<p>I have heard that some schools prefer certain students. Stanford prefers students who are good at sports, Yale prefers well rounded students, Harvard prefers students who are good at music. Is this even true?</p>
<p>I haven't heard that. You need good academics and extracurriculars for all of those schools, though.</p>
<p>I've heard that certain schools have their own criteria--including the ones you've already mentioned about Stanford and Yale (never heard the one about Harvard and music, though).</p>
<p>However, many of these schools will not admit to these biases--even when the statistics point to these biases being true. (For example, the Wharton one below).</p>
<p>Other biases in criteria:</p>
<p>Wharton is big on people who who have started their own businesses</p>
<p>Notre Dame is big on people who were captains of sports teams</p>
<p>Georgetown takes students who are children of diplomats.</p>
<p>The main problem is that for most schools, getting the data to validate or repudiate the bias is unavailable. The Stanford one is easy--just think Tiger Woods, Mike Mussina, and John McEnroe (all Stanford alumni).</p>