<p>When D2 scored 2280/1550 on her first SAT try, I recommended she spend her time on other things, rather than re-taking the SAT. She was accepted SCEA to Stanford, without legacy or other "hooks." However, she does love to learn, which was reflected in her rigorous course load as well as her amazing recommendations. I think that, as well as her leadership roles, were most important.</p>
<p>@curious77,</p>
<p>What is random is getting admitted to a top university that you know "nothing about."</p>
<p>Look, we can go back and forth all day about whether admissions at Stanford are random, but all you need is a cursory review of the "rejected" thread to see that is the case.</p>
<p>And, as I stated, my personal experience from the 80's along with the current batch of accepted/rejected applicants only bolsters my conviction that there is no guaranteed route to admission at Stanford. Indeed, I've had Stanford alums tell me that they were above average, but not stellar, students who were happy to get in when higher achieving students at their own high schools were not admitted. </p>
<p>The OP's son already will get a "boost" from being a legacy and if he lives in Minnesota, that will help too.</p>
<p>Best of luck to the OP's son on his quest to get into Stanford --- btw, is that where your son really wants to go?</p>
<p>Wisconsin.</p>
<p>Stanford Daily Online today: Dean of admissions reports 20% of matriculating freshmen for class of 2011 were legacies.
So prior poster's stat from "years ago", remains relevant.
<a href="http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2008/4/4/legacyStillFactorInAdmissions%5B/url%5D">http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2008/4/4/legacyStillFactorInAdmissions</a></p>
<p>I agree for the most part with the "random" idea.
I am currently a sophomore and a double legacy to Stanford, and I have done a lot of research on it in hopes of being accepted.
I think that while high scores on SATs and such are deffinetly a plus and highly recommended, they are in no way required. However I would suggest retaking it once if you did not score above 2300 the first time.
Take this example: I know these two students at my school who both applied to Stanford early. One of them has a 4.06, pretty high scores (but not perfect) on a few SATII's and APs, plays two instruments well, has been on the varsity basketball team for a couple years (but my school is not very good at basketball), helps lead a club, and has legacy. Pretty impressive but not perfect. He's also white.
Another student got a 2400 on his SAT's, perfects on twice as many SATII's and APs, plays two instruments as well, and is high on just about every prestigious club you could imagine (math team (my school's has one of the best in the nation), computer team (same), physics team (same), science bowl, biology olympiad, national honor society...).
Now which one would you expect to get accepted? The second one, right? Wrong! the first got accepted (many say because of legacy) and not the second.
This is why its pretty random, but I think that they place a big emphasis on accepting a person and not a bunch of test scores, which is why you need to really make yourself stand out, through essays and such. They want people who will change the world.
I currently lead a club and have started my own small internet business/company, so I hope this will help me. If anyone has any more suggestions on important things that help get you accepted please share.</p>
<p>My husband graduated from Stanford, so when my son applied, we thought he had a decent shot. He is in top 2% of his class, National Merit Scholar, 2300 SAT, Eagle Scout, marching band 4 years, AP Scholar, etc. etc. He was waitlisted in April; found out this week that he will not be admitted. He has accepted a generous scholarship from USC and is very excited. He was initially disappointed by being waitlisted, but quickly "moved on" and didn't seem upset when notified of Stanford's rejection.</p>
<p>numberfour:
Did your S apply SCEA or regular decision? I have surmised from these boards that legacy, at least in the case of Stanford, is a plus only in the SCEA round.
USC is a great school and a big scholarship makes it even better. Congratulations.</p>
<p>Legacy, from Wisconsin, and applying SCEA should give a slight boost....</p>
<p>Disagree with those who say SAT should be retaken. 20 to 30 points on those test will not make a difference, especially at Stanford --- look at the SAT scores of the CC population that were admitted this year. Agree with those who suggest concentration on SAT II's and essays.</p>
<p>curious77,
My son applied regular decision; the application did ask for the legacy info. We were unaware that legacy was considered only for early decision.</p>
<p>I have not read anything official on legacy assisting only in SCEA round. And Stanford certainly does not say it. But in reading these boards, that appears to be the view of the majority of the posters and numberfour's son's experience does not contradict it.</p>
<p>My legacy son got 2230 on SAT's and 33 on ACT. Should he include ACT with application next year? He did get SAT II Math Level II 800, Chem 790, US History 740. He really doesn't want to take any of these tests (like the ACT) over again.</p>
<p>Just to update from last year -- my son got into Stanford Early Adm.</p>
<p>congrats!! It is looking pretty scary on that Stanford Thread.</p>
<p>Congratulations! Good for him.</p>
<p>Congratulations. My younger S was accepted also. We decided he should use his early app at Stanford to take advantage of any possibility of the legacy bump. Seems like it was a good plan, especially in light of the Stanford results thread. It all appears so random.</p>
<p>Good luck to all those who didn't get in. It's clear that it is becoming nearly impossible to get in these days.</p>
<p>congrats lol</p>
<p>Misplaced apostrophes, as well. ;)</p>
<p>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~</p>
<p>lextalionais wrote:</p>
<p>Take Limon08, for example. Sounds like a great person, but the post had several misspellings (e.g. seperate, not separate) and misuse of words (“bifurcated” when actually the decisions are “trifurcated” - admit, reject, waitlist).</p>
<p>This thread is a year and a half old; why would you do that?</p>
<p>I just revisited my thread - just out of curiosity. The final thing is that after all this my son applied to one more school: Yale. He got in and is now a freshman there.</p>