<p>I applied to Stanford last year. My application was badly done -- mediocre essays and not so good test scores. It was late in december that I had decided to apply and had only 5 days to do my app. I am reapplying this year in early. I want to know whether Stanford, and other univs for that matter, has all the data from my previous application or not?</p>
<p>Please help.</p>
<p>They probably have it somewhere for research purposes but I don’t think they’ll refer to it - each year starts a new set of files. The only worry you would have was if your application was so bad it became “legendary” around the office - and unless it approaches the level of the infamous “clam fart” essay, you have nothing to worry about.</p>
<p>Only someone that works at Stanford would know. Back in the day when colleges had bulky paper files they probably put the apps at the end of each year in storage. But these days everything is electronic. Bits don’t take up a lot of space, so maybe they’ve organized their application system to archive all the old apps every year, or maybe the files are organized by applicant name and everything hangs around forever. </p>
<p>If you really want to know, call or email Stanford admissions.</p>
<p>Even if they do have last year’s file, why would that necessarily be a bad thing?</p>
<p>Perhaps when they look at your two files and see how much you’ve grown and improved, they’ll look at the infantile-regression cast of thousands in their current freshman class and wonder why all of them didn’t bother to do the same. ;-)</p>
<p>(Note: exaggerated for comic effect; no actual dig at real Stanford students is intended or implied)</p>
<p>In all seriousness, show them how you’ve grown. If they can superscore the SAT, they can superscore your life.</p>