<p>I'm probably not going to come back to the Stanford part of this website that much longer, so I thought I'd leave you with some advice, since I learned so much from this site. And made friends with a lot of Stanford 2014 SCEAers :)</p>
<p>Anyway, getting into Stanford and being rejected from Stanford are both equally valuable. My rejection from Stanford was the first time in my whole life that I'd been rejected from anything, and I was extremely bitter and angry. I went through my "HOW COULD STANFORD NOT WANT MEEEEEEEEEE???" phase and everything, and now that I've gotten over it, I understand a lot more. Rejections suck but they can teach you things. I learned a lot about myself through the process and I've come to terms with everything. There are things I could have done better and I probably could have played the game better. Looking back, I did the best that I could and though it wasn't good enough for Stanford, it was worth it to me to be able to describe myself so perfectly on paper, and to realize that stats aren't everything. My stats are great - sure - but Stanford taught me that they aren't everything. Going through the whole process, though I was rejected, made me realize that there are so many amazing people and that admission committees really know what's best for applicants. If I could go back and change things, I wouldn't. I did the best that I could, and it paid off at other schools.</p>
<p>Anyway, here's my advice for all you hopefuls.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Be INTERESTING. Being smart isn't good enough. I've realized that I was an extremely "average applicant," meaning that I had the normal major awards, the perfect scores, the normal great GPA, the normal leadership roles in the normal activities - in other words, I had everything going for me. I won the normal prestigious awards that I was supposed to win, but did I ever win an eating competition or a potato sack race? No. I got my 36, but sending in a 0 would be way more interesting. But I digress. How many other people in the world applying to Stanford are there like me? Infinitely many. Do something interesting with your summer. Backpack through Europe with no money and come back a better, more experienced person. Do what you're afraid of and learn from it. Find a program that fits you and conveys who you really are even if it's something like face painting and not astrophysics. Make Stanford want you to make its campus more interesting. I don't think I can stress this enough. BE INTERESTING. </p></li>
<li><p>Write amazing essays. Don't say the right things just to say the right things? How many "I went through such and such trial and came out learning such and such things" essays do you think Stanford gets? A lot. How many "I blew up my school and learned such and such things" essays do you think Stanford gets? Hopefully none :) But the point is that maybe saying the right thing isn't always the right thing to do. I wrote my essay totally "right," meaning I said all the things that make me seem like a good person who has learned a lot, which I'm sure thousands of other kids did. The essays are the only thing that you have that NO ONE ELSE APPLYING HAS. Don't be afraid to start over on an essay or get feedback from other people.</p></li>
<li><p>Apply SCEA only if you know you'd most likely go to Stanford. Don't think it gives you an advantage. It doesn't. I got into every school but Stanford. Guess which one I applied to early? :)</p></li>
<li><p>If you're rejected, move on as quickly as possible. I wish I could have fallen in love with Duke earlier. Don't ever think that you weren't "good enough." Stanford has said that it could fill its class many times over with qualified applicants. You'll learn that you're in good company. Stanford rejects amazing people all the time. Don't let the rejection change who you are. In the end, it really is only one school.</p></li>
<li><p>If you're accepted, it is THE school. :)</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Sorry for blabbing. I just wish I had listened to the people who said the exact same thing when I was reading CC for advice. I know it would have made a difference.</p>
<p>I totally agree with your advice there! SCEA is quite risky especially for a school like Stanford that hardly defers and loves early rejections!
