Even if you take the classes, your score will probably only go up by a few hundred points and if you don’t have a competitive starting score already, that’s not going to help you that much. If you need the classes to make you study for the SAT, then you should be worried about whether you have the discipline to go to such a competitive school and trust me, you’re going to need the discipline.

After the grades and test scores, the next issue is extracurricular activities. I’ll be honest: Stanford students are extremely talented students inside and outside of the classroom. There’s a reason we win the Sears Director’s Cup every year. So, you should be involved in extracurricular activities. You should be good at them. You don’t have to be a concert pianist and you shouldn’t spread yourself too thin being the president of every single club, but your extracurricular activities should show that you’re well-rounded and that you are passionate, committed and hard-working.

Now, the essay. Let’s face it: if you’re applying to Stanford, you probably have already taken a challenging courseload, have really good grades, scored well on the SATs, and are involved in extracurricular activities. At the end of the day, the essay is your real opportunity to show who you are as a person and make yourself stick out.

The case of the double eyelid, part 2

The double eyelid has gone away from both eyes finally. I’m back to my old chinky self again. Whew.

The case of the double eyelid

In my weeks of illness and lack of sleep lately, I’ve noticed that my eyes have been doing some weird things– specifically, one or sometimes both of them will develop a “double eyelid.” It’s not really consistent and it will stay sometimes for a few hours or a few days and it will switch between eyes, but it’s definitely weird.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’m talking about the disappearance of the Epicanthal fold, the fold of skin that covers the inner corner of the eye and makes Asian people (among others) have “slanted” eyes. I’ve had this on and off thing as far as I can remember, but it’s never stayed around as long as it has lately. I’ve kind of grown to expect it considering my dad actually only has the fold in one eye and it’s always been like that. Strange, no?

When I was younger, I, like many Asian women and probably men too, wished that I had a double eyelid to make my eyes bigger– that is, look more “American.” You know, basically more “white.” I remember my first little boyfriend in eigth grade (who was as white as they came) pointed out once how he was fascinated by my almond shaped eyes. Can you imagine? You just moved to a new school and you’re one of the handful of Asian students in the whole school and this is what your first boyfriend says to you? And for the longest time, half jokingly, half serious , everytime my brother and I would pose for a picture, we would say, “open your eyes as wide you can!” to avoid looking chinky in photographs. If you ever take a look at our family photographs, you’ll see we’ve taken a lot of photos with our sunglasses on.

It’s a huge complex that Asian people have. And that’s why so many Asian people, mostly women, have gotten Asian blepharoplasty– plastic surgery to create the crease in the eyelid. Isn’t that horrible? How desperately we’re trying to look more “American?” I suppose its the same as someone getting a nose job or liposuction to fit into some idealized American standard of beauty. But unnecessary plastic surgery (as in anything other than reconstructive surgery) has always made me a little uneasy and certainly so when it’s part of some weird cultural and racial inferiority complex. People will pay something between $3000 and $5000 dollars for the surgery and frankly, a bad one will make you look like a fish. Do they think everyone won’t notice when it’s done? With liposuction, it’s plausible that you actually lost the weight.

And somewhere in the time that blepharoplasty became increasingly popular is when I finally accepted, even among some Asian teens I knew that were way too young to be getting any type of plastic surgery, that this is the way my eyes look and this is the way I look. I’m Korean, I’m Asian, and nothing I will do will change that, so why obsess? And of course, years later now when I least expect it, I’ve started to develop some phantom double eyelid that passes unexpected in and out of my life. Well, at least I saved myself a few thousand dollars and maybe putting on eye makeup will get a lot easier.

Disappearing rights

I wouldn’t necessarily buy this, but if this isn’t amusing, I don’t know what is: Disappearing Civil Liberties Mug.

Update: YMU and Stanford

Well, the launch date has finally been announced (Oct. 18). I can’t believe we made it onto the front page of news.com.

The official press release is at the Stanford Report.

Single moms and the RIAA

I know that this isn’t exactly new news, but let me just point out, like many others already have, that single mothers are the only ones with some balls to stand up to the RIAA. Not large, powerful ISPs, not richly endowed, private universities that have been around for hundreds of years, but single moms. You know why? Because I’m guessing that a ridiculous lawsuit from the RIAA is just another thing on the long list of crap that single mothers and women in general have to deal with and instead of getting intimidated into settling, instead of getting bullied, they stand up and say to the RIAA that you can’t just go around suing people without proof or reason.

And they’re getting particularly creative too. I love it.

YMU and Stanford

Well, the cat is out of the bag. And the inevitable criticism that follows it.

The criticism was certainly not unexpected– I predicted that list of points (and more) a year ago when this all started. The only real issue I have with that Letter to the Editor is that, well, we actually did run a survey (2 actually, one for undergraduates and another for graduate students) to get a better picture of the digital music landscape at Stanford. It was part of the annual residence evaluation, a pretty well-advertised survey, and included questions on filesharing, copyright, portable music devices, and for-pay online music services. We had a whopping 46% of undergraduates and 29% of (on-campus housed) graduate students respond to the survey, as we do every year. And based on that data, not just the mere assumptions about the student population, the student is right in pointing out that Yahoo! Music Unlimited is not compatible with the 20% (!) of students who own Macs (unless you want to run Virtual PC) and when they say it’s compatible with iPod, it’s not really.

So, blame us for picking a subscription service that doesn’t meet your specific needs (and this was a long decision making process that I will get into after the service actually launches), but don’t blame us for failing to collect data about student consumption of digital music because we certainly did. Guess people just weren’t paying attention.