<p>I am interested in applying to several grad schools that I applied to as an undergrad -- but was not accepted. I was wondering if by saying that you have applied before as an undergrad freshman, that your chances of admittance to places like Stanford, Caltech and MIT, would already be diminished. </p>
<p>I had the impression that life for grad school started over at the undergraduate level and the achievements made at that level, am I wrong?</p>
<p>If the question is posed in a "tick-box" format in the application, the question is asking ONLY if you have applied to this DEPARTMENT / GRADUATE program before. </p>
<p>It is not asking whether you applied to the INSTITUTION as an undergraduate.</p>
<p>And there is absolutely no justifiable reason to mention undergraduate applications in one's statement of purpose.</p>
<p>I went through the application process for the schools the OP has mentioned. They are indeed asking for whether or not he applied in any capacity before as it asks did you apply to MIT/Stanford and not any specific departments. Whether or not this has any bearing on grad admissions, I'm not entirely sure. However, I'm sure a lot of the people who get into MIT/Stanford for grad school could not have gotten in for undergrad. to the OP: I wouldn't worry about it. Its probably more for record keeping purposes, similar to the question of what other schools you are applyin to.</p>
<p>I got into Caltech for grad school, and I didn't get in here for undergrad, so it's certainly possible to "move up" when you're doing grad work. I didn't check the "Applied here before" box since they don't even have my program for undergrads anyway. :p</p>
<p>I would not worry about it. What additional information could they deduce from "he/she applied here before" that they could not deduce from all the other application materials?</p>
<p>I cannot say with a 100% certainty but can you really imagine an adcom saying "lets go with the lesser qualified application because they haven't applied here before."</p>
<p>I didn't know anything about this issue with grad schools before I read this post. The only reason that I could think of for inquiring about whether an applicant has applied at a specific program before is to see if an applicant that was rejected for lack of experience one year, spends the next year getting experience to shore up their weekness. Alternatively, if an applicant is rejected one year for poor grades but then spends the next year taking classes and improves their gpa. It seems to me that this could only be a positive thing.</p>