I don't have any extra curriculum because of covid and other factors? What should I do?

Answered

Without impressive and noteworthy extracurriculars, it would be far less than the published 4% admission rate to gain admittance into Stanford University.

Stanford enrolls about 200 international students out of its 1700 matriculated classes each year. And I would say that one main difference compared to the Ivys is that Stanford wants the most compelling student versus the one that checks off all the Ivy boxes. So while this can work in favor of some students, it's not great for others. If you attend a private day or boarding school in New England, you are most likely a better fit for an Ivy. And if you are a public school graduate who has to compete for resources to stand out or an Olympic Athlete, then Stanford is going to go to bat for you.

So within the application pool at Stanford are a lot of super high achieving public school students who have not only high grades, test scores, and course rigor, they have a special ingredient called "intellectual vitality" that differentiates them from others. "IV" can be an EC or a C0-curricular but most often it is evidence of learning and experience outside of the traditional classroom. Examples are writing independent or supervised research papers in well know publications, and completing internships with professors or companies in your related major. Working/developing/patenting/coding your own ideas in start-up businesses or projects. Take more advanced courses online to supplement your course rigor at school (e.g. college courses).

IV is scored on a 1 to 5 scale as well as these categories. Academics, ECs, recommendations, athletics, and test scores.

Therefore, you need to have mostly 2s across all 6 categories to be considered a compelling applicant. It's nothing personal.

The other thing I share with as many Int'l students as possible is that it costs schools like Stanford and other Elites or Liberal Arts colleges an extra $15,000 per year to fund an international student. That's about $60K over 4 years. Why? intl students do not qualify for American Federal Aid, State Aid, nor Work-Study Programs. And some schools may not accept Int'l health insurance either. So again, this is nothing personal. It just makes getting into a top American college more difficult because they have fewer spots for International students.

You are welcome of course to apply to Stanford and all schools you wish to. So good luck.