<p>After seeing posts and threads from dozens of students applying for the Class of 2015, I feel like i have a responsibility to clarify a lot of things about URMs at Stanford.</p>
<p>Stop caring about whether you are a URM or not. Essentially, it doesn't really matter for the following reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Stanford does practice affirmative action, but standards of admission are not lowered for URMs. </p></li>
<li><p>It often appears that standards of admission are lower for URMs, so how can I claim the opposite? Academic trends tend to be lower for URMs for a few reasons at Stanford.
2a. Many students come from strongly disadvantaged backgrounds but still stand out compared to their circumstances. For example, I know a few people who came from very poor areas in the US but were still valedictorians of their class. Sometimes being valedictorian in a school could mean you have a 3.6 GPA as opposed to a 4.0+/4.0 at a very competitive school. Sometimes, even the highest SAT score from a low income school is in the 1900s-2000s, which some people would say is below Stanford "standards". These students still shine in their communities and make the best of their resources, so Stanford gives them the opportunity to excel here with some of the best resources in the world. These students still do great at Stanford.
2b. Many URMs from disadvantaged backgrounds did just as well academically as students from other backgrounds. They could have had a 22-2300+ SAT and 4.0 GPA.
Other URMs come from middle class or upper class backgrounds and their distributions are similar to the rest of the student body.
2c. Many of the recruited athletes are URMs. Many are not. I don't have enough information to say whether the following statement applies to URM athletes specifically, or just to athletes overall, so I will limit it to athletes overall, even if it doesnt apply to the rest of my message. The academic credentials of these students are still very good, however, when compared to non-athletes, they are, on average, lower than the rest of the student body. Stanford looks for students who are passionate about something and work to reach their potential in those areas. For athletes, their sport(s) are often their passions, and they are very dedicated to it. Consequently, many of them did not get as much time to focus on academics in high school. Some of them are just as amazing students as everyone else or even better than the average Stanford student, so I'm not saying the statement applies to ALL athletes; it is just a trend. </p></li>
<li><p>Stanford expects from URMs just as much as they do from other students. You must still prove yourself academically in high school. You must still show your passions in ECs and other activities (whatever it is that you do). You must still be admitted by the same committee that votes on every other candidate.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If you want to remember any one thing from this message, it is this: don't expect being a URM to get you into Stanford. It may be a slight advantage compared to other applicants because Stanford does like diversity (in several ways-not just race, but also disabilities, income, etc.), but it will not have a large impact on any one person's application. </p>
<p>Really, there are only a few things that will significantly impact your acceptance to Stanford aside from your application: being a HIGHLY recruited athlete (some athletes are more wanted than others), being a legacy with a connection that has made a VERY large donation, being a child of a very prominent figure (e.g. Steve Jobs' son and a prince are in the class of 2014-although they are both probably talented and smart people), winning a Nobel Prize, find a cure to a disease, or being President of the United States ;)</p>
<p>And for the record, for all you people who are interested in knowing if you are considered a URM, i will not go into detail about what ethnicities are considered URM. However, I will say a few general statements. </p>
<p>URM status advantage is flexible and depends on the application cycle. For the most part, international applicants will not get any advantage from being a URM (whether or not you would be considered a URM anyway). Asian background is not URM, including South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. European is not a URM. However, depending on your location, geography could play a role if they really want your area/country to be represented and they have no other candidates that particularly stand out.</p>
<p>Please feel free to post below with your opinions.</p>