In a similar situation to Anonymous93, I applied to Yale EA, and it was the only school I didn’t get into! Btw, I think your positivism is absolutely great
I couldn’t agree more with the fact that you have to stand out. Your ECs, essays, everything. And really, just try to communicate who YOU are and not who you think Stanford wants you to be.</p>
<p>While I will always counter the notion that admissions at any of HYPSM are “random”, they are certainly imperfect–as Anonymous93’s example illustrates. IMO, Duke’s prestige has skyrocketed, just by snagging her. You are very lucky to have her as your classmate, USNA.</p>
<p>You are truly choosing schools, not schools are choosing you. Come back to Stanford for grad school, I guarantee you that it will be all merit based at that level. Good luck at Duke.</p>
<p>Well then, I guess I have no chance if I am somewhat unique with mediocre academics. To me, this post is basically saying that you have to be an ultimate academic person and at the same time be really unique. For the average person, both are extremely challenging.</p>
<p>I know it’s not that extreme, but that’s just the vibe I get out of this. I guess there’s always grad school.</p>
<p>I mean, yeah that is what I’m saying. It’s not like getting into Stanford should be considered easy for anyone. Being average isn’t good enough. I think people assume that every smart person will get into whatever college they want, but that’s not the case. I’m not really sure why you’re taking such a defeatist attitude towards this. This was meant to be an enlightening, hopeful post. You could be interesting if you wanted to. You still have a summer (maybe more, depending on what year you are), and it doesn’t take that much to do something interesting.</p>
<p>I think Zenkoan meant like “Oh, USNA and Anonymous are friends and it’s really cool that they’re going to school together.”</p>
<p>USNA, I only mentioned your good fortune in being Anon’s Duke classmate because of the post you made in the adjacent thread about being crushed, obliterated, smashed and decimated by Stanford. I was referring to what Anon says above; not sure what provoked your “what the heck” reaction but no offense was intended. Best wishes.</p>
<p>Yea… don’t waste your essays. I wasn’t in the top 10% of my public high school’s class, my SAT/ACT scores suck and my extra-curricular activities are pretty much non-existent but I managed to pull a waitlist at Cornell because I wrote my supplement about how I wanted use World of Warcraft’s database to perform a massive analysis of the human psyche based on the decisions the people make in-game. My main common-app essay, which was part of my Stanford SECA app was about some internship I had done. Blah.</p>
<p>I don’t expect I would have made deferral/acceptance if I had wrote my Cornell essay for my Stanford app, but one of my biggest regrets having that “safe” essay. Safe essays don’t put you in the top 10% of the one of the world’s most competitive applicant pools no matter what your other stats are. Keep that in mind.</p>
<p>My son just got early admittance into Stanford class of 2015. What I have learned from this whole process is that Stanford is looking for students with passion. You cannot fabricate that, you have to live it and be able to communicate that in your essay. My son had excellent SATs, great grades, and great extracurriculars, but don’t most students applying to Stanford? He didn’t kill himself - took only 2 subject tests, and never overloaded himself with too many AP classes. He is a well rounded student- played tennis, cello, and pres. of almost all of his clubs.
He didn’t go to the Olympics or win any national contests. </p>
<p>The thing that set him apart from other applicants, was a passion he had since he was a child. An accumulation of simple things he had done in his life that showed Stanford what an amazing kid he is.</p>
<p>My advice: be prepared to attend another school (and do just fine). With regard to “passion” I’ve always been impressed by the proportion of socially/academically passionate students enrolling at top schools who end up going into finance at the end of the day (you are what you earn, after all). Surprising that admissions officers haven’t clued in to that yet.</p>
<p>Well, I had passion (trust me I did. a lot.) and it does come out in my applicaton. I got rejected.
But I agree with Anonymous93. There are so many amazing people that deserve Stanford but didn’t get in and I am sure they will get somewhere that they will be happy.
Great post by the way.</p>
<p>From the original list of 65 people who pledged to report, 6 were accepted and 5 got deferred, so the REA admit rate is only 9.2% (@CC) – much lower than that of last year. This also means that the admit rate for RD could be higher.</p>
<p>They could just have accepted 550 this time for REA. We will know in the next few days when they report the results.</p>
<p>They are looking for well-rounded people with many interests. Someone who plays a sport, but also plays an instrument, has great grades and SATs. Someone’s passion doesn’t necessary have to be about something. It could just be a passion or curiousity that shows through in the average things you do in your life. </p>
<p>I must say, I believe my son’s essay was what secured him a spot in the 2015 class.</p>
