<p>Alright, I'm a sophomore to be at a good public high school. Had all A's except 1 class Freshman year, which I'm taking care of this summer, and I plan on all A's next year. Just to clarify, I'm not one of those obsessive worriers who "chances themselves" with their mindblowing stats to feel good about themselves. My app will not be incredible, nor am I a prodigy of any kind. However, I do work hard, get good grades, and am a multi sport athlete. I plan on 2150-2200 SAT's and some pretty good extracurriculars.
I also have a good legacy at Stanford. My dad went there, was top 5%, and a rower to boot. 3 grandparents as well, one on the 1942 Rose Bowl team that won. Two of those 3 grandparents have organized their reunions as well. I know my dad has donated at least once (don't know about constantly). I am well off, and if accepted, will need no financial assistance.
Will a double legacy like this stand out more than others? Thanks</p>
<p>muddy, I think legacy status these days is more of a “tip” than a “hook”. By that I mean that, if you were to be compared with a hypothetical candidate who was otherwise pretty indistinguishable from you on paper, your legacy status could potentially give you the “tip” that pushes you over into acceptance. A “hook” is something much stronger that can actually compensate (in the eyes of admissions) for less-than-great aspects of an application. If your dad has donated a substantial amount, and might do so again, that could put you into the “developmental” category, and that’s a big hook everywhere. You sound like you are doing very well on your own merits so far though–keep up those grades, get the best SAT scores you can, excel in your sports, and write great essays.</p>
<p>Legacy status is much smaller (in terms of percent accepted) at Stanford than at the ivies. When you say your dad gave once, if he or any relatives gave in a very big way, that would help a lot. Otherwise, from what I’ve seen over many years, you will need a top rank and high score, especially if you’re from CA.</p>
<p>
Wait its easier to get into Stanford from out of state?!?</p>
<p>That depends. If you’re from an overrepresented geographical region, then your chances get cut down; you typically have more resources, and are less interesting to the applicant pool. On the other hand, if you are from an underrepresented state like, say, Wyoming, then you typically have fewer resources (reflected in ECs), and are more interesting. It’s sort of a hook.</p>
<p>So CT is kind of in between right?</p>
<p>^ Nope. I’m from CT too, and we are well represented at pretty much every top-ranked university.</p>
<p>wait can someone tell me about their restricted early admission rule…? and how do yo qualify for financial aid… and how do you win a scholarship at such a prestigious school…</p>
<p>Also, how do these schools know that you applied EA to other schools as well? Do they all talk to each other/gossip lol</p>
<ol>
<li>financial aid is purely need-based</li>
<li>there is no “winning” of scholarships unless you want one of the very few athletic scholarships that are really only available for star athletes who are basically among the best in the world</li>
<li>if you apply REA to stanford, you cannot apply to any other school ED, EA, or SCEA. the exceptions are public colleges that require early application for scholarships (only if notification is after a certain date [jan 1st i think]), colleges with rolling admission, and international colleges, and maybe 1 or 2 more exceptions</li>
<li>technically you could apply to several schools EA if u applied REA to stanford, but apparently this year (ive herd), commonapp will not let you send another application EA/ED/SCEA after you send stanford and it will not let you send an REA app to stanford after another EA/ED/SCEA app. something that is important to know is the honor code. it is taken very seriously at schools like stanford and its peers. they trust that you will not break the established rules. some college admissions counseling organizations/companies argue that they do talk to each other, but no one really knows.</li>
</ol>
<p>but @above posters, i dont think its easier to get in if you aren’t from CA.
i think its just what a lot of californians use as an excuse.
in general the applicants from outside of the west coast are a more qualified. stanford gets a huge spectrum of applicants bc basically evryone from CA wants to go to stanford. east coast and midwest and southern applicants are a self-selective group because most of them wouldnt even bother to apply if they didnt think they had a slight chance.
thats my opinion
but yes, chances seem to also depend partly on geographic over/under-representation</p>
<p>I’m trying to find a map with the number of students in every state that will be in Stanford’s class '14. I know there’s one for Princeton but I can’t find that one either.</p>
<p>If there’s an under-representation in CT for example would that mean better chances for CT students?</p>
<p>ripemango, I very seriously doubt there is any under-representation from CT. It’s more likely to be states like Alaska, Hawaii and Montana. Top colleges always want to have students “from all 50 states and [many!] foreign countries”, so once they have representatives from each state in the student body, that institutional priority is fulfilled and won’t likely function as much of a hook until the next time a state is not represented.</p>
<p>I was thinking about the possibility that CT was under-represented or at least not over-represented at Stanford because I know a lot of kids who won’t apply simply because of the distance.</p>
<p>Plenty of kids from CT aren’t deterred by the distance. CT may not be over-represented in a statistical sense, but I don’t think that would have much, if any, bearing on the assessment of your application since there are always some from CT.</p>
<p>Legacy is a good hook. Boosts like +30% chance.</p>