Yea, so apparently they’re blind to intended major.
Less than two weeks – I’m so incredibly excited.
Please do not spread false information about being “blind” to intended majors. They ask the question so they see your answers. Whether it matters is another question which is open for debate. I would argue it does but with substantial caveats which I don’t have time to get into here.
Well, unless Stanford is deliberately lying to us on their website (“Stanford does not make admission decisions based on major interest”), I’m going to go ahead and take their word.
I’m curious about something.
In the event that I am rejected this year, how tough is it to get accepted through transfer admissions after the freshman year of college?
@CuriousBobby Statistically, they take very few transfer students every year (around 30 if I remember correctly).
@vasodys i mean like everyone’s from these cool places and then there’s me from Cali :))
Would they take into account my math 2 subject test since the score comes out nov 29? They told me to email it in, but do you think it would have an affect on my application for early action since it will almost be a month since i submitted it?
@Manreet I don’t think so. http://admission.stanford.edu/application/deadlines/index.html states that the last acceptable SAT date was October for Early Action.
So wonderful to see so many int’l students. If you are going to pursue computer science, you might also try applying to Carnegie Mellon University. They have #1 computer science program in the US (according to the US News and World report rankings).
Also just a heads up for anybody applying for Financial Aid using IDOC, my documents were sitting there as “pending” for over a week. I finally got in contact with the College Board and it turns out that one of my forms wasn’t signed properly so I had to re-upload. They were then processed the next day without any problems. There was no notification that I did anything incorrectly, everything was showing as “pending” as if they were still in line to be processed. If your documents on IDOC have been pending for a while, might be worth it to get in contact with the College Board to see if there’s something wrong. Hopefully they are still considered on time, but it’s out of my hands now.
Just curious, what backup schools should I apply to if I want something similar to Stanford, and which also provides generous financial aid to out-of-state students? I’m interested in engineering, especially bioengineering, and computer science too.
Wishing everyone the best of luck in the coming weeks!
Has anyone who is a legacy received a snailmail letter from the admissions office acknowledging their application?
Yes we did. Basically a nice little letter saying that legacy means almost nothing and don’t feel disappointed if your son/daughter doesn’t get in. ARGH…
Legacy applicants being admitted at a rate roughly 3 times that of non-legacy and a guaranteed two readings of a legacy application seem far from being nothing to me…
I guess they just don’t want you to think that you’re getting in for sure if you’re a legacy.
@CuriousBobby You should consider john hopkins for bioengineering and Carnegie Mellon for CompSci. They are also selective schools, but not quite as selective as Stanford
@676339784 Sure, but legacy admits being rejected at an 85% clip can equate to lots of unhappy alumni. Stanford would be negligent not to try to assuage some of those hurt feelings in advance. Most colleges with legacy emphasis issue these letters.
And there are also stats that indicate alum kids are better prepared than non alum kids, as a whole. Not surprising, right? I believe Harvard did a study that looked at its legacy admits and saw that in general, these same kids were being accepted at Yale and Princeton at the same rates – colleges where they clearly did NOT have any legacy boost but more pointing towards the preparedness and strength of applications from this sub-group.
We just got back from Thanksgiving travel and got the same letter (my wife and I both graduated undergrad from Stanford and our daughter applied REA this year). As everyone notes, it appears to just be an acknowledgement that our daughter is a legacy but that is by no means a guarantee of admission. Like others, I assume they’re girding alumni parents for their progeny’s (statistically likely) refusal, and that it doesn’t reflect any read on particular applications.
Regarding the value of legacy in admissions, a 2011 study by Michael Hurwitz in the Economics of Education Review, based on data from 12 LACs and 18 research Universities (which according to the NY Times seem to be from the Consortium on Financing Higher Education) shows a significant legacy admissions advantage, especially for primary legacies (meaning parent graduated undergrad). About 6% of applicants in the study were legacies, with about 30% of those primary legacies. Legacy mattered more at the most-selective and least-selective colleges, and the higher the SAT score, the more legacy status mattered (the oft-mentioned ‘all other things being even’ tiebreaker.)
Per @T26E4 above, the study also details how legacy applicants have on average better numerical qualifications than the regular pool, though it controls for that as well as for ‘soft’ factors like essays and recommendations before estimating the advantage. (The methodology for controlling for soft factors is a very interested aspect of the study.) As noted, despite these advantages, Stanford still rejects 85% of legacy apps…
sorry, meant ‘interesting’ aspect, not 'interested…
Hi, I’m an REA applicant from Greece, does anybody know when we’re getting the decision from Stanford?