<p>Hey people. Just wondering, as I am currently going through the admissions process - how does admission into stanford correlate/compare with admission into other top schools, namely HYP, in terms of what kind of applicant/features the schools want? Things are probably different here in the midwest than elsewhere, but I know many kids who make it into stanford but not into top ivies, whereas those who make it into HYP almost always get into stanford. So what's the dealio? Underrepresented region? Crazy friends?</p>
<p>No idea. Perhaps HYP are very interested in people who they feel have the potential to evoke progress and change in the world. That's pretty broad, but I think it might be on the right track. I do know that I have amazing friends at Stanford who are way cooler than I am, and they didn't get into HYP, while I did. Even though this is anecdotal, it leads me to believe that it's a bit of a crapshoot because there are so many exceptional candidates for only a small number of spots; things will work out in the end, and people can learn a lot and enjoy themselves no matter where they end up.</p>
<p>I think it's highly variable. All these schools are looking at far more than grades and scores. Some schools for whatever reason seem to have more of an in with one college than another. In the last couple of years we've had a 50% admit rate at Harvard, 40% admit rate at Yale, an 8% admit rate at Princeton, and a 15% admit rate at Standford. (Many fewer kids apply to Princeton and Stanford however.)</p>
<p>There's the obvious difference in number of deferrals. I think there is also the self-selection going on (Stanford is supposed to be more laid-back, Ivies are more professional and cutthroat) but basically it's the same ballgame. Really random and unpredictable because of the sheer number of applicants. Nobody is ever guaranteed in - on the flip side, nobody is ever guaranteed out either.</p>
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Nobody is ever guaranteed in - on the flip side, nobody is ever guaranteed out either.
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<p>I can agree that nobody is ever guaranteed in, but I am pretty sure that you can be guaranteed out. If you graduated last in your class in high school, had terrible test scores, did no EC's, and have terrible rec's, I think it's quite clear that you are guaranteed out.</p>
<p>K.. I meant nobody with reasonable stats is guaranteed out. As in, a score over 2000 or 2200 will not keep you out. If somebody hasn't taken the SATs, of course that's gonna hurt.. =)</p>
<p>I think it's just a matter of chance; we have no idea what the admissions officer may be looking for at that moment, but I do believe that Stanford probably uses the Academic Index as well for academic consideration. </p>
<p>I was curious also; is it true that Stanford has a higher level of acceptance for those who were high school varsity athletes?</p>
<p>I think that HYPS admissions are becoming more similar as the years progress. We can already see that with acceptance rates (7% for Harvard, ~7.5% for Yale, ~8% for Stanford, and 9.9% for Princeton).</p>
This is mostly what I have seen in college admissions in my school. ALL of the people in my school who were accepted from HYP were rejected from Stanford. In the end, these schools are more similar than not, and the whole process can be pretty random.</p>
<p>There was no intersection between H and S admits at my school either. Though, I do think there is some difference I can see in the types of students admitted to H and those to S. There can be cross-admits of course, but in general I do see differences in admissions philosophies. For one thing, I noticed H took mainly people with high class rank, and more of the traditionally studious. Though this of course can vary from school to school.</p>
<p>I got into only one of HYP and got into stanford. Our stories all add up, I think, to say nothing more than that this whole process is inconsistent.</p>
<p>A lot of the time, it depends a lot on a school’s relationship with the university. Admissions people tend to know certain high schools better than others so some high schools get lots of kids into one university but not another. For example, my high school gets one kid into Harvard every five years, one to Princeton every year, and two into Stanford every year, roughly speaking. This doesn’t have to do with the students’ applications or credentials, but the university’s perception of the high school.</p>
<p>What frog says is one reason I like to compare people from within the same school, more than I compare applicants across the board. I felt like my school was a good one to consider, as there were several admits to all these schools.</p>
<p>I got into Stanford, but rejected from Harvard, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, WL’d at Princeton AND at Georgetown… I’m neither a legacy, a well-connected applicant, nor a recruited athlete…</p>
<p>Well, let me first say that I absolutely love Stanford. In fact, if my some miracle I got in, I would immediately, without a second thought enroll. However, I firmly believe that I have a MUCH better shot at HYP than S. Mainly because Stanford just seems to value the following this VERY heavily: ECs, Race, Sports, and Legacy status. I have decent but not drop dead amazing ECs for HYPS, but fail in the other categories. HYP, however, value val status, test scores, grades, and then ECs heavily. Idk…Stanford is more of the laid back school whereas HYP are all actively trying to get the most studious, academic-type students that they can.</p>
<p>This is the impression I have gotten as well. They seem to do so more clearly than Stanford does from the few cases I’ve seen and thought about.</p>