<p>First off, before I say anything else, please know that I do not intend to sound racist or judgmental in any way! My history teacher last year is friends with someone at the faculty at Stanford (I do not remember in what capacity) and he constantly bragged on stanford and said several times how he believed stanford offered the absolute best education in the country. He also kept mentioning that because of our location (Georgia-a less represented state) it is easier to get in to stanford than say anyone from the west coast. He also mentioned that because of the relatively large asian population in california it is incredibly difficult/more competitive for asians to get in to stanford (regardless of location). With this in mind he told us straight up if you are white and from georgia you have a significantly higher chance at being accepted. My teacher has been teaching for a very long time and has friends at colleges across the nation and generally is correct in his statements, but I am just wondering if I really would have a decent shot at acceptance...
White Male from Georgia
4.0 UW, 11 AP's (all 5s so far), top 2%, 2190 SAT, 33 ACT, Solid ECs- Lots of Leadership
Thanks for the help!</p>
<p>Yes, geographic advantages exist. You have a better chance of getting into Stanford if you live in North Dakota than you would if you are from LA. You also would have a lower chance if you are Asian. This is just a matter of maintaining diversity on campus. Do you have an advantage in Georgia for Stanford? Well, it might be easier than California, but it won’t help much as Georgia still has a pretty significant population.</p>
<p>Yea regions that are underrepresented have a better chance. Someone from wyoming would get in over an equally qualified applicant from massachusets</p>
<p>^ but there is also the fact that the education in Massachusetts is significantly better than the education in Wyoming. I would imagine that to be from a state with a better education system would be better than an underrepresented one. Why do you think only one student form Wyoming or the Dakotas goes to Stanford? Even if ten students from these states apply (which is ridiculously low), it is the same chance to be accepted as everyone else. For comparison, you should question if it easier to get accepted if you were from states like New York or Massachusetts versus California. Due to the fact that many of the top students in NY and Mass don’t want to go to college across the country, students that do apply may have a better chance. Top students on the east coast have a host of viable options including all the Ivies, as well as other top notch universities, which I would imagine limits the number of applicants to Stanford from the east coast. I feel that your chances to be accepted are all dependent on who applies from your region. Seeing that your admissions officer is regional and therefore comparing you to your region, with each region allowed to accept a certain number or percentage of applicants. Being from Georgia may be beneficial due to the fact that many of the top students in Georgia don’t want to go all the way to California for school like I said above.</p>
<p>^ This is a good point. I was just looking at the SAT state summary for Idaho (which seemed like a pretty good underrepresented state example) and saw that 181 kids from there sent SATs to Stanford, and probably many others did too with the ACT. Yet, Stanford only admits 5ish kids from there every year, which gives those kids only a 3ish% chance. That being said though, a lot of those kids are probably auto-rejects, who apply as a dream or for fun, because they know about Stanford because it is geographically pretty close. As Parcheese said, less unqualified kids from the East coast apply, so the differences could be caused by self-selection.</p>
<p>The fact that you are from GA gives you a slight boost, but keep in mind that applicants from all over the country are applying to Stanford. Also, don’t lose sight of the fact that your SAT and/or ACT scores are a little on the low side (even for your region) for the ultra-competitive, unhooked applicant pool. You will have LOTS of great college options, because you are a very strong applicant, but Ivy or Ivy-equivalents, such as Stanford, may or may not be a reality. I do not think your “underrepresented” region will sufficiently offset your SAT/ACT test scores.</p>
<p>^his SAT score is actually fine for Stanford. Their middle 50% range is a 2040-2330. If you have a score anywhere in there, your application becomes less about the scores and more about everything else (class rank, GPA, rigor of classes, essays, recommendations, etc.). He has nothing to offset, and the regional issue does become a factor to consider.</p>
