<p>quick poll:</p>
<p>Are you still in school or in a gap year?</p>
<p>I’m taking a gap year…</p>
<p>I’m still in school. But oh, how I need a gap year…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Yep, I’m done. I decided not to submit an arts supplement after all, at least not to Stanford… and I hit “Submit” on my Stanford supplement 2 weeks ago and just hit “Submit” on my Common App a few minutes ago 
:D</p>
<p>Wheeeeeee! :)</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>Still working on the 3 Deadly Supplements :(</p>
<p>^ Oh good luck 
I consider myself quite lucky in that I could come up with stuff to write about relatively quickly…</p>
<p>did u pick one thing to write about for the roommate and why stanford essay? or did u say many reasons why stanford is the place for you and manythings about ur personality?</p>
<p>^ Well, my roommate essay touched on a bunch of stuff about myself, but it was all unified under one theme. Then for the “Why Stanford” essay, I just sort of related how going to Stanford would help me to achieve my dreams and aspirations lol.</p>
<p>
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<p>I love your wording. Me too, though. :(</p>
<p>I am actually working on my application right now, and I was hoping you guys might have some answers. </p>
<p>I’ve recently gotten the impression after browsing around that REA is actually more competitive than RD. Is this true?</p>
<p>Also, I am taking SAT IIs this next weekend. Should I wait to send in my application until my scores come in at the end of the month, or does that really matter at all?</p>
<p>And one more question. It might seem stupid, but how much do you think Stanford admissions cares about geographic diversity? I don’t plan on making it a “hook” so to speak, but I’m hoping I might stand out some since I’m from a relatively sparsely populated area. I think its significance might best come out in my “Why Stanford” essay.</p>
<p>Lol, this website calms me down but stresses me out a little at the same time.</p>
<p>I’m thinking about making my roommate essay completely random and making it about my personal hatred of fish. I have a funny anecdote about it and do really, really hate fish but I was wondering if it was too random? It doesn’t really show any personal insight but I’m hoping it shows a more comedic side and a different writing style than my other essays.</p>
<p>What do you guys think?</p>
<p>^^ I’d also like to hear opinions on whether EA is harder than RD, because I can’t figure it out, either.</p>
<p>Since the last acceptable testing date for EA is, apparently, October, there isn’t much point in waiting to send in your app unless you’re willing to make a sudden switch to RD if you don’t like your scores.</p>
<p>I think that Stanford Admissions will probably care about geographic diversity to a pretty high degree until they’ve got at least a couple people from each of the states (if you live in North Dakota, I am unspeakably jealous). After that, if you’re from a sparsely populated area, it’s probably just going to come out in slightly lessened competition from people from your state/region. (Or that’s the impression I’ve gotten, anyway…)</p>
<p>And I completely agree with you. It’s such a weird effect.</p>
<p>^I really like that essay topic because it’s so zany, but if you can’t get it to show any personal insight, I wouldn’t go for it…</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>Well… Stanford <em>does</em> claim that the higher acceptance rate in the REA process is due to the very competitive pool of applicants. In my opinion, I think the two balance each other out, to a certain extent.</p>
<p>To me, it’s about having Stanford as a top choice, and getting decisions early.</p>
<p>^I think it’s worth noting the percentage of the people accepted that come in through REA- 31% last year. The number of applicants was about 17% of the pool. Whether that means anything is up to you, because I’m too tired to think and will come back to this tomorrow…</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>I would only compare the two acceptance rates, and the applicant pool.
What you said is just another way of looking at the acceptance rate…</p>
<p>To plug in rough numbers, 31% / 17% = 1.82 ( with par as 1 = Overall)</p>
<p>Acceptance rate (overall) : 9%
=> REA acceptance rate : 1.82 X 9% = 16.4%</p>
<p>So yeah, analyzing numbers alone, that would mean that it is a whooping 82% more likely for us to get in via REA than via RD. But we do need to remember the significance of the percentages. </p>
<p>I think the strong application pool accounts for most of it… if not all.</p>
<p>For me, it doesn’t really matter much. I’m an international asking for aid, and in my pool the acceptance rate would be about 4%. (pure speculation)</p>
<p>Overall acceptance rate for the Class of 2014 was 7.2%.</p>
<p>^ That’s frighteningly low o.o</p>
<p>@zenkoan</p>
<p>yeah… I used the 2013 rates just so that it looks bigger :p</p>
<p>^ Don’t try to get our hopes up too much ;)</p>
<p><em>is already mentally preparing for rejection</em></p>
<p>When weighing the “advantage of applying early action/decision” I would consider the fact that some are recruited athletes, very competitive (“qualified”) applicants, and legacies. Accordingly, the admission stats behind early applications are skewed. </p>
<p>Take it how you will, but it may be the push that you desire.</p>
<p>@fledgling</p>
<p>How about this: already got rejected once :p</p>