<p>Can anybody explain the application process at Stanford to me? What are they looking for?</p>
<p>It’s the same as any other school. They look at your grades, test scores, and essays. Then they probably put you in the no pile and light a cigar with your 95$. If you somehow make it past this stage and into the maybe pile, they take your name and put it on a ball and place it into those lottery number pickers. The admissions officers have a party and select the class of 2018 by using that lottery picker. They make confetti out of all the rejected applications and shoot it off to conclude the admission year.</p>
<p>Same as any other top school*</p>
<p>Somebody will read your application, and if they admire you enough they’ll try to sell your application to the committee. After, the committee votes, and that’s that.</p>
<p>You can read about it here:</p>
<p>[Stanford</a> Magazine - Article](<a href=“Stanford Magazine - Article”>Stanford Magazine - Article)</p>
<p>An important excerpt:</p>
<p>“The process is the same in each of the two admissions cycles—restrictive early-action (November 1-December 15), and regular (January 1-April 1). Admissions officers do their reading, making notes in the time-tested Stanford method of mnemonics; CPE, for instance, means “See Personal Essay.” In the latter half of the cycle, reading gives way to decision making. Committees composed of admissions officers (typically three or more) and either the dean or an assistant dean, who serves as chair, convene to hear officers present their candidates and field questions. Then there’s a vote. If a majority agrees, the candidate is admitted; otherwise he or she is denied, put on the waitlist or moved to a larger committee for further review.”</p>
<p>Some things not included in the article: full-time admission officers read all applications at least once. The ones they deem qualified to do the work at Stanford (about 80% of the applicant pool) move on to a second reader for further evaluation. When acting as your advocate in front of the committee, your regional admission officer uses not only his/her opinions but also the opinions of the other reader who read your file to support your candidacy. If you are one of your admission officer’s favorites, then he/she may call your counselor for help in constructing an effective presentation of your “case.”</p>
<p>Here’s another great article:</p>
<p>[Recent</a> Entries | MIT Admissions](<a href=“http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry...ore_than_a_job]Recent”>http://mitadmissions.org/blogs/entry...ore_than_a_job)</p>
<p>Though it’s about MIT, the admission process is still quite similar. This one gives you insight into an admission officer’s emotional attachment to candidates.</p>