<p>I just graduated from high school and now I'm off to Stanford. I was admitted SCEA last December and even though I applied and was admitted to a bunch of other schools I decided that California was the way to go! ;-)
Stanford has an admit weekend for admitted students to help persuade them to come to the Farm and one of the activities was a picnic lunch on the quad with the regional admissions officer who admitted you. I sat with all of the other students from Illinois and Ohio and we talked about life at Stanford... until the conversation drifted to admissions. First we watched him recite fragments of each of our essays (after a one or two word prompt - "mine was about ballet!" or "do you remember the one about visiting Italy?"). That was amazing in itself since he reads a LOT of essays. For all you Stanford hopefuls - I guess a memorable essay helps more than I would have thought. Likewise, a bad essay will also be remembered.</p>
<p>Then we started grilling him about what he really looks for in an application. First, he was really clear was that he really wanted to see passion in an application. An (approximate) quote: "I don't care if their passion is shoe shopping. A passion for anything means they are the type of student that will be passionate about other things." So my first advice is to make sure your essay(s) show whatever you are passionate about. I didn't write about some huge life changing event and you don't really have to. Write about something you really care about. Your essay will be easier to write anyway. </p>
<p>Second, we asked him what the biggest turn off in an application would be. He said if he ever read any essay that seemed closed minded or bigoted in any way he just threw it out. I know this seems like common sense, but I've read essays where this came across completely unintentionally. I had a friend that was an Irish step dancer write about how much she loved being Irish, but it came across as though she thought Irish people were better than everyone else. Luckily we fixed it before she sent it off and she got into her dream school. The admissions officer's example was if someone was a Democrat and in their roommate essay made it clear that they wouldn't want a Republican roommate because they care so much about Democratic values that they couldn't live in the same room. I'm sure that student was trying to show passion, but also ended up sounding like he was not tolerant of Republicans. Basically, have someone read your essay before you send it off so you don't have any unintended meaning in your essay that you don't want.</p>
<p>Finally, your admissions officer really is your advocate. You've probably heard this before but it is their job to argue for you and get you an acceptance letter. Give them something convincing to say in front of a committee. This is more than just test scores. They need to like you so that they want to have you in the Stanford (or any) community. The school worries about numbers and admit rates and quotas, but your admissions officer is going individual by individual. What I learned was that they aim for (#) students from each region, but if the admissions officer is at (# + 7) and they really think you should be admitted and really argue for you, they aren't going to say no to a student that really deserves to be admitted. </p>
<p>That's the best I can do for 'insider advice' for now. I can't remember much more of the conversation since it was quite a long weekend, quite a long while ago and after I was already admitted. I would be happy to answer questions about my own application or my friends or the application process but as I am not even in college yet my knowledge is limited. I do hope that helps and I wish everyone good luck in their applications!</p>