There’s been a lot of discussion whether or not top schools like Stanford “blacklist” high schools. Apparently at my high school about 10 years ago a handful of kids applied to Stanford and all got accepted, but all of them declined the offer. Ever since then not one person has been accepted, despite being accepted into ivies or other top schools - Harvard, Yale, MIT, Westpoint… the list goes on and on. These are overly qualified kids that get into amazing schools year after year, but never Stanford. So do you think Stanford is blacklisting my high school? What else could the reason be?
No.
No. It’s just way much harder to get into Stanford than it was 10 years ago.
This rumor has been around forever. Simply substitute your HS name and Stanford with any other HS and college, and the urban legend also exists. I seriously doubt that Stanford is blacklisting your school because applicants declined offers. AOs are grown adults - they expect some students to decline offers and they will not hold a grudge.
As to why nobody from your HS has since been admitted? The reality is that there are ~ 37K high schools in the US, not counting homeschooled and international applicants. Stanford accepts about 2100 applicants (which is less than 5% of those who apply). So most high schools have zero acceptances from Stanford.
Thanks for the replies everyone. It’s just really strange that so many other schools in my county get into Stanford but not my hs. Makes sense I guess, the acceptance rate is insanely low.
I’ve heard of individual high schools being ‘blacklisted’ but not because of yield issues – instead this has been done because of students backing out of ED agreements, which is often ascribed to poor guidance counselors. But I agree with others, getting into Stanford has been getting quite difficult over the past decade.
I know someone who has worked for years in Stanford Admissions. He says no. Each application is looked at individually. The only issue would be if the school is known to have rampant grade inflation, making it difficult to evaluate the academic record.
“Not choosing to accept” is NOT the same thing as “blacklisting.”
There is some truth to this rumor. The only thing that matters to top colleges is Yield and NOT acceptance rates so if a particular school keeps burning a college (not just Stanford), then they will go elsewhere for students. You think colleges are fair - colleges that do everything to avoid admitting certain students in favor of other groups? Smarten up…
Stanford’s acceptance rate is under 5%. Many many high schools are not getting students into Stanford. I can’t imagine a scenario where Stanford would reject a student it really wants based only on his/her HS.
One of my previous teachers said that a few schools in my county (including my school) are thought by colleges to inflate grades, so she said that’s why they don’t want to accept kids from these schools.
Also disagree with that premise. Each HS sends a school profile along with each transcript which among describes the school’s grading system, gives average GPA of students etc. so Stanford or any college for that matter will review the transcript in the proper context. If your HS inflates grades they will see that, but I don’t think that would be the sole reason to turn down a stellar candidate – after all students seem to get into other top colleges from your HS.
I think instead of making excuses, just recognize and accept the fact that with an acceptance rate of under 5% your HS is one of many that hasn’t had student accepted into Stanford recently.
Yet another urban legend. If the AO is not familiar with the HS, the School Profile will give insight on grade distribution. So if an applicant does not get in, it is not the result of grade inflation.
… ah, but then it’s not someone else’s fault, is it??
SO much better to believe you’ve been blacklisted-- that nothing you could have said or done or been would have made a difference.
Some schools DO prepare their students better than others. School profile or not, colleges often know that and will judge accordingly. At high schools without adequate rigor and preparation, those schools’ “stellar” students aren’t too stellar.
…and thus standardized testing to validate grades, rigor and preparation.
Sure, but when you are competing against other students who have both and more, don’t be surprised when you don’t get the big envelope.
Why would yield matter more than acceptance rate? College rankings are determined by the latter, not the former.
Higher yield will lead to lower acceptance rate. With high yield, a college doesn’t need to accept as many applicants to meet its target class size.
@cocofan Yield is very important. Schools want admitted students to say yes back to them. When schools admit a lot of students, and those kids choose to go elsewhere, rankings and prestige fall.