It’s no secret that Stanford is hard to get into. That is a bit of an understatement. With a less than 4% acceptance rate, getting into Stanford is cutthroat. Applicants need to be “the full package” if they hope to get in. But what does that mean? Well, it means you need more than just great grades.
What is Stanford looking for?
Stanford uses a holistic application review. To do this, they look at a lot of factors, however, they give different weights to them. They have published a chart to break down these factors as part of their Common Data Set.
While factors like GPA and Class Rank reign supreme, extracurriculars are “important.” We would maybe even say you should consider them to be very important. Now, you may be thinking, “Wait? How are they very important? They are just listed as important!” Well, it’s in a bit of a sneaky way. Character/Personal Qualities are listed as very important. There are two ways to show off your qualities. One is through essays and the other is through experience. That experience is going to come through via your extracurriculars… but more on that later.
In either case, your extracurriculars are important to Stanford and today we want to break down what that looks like.
Best extracurriculars for stanford
There is no one correct answer to this. Every student is different, but there is a certain caliber of student that Stanford is looking for. The easiest way to explain this is with a case study. We wanted to use a student we worked with recently who ended up at Stanford.
It’s all about Quality.
Stanford says on their website, “Students often assume our primary concern is the number of activities in which a student participates. In fact, an exceptional depth of experience” that they look for. Our case study student was passionate about STEM and was a strong leader. She showed off these qualities through her extracurriculars. Let’s break them down.
Intellectual Vitality and Academic Excellence
Stanford says on their website that they are looking for students with Intellectual Vitality and Academic Excellence. This should be evident in your extracurriculars. You need to push yourself to explore your academic interests both inside and outside of class. For example, our case study student wanted to study engineering. She started her school’s rocketry club and an engineering outreach program for middle schoolers. She also was the president of the STEM club at her school. She showed her curiosity and commitment to her academic niche and that is important when applying to Stanford.
Go the extra mile
Stanford is looking for students who excel in their passions. They say, “We want to understand the impact you have had at your job, in your family, in a club, in your school, or in the larger community, and we want to learn of the impact that experience has had on you.” They are looking for students who have made an impact and that means going the extra mile when it comes to commitment and follow through.
Our student took her interest in rockets and ran with it. After starting the Rocketry Team at her school, she used that experience to apply to internships. The summer before her junior year we helped her gain an internship at a California-based drone-start up. The next summer she went to a Rocketery start-up. She worked hard to get experience in unmanned aviation and engineering. This experience led to an exceptional and objectively impressive understanding of the field. This is exactly what Stanford is looking for.
Follow your passions (whatever they might be)
Stanford students contain multitudes. You need to excel in your academic passions, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t follow your other passions as well. You aren’t a robot and being well-rounded is going to help you. This student was passionate about crew and competed on the varsity team at her school. She also loved music and musicals. She performed in school musicals and was part of an elite honors choir. Her choir was even invited on a European tour which she went on during her junior year. She was able to show different sides of herself with a love of sports and the arts. (These are two popular pursuits amongst Stanford admits, but you should do what you love!
Stanford is highly selective and the students who usually get in are pretty exceptional. They show off great qualities like academic excellence, leadership, and dynamism. If you hope to apply to Stanford, you should push yourself to do the same when it comes to extracurriculars. Yes, it is a lot, but we can help.
Need help applying to Stanford? It’s what we do, reach out here.