<p>Of course not if they have a stellar academic BACKGROUND.</p>
<p>I knew this kid who had something like a 3.4 GPA, but went to africa and volunteered for the summer and got in, over a kid with a 4.0/2350 "stellar" academic BACKGROUND...can you explain this to me?</p>
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As nice and morally upstanding a person may be, without a stellar academic and/or athletic/ec background, they'll get eaten alive in the college admissions process.
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<p>"Overall great person" implies character, not ecs. What you're using as an example is someone with a great character and good ecs. Let's remember that that's just ONE person. How many 4.0s got accepted over 3.4s? Sure, colleges love to brag that they reject half of the applicants with a 2400, but that's still a 50% acceptance rate, as opposed to the average 8-12% for HYPSM.</p>
<p>If you'd like to debate this some more, I'd recommend first rereading a bunch of the threads on the College Admissions board. I've said all that I want to on this topic. :]</p>
<p>"They emphasize the focus on grades because they need to seem more selective than in actuality when advertising the school, if they said it wasn't all about grades then I'm sure EVERYONE would apply. The Harvard admissions director told me this."</p>
<p>You are aware that colleges WANT everyone to apply? If Stanford could achieve that, their selectivity rating (which are a major part of college rankings) would skyrocket. With that comes prestige, and with prestige comes the best students and money for the school.</p>
<p>Colleges do their best to get more kids to apply there. Why do you think they use mass-mailings?</p>
<p>Of course universities want more people to apply but I think the main motive is to attract better and better students. Its not just about the selectivity rating its about recruiting better and better students.</p>
<p>Face it guys, you don't know what Stanford is going to be looking for when you look at this kid's application any more than anyone else. Maybe, at that moment in time, the people who read is app will be thinking diversity, or athletics, or academics, or maybe they'll be going for the well rounded person. With a school as unpredictable as Stanford, it's ridiculous to tell anyone that they don't have a shot because the plain and simple fact is- they do. Especially because you haven't read their essay, you haven't seen their recs. You just don't know. I'm all for saying it might be a serious reach for them if they ask. But just flat out telling them they have no shot... you're giving yourself way too much credit. </p>
<p>And Tetragammon, although you're right that yield still is a big factor in ranking.. it's becoming less and less important as more ranking services are realizing the lengths schools are going to just to improve yield. US News pulled yield from their list this year for that reason. But you're right. That doesn't mean Stanford doesn't want as many people as possible to apply</p>
<p>THANK YOU! I think you just settled this.</p>