Would I make it past the first admission round at Stanford University?

Hi there @TL03,

I think the phase one you're referring to is the Academic Index (if not, let me know!). You can learn more about the Academic Index in this blog article: https://blog.collegevine.com/what-is-the-academic-index-how-is-it-calculated/, but I'll speak about it in the context that applies to your question!

Your GPA is a bit far from the clearance needed, and I don't think your SAT could compensate for it in and of itself. However, there are a few considerations you can still make about factors that can impact your application!

If you go to a competitive high school, and have rigorous coursework, Stanford's GPA recalculation might work in your favor. Or if your backstory is compelling enough, and you feel connects to the reason for your lower GPA, this could be a way to get around the threshold as well.

If this is not the case, but you have strong ties to Stanford and other strong application points, you still have a chance at admission. Stanford is trying to fill its class with diverse applicants and your application might have a strong spike that stands out to admissions officers.

If you feel strongly about Stanford, and can get your SAT score up, you should definitely apply. Hope this helps and best of luck!

What do you mean by PHASE 1 at Stanford University? The admission process at Stanford and most Ivys and Elites are not a Phased process. Once you submit your application, unless you are a legacy student, your file gets assigned (1) reader, and they complete the scorecard in about 15 minutes on average. Once your reader scores you, it remains there until it goes to committee where you get your 3 minutes of fame by having your scorecard uploaded for everyone to see, and it gets voted on. There are always only 3 outcomes, IN, Deffered, or OUT for SCREA, for RD, it's IN, WAITLIST or OUT.

I don't know what year of high school you are in so if you are a Junior right now, you really don't have a lot of time to get your GPA up to the level of most successful applicants have. It's good you are studying for the SAT and want a better score and a 1520-1550 will put you in the middle 50%.

Your grades are your biggest weakness with what you wrote. According to the last Common Data Set, only 3.1% of admits had a GPA of 3.50-3.74. And 27.5% had GPAs between 3.75-3.99. You have to figure out how to take more weighted classes to get your GPA up. Barring that, you should take some online college courses over the summer and get As in them to show your intellectual vitality outside of the classroom.

Make sure you don't put all your eggs in one basket. There are plenty of wonderful schools in CA like UCLA, Berkeley, CMC, Pomona, Occidental, etc so if you are keen on going to college in CA there are plenty of choices. Also, fill out a and complete your College Vine profile so you can run 'what if' scenarios on your profile and see how you fare against colleges in your college list (you have to create that as well).

When you apply to Ivy's and Elites there are no guarantees unless you have something that every school wants like being an Olympian or or being a Nobel prize winner. All kidding aside, 60% of all applicants who apply to Ivys and Elites with perfect 4.0 GPAs and 1600 SAT, get rejected as well. So just hedge yourself with a practical list of colleges to apply to that you can see yourself being happy at, so you have a place to land when it's your turn.

Good luck.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by phase 1, but here's my opinion. 1460-1570 are Stanford's average SATs with a 3.96 average GPA. With your current SAT and GPA combined, I would say as of right now, you would probably not get through very far. If you were to apply for SAT optional (if this is a Stanford option) then you would have significantly better odds in my opinion because then your app would focus on things like that research with the professor. If test-optional isn't an option, then yes, having an SAT in the 1500s is going to be crucial for you. I'm not sure how Stanford's phasing works, but typically colleges look at the factors of GPA, course rigor, and SAT scores in this first round. They usually don't even take the time to really look at any backstory, essays, LORs, ECs, etc. which is sad but unfortunately true due to the large influx of applications they receive every year. Again, this is just my honest intuition, but I hope it helps you! Best of luck :)