<p>First of all, I know how presumptuous it sounds to even talk about rejecting Stanford. It's not like I think I have a high chance of being accepted--it's just on the off chance...</p>
<p>Not applying to Stanford isn't an option, since my parents insist on it and they're the ones paying the application fees. However, I really want to go to a liberal arts college for undergrad. (Not any one in particular, so that's why I'm not doing early decision/action for any...)</p>
<p>So let's say on the off chance Stanford accepts me, but I say no. Stanford apparently has a great Education program for grad school, so that's one of my possibilities. But I've heard that if they see that I was accepted but said no before, it might hurt my chances of getting into their grad school. Is that true?</p>
<p>Additionally, would it make a difference if the Stanford application was Restrictive Early Action vs. Regular Decision? My parents are pushing for Restrictive Early Action but I feel like that'd be even more rude to turn down if I happened to get in...</p>
<p>um get in first. … there’s only a 1/20 chance of you having to worry about this, and since you don’t have an option of not applying, just apply. </p>
<p>Graduate school admissions and undergrad admissions are totally separate from each other.</p>
<p>However, if your parents have so much control over you to ensure that you apply REA, then I see absolutely no way that the rest of the story will mean much if you do happen to get in.</p>
<p>It’s just that on lots of the applications I’ve seen, one question they ask is whether or not you’ve applied to this school before. Does anyone know what the significance of that question is?</p>
<p>I noted in my question that it’s not like I expect to be accepted. However, before I even apply, I’d like the know about all the possible consequences.</p>
<p>Yes, they will let me reject. They’ll give me hell about it, which is why I asked this question, to see if there’s any sort of logic I can present to them that can help me, but in the end they’re letting me choose. </p>
<p>The chance of you getting in to Stanford is 1 out of 20. Then the chance of getting into graduate school FOUR years from now is small as well. By then, you might have fallen in love with another graduate program. Why are you worrying about this now? Worry about the things you can control and let go of the rest.</p>
<p>There’s nothing here that a sentence in the middle of your essay (that your parents will never see) wouldn’t cure. Something like blah blah blah I am only submitting this application because my parents are making me apply, please do not accept me to Stanford, I don’t not want to go here blah blah blah.</p>
<p>Admissions counselors who really have zero stake in who they admit decides undergraduate admissions. That’s why undergraduate admissions has all of these wishy-washy intangible factors. </p>
<p>Professors who have a huge stake in who they admit to graduate school decides graduate admissions. </p>
<p>This is certainly not a criticism of the OP, who clearly indicated the statistical unlikelihood of his Stanford acceptance. Further, I appreciate the OP’s dilemma and I sympathize with him. However, this thread simply has to be one of the daffiest in CC history.</p>
<p>First, don’t worry about offending Stanford by turning them down–even if you apply REA. They won’t be. Second, as other have said, graduate admissions are completely separate from undergrad. No one will care about what you decided four plus years ago. Third, if you do get in, don’t dismiss Stanford out of hand. You can get an excellent liberat arts education and experience there as an undergrad.</p>
As others have said, Stanford will not be offended.</p>
<p>MA/MS and PhD programs actually often prefer students from other universities. Academic inbreeding (getting your undergraduate and graduate degree from the same place) is problematic because a student isn’t exposed to as many scholars and viewpoints as someone who studies at two or more institutions, and networking opportunities are decreased. MIT, Harvard, the UCs, and to a lesser extent Chicago are highly incestuous and exceptions to this trend.</p>
<p>
Undergraduate applications ask that because they want to know if they’d still have your application on file. That means you wouldn’t have to send your test scores, high school transcript, etc. to them again. It saves everyone time and money.</p>
<p>Graduate applications ask because many programs or universities place a cap on the number of times you can apply. Yale, for example, allows one to apply three times. Professors have no desire to deal with a hopeless student who applies year after year. (Applying several years in a row is not uncommon in the hyper competitive fields like the humanities and clinical psych.) The question asks only about the number of times you applied to the <em>graduate</em> school – they don’t care in the least if you applied there for college. </p>
<p>UG applications also ask that question because many have strict limitations on how soon you can reapply if not accepted and how many times in total you may reapply.</p>
<p>As @ClassicRockerDad notes, graduate admissions are very much contingent on the goodwill of the specific program you are applying to. Because you are expected to <em>work</em> within your department, professors have a great deal of autonomy to staff their labs and classrooms as they see fit.</p>
<p>Hence, this is a silly question no matter what school’s name you might plug into it, at least here in the US. In other countries where undergraduate admissions are done at the departmental level, it could be a relevant question.</p>