<p>^Stanford, more then the ivies, admits many academically unqualified students to fill their athlete slots. 2190 is on the low end for real students.</p>
<p>A 2190 will not hurt your chances regardless of who you are. That is an excellent score and there is far more to the application than that one number. Why do you think they make you write three additional essays and seven short answer questions?</p>
<p>Getting accepted with a 2190 for an unhooked applicant is NOT impossible but IS the exception. And your ECs should probably have a very distinctive award in there somewhere as well, aside from team captain or club president.</p>
<p>Agree with Parcheese - Getting accepted with any SAT range is the exception! 2190 is right in the middle of the pack for accepted students, so yes that candidate would need to have something else going for them, but that goes for everyone. They reject many, many students each year who have 800 SATs and well above 4.0 GPA. On the other hand, Stanford states that they do not weigh geographic representation at all. They list everywhere as “not considered”. 2190 is NOT academically unqualified as suggested, or on the low end for “real students”. That’s just plain patronizing. A strong HS schedule and grades combined with test scores that are in the range will get you consideration. After that it’s essays and that special something that catches their eye. Anyway - to OP, being from Georgia likely won’t help in and of itself unless you can write a stelar essay about how that influences your “intellectual vitality.” One Stanford admit friend from last year was val at competative HS, recruited athlete and legacy. She was exceptionally well qualified academically (both statistically and actually) while being a student athlete and legacy. This dumb athlete thing is being overplayed based on the Stanford athletes that I know.</p>
<p>saintfan~
I totally agree on the dumb athlete thing being overplayed, at Stanford and at the rest of the Ivies and Duke, etc. People that say that the lower 25% of GPA’s and test scores are “all of the athletes” are really incorrect. There is a Valedictorian from our area playing football at an Ivy right now as well as many other athletes with top test scores and GPA’s playing at Duke and other top Uni’s. You are right on with your statement. :)</p>
<p>[Figure</a> Skaters Online News Archive Rachael Flatt selects Stanford University](<a href=“http://figureskatersonline.com/news/2010/04/28/rachael-flatt-selects-stanford-university/]Figure”>Rachael Flatt selects Stanford University – Figure Skaters Online)</p>
<p>Here’s just one example of a Stanford athlete. Yes, she had a hook (Olympian), but she got in on her academic merits as well.</p>
<p>Then there’s David DeCastro RT guard and future NFL 1st round draft pick from Bellevue HS in WA with 4.06 GPA and 29 ACT.</p>
<p>@Parchese—I definitely agree with your comment about NY/NJ/MA students; however I think it might depend slightly on EA versus RD. For EA, the boost would probably be stronger, since Princeton and Harvard’s reinstatement of EA means that most top-ranking students from the East Coast will be applying to Ivies and not Stanford early. However, the boost might be less significant for RD IMO, since many students from the East Coast apply to Stanford as part of a large list of schools and Stanford sees them as less likely to go if admitted.</p>
<p>Is Florida considered an overrepresented state in the admissions process?</p>
<p>
I doubt it. I think the only real overrepresented states for Stanford are CA (incredibly overrepresented), OR, and WA. Probably also to a slightly lesser extent NY, NJ, and MA are basically overrepresented everywhere, but less at Stanford because it is on the West coast.</p>
<p>Regardin the NY/NJ/MA comment…how significant would you estimate the aforementioned boost of being (all other things equal) a student in one of those three states versus CA? Would it be a deal-breaker between two otherwise equal students?</p>
<p>how do you find how many kids submit a SAT scores to stanford from a particular state?</p>
<p>I doubt that they would release this info.</p>
<p>@SheepGetKilled - I got that information from here: [College-Bound</a> Seniors 2011 - SAT Total Group and State Reports](<a href=“http://professionals.collegeboard.com/data-reports-research/sat/cb-seniors-2011]College-Bound”>SAT Suite of Assessments – Reports | College Board)</p>
<p>It only shows the top 45 schools that applications were sent to, so it won’t work for many East Coast states. Also don’t forget about ACT only applicants when looking at this.</p>
<p>EDIT: Another thing, Idaho kids sent only 126 applications to Stanford last year, which makes the chance of acceptance more like 5%.</p>