What should I do to make sure my son, now age 5 in kindergarten, has a real solid chance to get into Stanford in 12 years?

I went to Stanford. I went to a mediocre public school in an out of the way state. I was third in my class, a state record holder in sports, won lots of math competitions, and wrote my essay about living off the grid with solar power. When I was growing up my parents never even mentioned the word Stanford, or the name of any other elite college. There was just the vague assumption that I would go to college someday. We weren't allowed to watch tv except for movies, we played games and sports and laughed a lot and had a lot of adventures. My mom read to us which got me addicted to books. My stepdad taught me some math tricks which made me think that I was smarter than everyone else, so then I was. My dad meditated every day and talked about philosophy and was a kind person. And most importantly, I felt like my mother loved me more than anything and believed in me no matter what I did. It wasn't all roses, we were poor and there were other struggles as well. But something I've learned through both successes and through failures is that if you focus too much on the outcome you almost certainly won't achieve it. If you really enjoy what you are doing you almost certainly will succeed. Do interesting things, take risks, and have fun.

Stanford University? Whose goal is that? Child or parent? Think about it. Try aikido classes, judo classes, kick boxing classes. Gymnastics. A second language. Reading good books. Assemble interlocking picture puzzles. Learn to play Go. Take lessons. Ensure a rich intellectual home and family environment with the interactions that develop critical thinking skills and persuasive speaking skills. Would you say shall I enroll my son in MENSA? No? Does he qualify? Does he want to associate with them? Why? Why not? What are his natural skills? Develop them, nurture them. What are his weaknesses? Develop them into strengths. What is his interest? Let him explore through play and study. Consider six rationalities: technology, economics, law, politics, sociology, and psychology. Consider the Natural sciences and Life sciences.

<--went to a public high school with  a high API rating. I still feel like despite it, if you are absolutely set on Stanford, private schools are the best bet. I think the advantage with a high API rating is higher than average people went to UC Berkeley and UCLA(Hi!), but elite universities were still rare, but a bit I think more than average(anectodally). But still be prepared to invest in tutors, and spend time with your children really developing their comprehension, math skills, etc. I think my friends who went to Stanford and succesful--worked very very hard, but had a balance of doing ballet, or sports, something, to keep themselves healthy and not over stressed out. Despite all this, remember you are raising a person, a human being, not a machine.

Invest in a copy of the Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease. Download the Read-Aloud Revival podcast with Sarah McKenzie. Follow directions therein.

Nothing but love him and teach him the best you can (not as a school-teacher but as a parent), that really is the best you can do.  Anything else and neurosiis develop.

Have them take the Marshmallow Test. If they pass, they may be on the right track!

The best thing you can do is cultivate his passion.  Let him explore the world - by playing, by traveling, by doing sports, by art, by music, by programming, by trading stocks, by building sand castles - and then see what he likes.  Upon finding this - upon finding that one activity that he just does over and over again, without you ever pushing him to do it - find him a mentor in that subject.  If he loves to paint, sign him up for painting classes.  If he loves to sing, send him to a singing coach.  If he loves to swim, sign him up for the team.  Try to find him an activity that pushes him to create things.  Then, ask him to teach you the activity.  Let him share it with you.  Teaching a subject is one of the best ways to cultivate passion.  Ask him to teach you about the math he learns, or the poems he reads in English.  After 10 years, he may have a collection of passions.  At this point, he would have learned how to really live life.  And at that point, he would seek out Stanford because of its merits for learning, not for its status.

Speaking from the point of view of someone who went to a highly rigorous high school, where students routinely went to MIT, Harvard, UChicago, Brown, Yale, Swarthmore, Amherst etc (To pick from places where students from my 37-person graduation class went), college admissions are an utter crapshoot. Like George Anders said, the "bouquet" model is a very real thing, and the best solution to it is to apply to all of the places. It is entirely possible that Stanford is the best possible school for him. That is something he might know when he is a junior or a senior. However, he might also love football and want to go to the University of Alabama. More realistically, I have a soft spot in my heart for small academically intense schools like William Jewell and New College Florida, though I ended up going to a big world-class university. The point is that targeting Stanford in particular is a bad idea. Focus instead on setting your child up for general admissions success. For that, George has fantastic advice.

Start the kid with some SAT prep classes. I enrolled my son in them when he was at the age of 3 months. He couldn't even pick up a pencil but now he is able to program in all the computer languages and do calculus. He is now of age 5 months. Very good you know? If your son is in kindergarten, I think he is starting SAT prep very late. GG!