u/SquallyBug

Note: Stanford is my dream school, but I don't know if I should REA or RD to improve my application.

Demographics: Male, Mexican-American, Northern Virginia, Large Public High School (700+ class size), Class of 2027, Income: ~300k.

Intended Major: Linguistics, Sociology, Global Studies

GPA: 3.966 UW / 4.624 W (school does not rank, but I am roughly 2/729)

SAT: 1510 Superscore: 790 M, 720 EBRW; will take retake in August

AP Scores

• AP Computer Science Principles: 4
• AP Macroeconomics: 5
• AP US History: 5
• AP Microeconomics: 4
• AP Computer Science A: 4
• AP Chemistry: 5
• AP U.S. Government: 5
• AP Precalculus: 5
• AP Spanish Lang: 4
• AP Physics 1: 4
• AP Comparative Government: 3

Coursework

Freshman: HN English 9 (A), HN World History I (A), Honors Geometry (A), AP CSP (A), HN Bio (A), Spanish 3 (A)

Summer: DE World 2 History (A-)

Sophomore: HN English 10 (A), APUSH (A), AP Mac/Mic Econ (A), HN Algebra 2 (A), AP CSA (A), HN Chem (A), HN Spanish 4 (A)

Junior: DE English 11 (A-), AP US & Comp Gov (A), AP Precalc (A), AV (post-ap) CS Data Structures (A), AP Chemistry (A-), AP Physics 1 (A), AP Spanish Lang (A)

Senior (not started yet): AP English Lit, AP Psych, AP Calc BC, AP Stats, AP Bio, AP Spanish Lit, DE Exploring the Language of Medicine

Community College GPA: 3.8

Community College Coursework: HIS 112 (A), HIS 102 (B), MUS 121 (A), ENG 111 (A), ENG 112 (A)

Extracurriculars: (**NOTE: I didn't put the role/org/desc for the more straightforward ecs)

1. Spanish Governor's School: Role: Student Resident (1/60 in VA; 1/16 boys). Organization: Governor's World Language Academy (GWLA)—3-week total Spanish immersion & classes; full scholarship. Description: Studied sociolinguistics, Arabic, & LatinAm lit; co-authored 7 academy blogs (2k+ views); won inter-academy world cup; gave 3 presentations in Spanish.
2. Sociolinguistics Research: Role: Research Assistant. Organization: Stanford University Sociolinguistics w/PhD Student [REDACTED], advised by Professor [REDACTED]. Description: Add reduction markers, clean data, sync audio files w/transcripts to first 49 interviews with Eastern Maine dialect.
3. High School Diplomats Program: Role: Student Delegate (20/400+ in US (<5%); 1/10 boys). Organization: HS Diplomats (HSD)—full scholarship US-JPN exchange: HSD US 10 days @ UVA + HSD JPN 17 days in Japan. Description: Presented US edu/gov to 39 peers; learned calligraphy & Hiragana; gave 2 speeches on intl. peace; shared HSD w/60+ students, led to 1 future delegate
4. Spanish Culture Club/Honor Society (President): Led cultural events for 40+ members; prepared homemade dishes; overhauled tutoring system, doubling tutor availability from 8->16
5. Quiz Bowl (Captain): Tripled tournament team (4->12); secured $750 sponsorship; hosted 2 online practices/wk; created 300+ term study guides; mentored 10+ members
6. ASSIP Program Research Intern: Role: George Mason Research Intern (400/3300 in US (12%). Organization: Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Pgrm (ASSIP)—w/[REDACTED] @ RAND & Dr. [REDACTED] @ GMU. Description: Conducted RL research for autonomous UAVs on robust flight w/noise after 200k step training; co-authored published abstract & poster for presentation.
7. Chess Club (President): Organized 8 school tournaments/yr (15+ players); grew matches 6× online; taught 10+/wk; revived club 5->15; linked members to local elementary schools
8. Varsity Tennis (Captain): Led conditioning for 20; coached 10 new teammates; collected $800 in rackets for players abroad; 1st regional qualifier in 5 yrs; strung 20+ rackets
9. Religious (Sunday School Leader): Led 10+ 1st–6th graders/wk in a new 3rd-service Sunday School class, creating space for more families in the first 2 services.
10. Volunteering (Food Runner): Collected 100+ lbs of food monthly from 10+ households; delivered to a local high school, combating local food insecurity

Honors/Awards:

1. IAC Regional Scholastic Science Bee Intl. Qualifier, ~ Top 50% @ Nats, 1st @ Regionals (11)
2. Quiz Bowl Nats Qualifier, 3rd @ Region, 2nd @ Districts (10, 11)
3. Virginia State Seal of Biliteracy—Spanish (11)
4. National Merit Commended Scholar (11)Qualifier
5. AP Scholar w/Distinction (10, 11)

Current Goal: Just continuing research, doing SAT reading, and writing essays.

LORs

• APUSH and AP US & Comp Gov Teacher (10th, 11th): Close relationship and always talk after school and in class; was the only sophomore/junior in her class—9/10
• HN Spanish 4 Teacher (10th): Not as close a LOR # 1, but still always stayed after class to ask questions about Spanish and she wrote me a rec letter already for Spanish Gov School—8/10
• Stanford PhD Grad Student (12th): Started working together recently; hoping to get a letter that speaks to my linguistic curiosity—9/10

Essay: Talks about how I became reconnected with my Mexican culture & heritage after becoming basically fluent in Spanish after Spanish Gov School and got to learn stories from people I never had the opportunity to speak to in Spanish, like my mom's family friend.

College List - Obviously I expect to be chanced for Stanford over the others, but feel free to talk about the others (Also I'm not sure about the bolded schools below, whether I should apply or not).

• Stanford
• Princeton
• Yale
• Harvard
• Columbia
• UPenn
• Brown
• Dartmouth
• Cornell
• Duke
• Johns Hopkins
• Rice
• Vanderbilt
• Georgia Tech (CS? OOS)
• UNC Chapel Hill (OOS)
• UVA
• William and Mary
• Richmond
• Mary Washington
• George Mason

Any feedback is appreciated, especially on what the biggest strengths and weaknesses of my application & what my realistic chances are if I apply REA or RD.