<p>Hey there, this is for those of you who have gotten into Stanford. Tell us what you did to get in and offer any advice you can to Stanford hopefuls (like myself lolz)</p>
<p>I think you might be asking the wrong crowd here. The true folks to ask are the admissions ppl. Even a perfect candidate is rejected for god knows what reason, and it’s not like any of the applicants get any feedback about what they did wrong. The only thing we applicants get is a vague statement that the process is holistic…and blah, blah, blah. :(</p>
<p>^the OP said it was for accepted students</p>
<p>i will give the same advice i give everyone.
- Do well academically.
- Do what you love in ECs
- Be a good person
you know, if the satisfaction of being a good person isnt good enough, it will come back to help you when you need recommendations… - learn to write well</p>
<p>Funny you should mention Stanford.My D, who was accepted into Harvard ,got rejected by S.Nephew who got into Yale ,got rejected by S.Another nephew accepted into Brown, rejected by S. Stanford does not do personal interviews ,which is a negative if you interview well.My D’s interview for Harvard went 90 minutes,and might have gone longer but her brother had a train to catch!My own theory about top schools is that beyond fabulous grades,and test scores,some luck is involved .You need to make a strong connection with the reader of your essay,so they will cheer you on .It’s impossible to predict this,so some luck is key to connecting at any top school /Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks NJDS, and Polobear, I guess you’re right lolz. Sorry!</p>
<p>I’m new here so I’m still trying to get the hang of things. I apologize again for posting in the wrong place and all.</p>
<p>And fauxmaven, thanks and really? I didn’t know that they didn’t do interviews. That’s news to me lolz</p>
<p>Have you looked through this: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/stanford-university/890361-official-stanford-university-rd-decisions-class-2014-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/stanford-university/890361-official-stanford-university-rd-decisions-class-2014-a.html</a>?</p>
<p>Actually, no, I haven’t. Thanks for the link!</p>
<p>fauxmaven, Stanford actually began doing interviews in selected cities last year, and will be expanding the list of locations this year. </p>
<p>Also, I know lots of Stanford admits who were HYP cross-admits.</p>
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<p>Can we find specific information on that online?</p>
<p>Here you go: [Alumni</a> Interview Program FAQs : Stanford University](<a href=“Page Not Found : Admission Volunteers : Stanford University”>Page Not Found : Admission Volunteers : Stanford University)</p>
<p>This coming application year will actually be the third year of Stanford’s pilot program to determine whether its alumni interviews should be expanded significantly. In the meantime, no one should fret if they aren’t in an interview location; it won’t be a “negative” not to have one, especially since they will still only be available in about a dozen locations. Stanford really can’t weight the interview much until it decides whether to “go wide” with them, since not all applicants will have access to them in the meantime.</p>
<p>^ Thanks for the link.</p>
<p>about the interviews…</p>
<p>after my interview, i talked to my interviewer a few times. he said he was curious about the process since interviewers received very limited instructions, so he contacted someone he knew at admissions.</p>
<p>he said the pilot program for a few years has VERY little significance on the admissions process for now. he said that admissions officers want to see how interviewer reports correlate to the admitted students, the yield information for those students, etc.
as far as admissions, the office wants to know a few things:
1.the general personality of the person.
2. communication skills. he said it would be a negative if the interview went horribly, but not really a positive if it went well. (so it can hurt but not really help).
3. any outstanding life circumstances</p>
<p>after they evaluate the program, they will decide whether or not to expand the program to almost all applicants. if they do so, there will be more significance to the interview process</p>
<p>also, he said that the instructions were vague and left a lot up to the interviewers. for example, georgetown, which requires interviews, gives a few questions for the alumni to ask and leaves extra information to them. stanford just told them general guidelines of discussion topics and didnt say they had to ask certain questions. apparently, they want to compare the different questions/answers from different interviewers for future use</p>
<p>please be aware, i have no concrete evidence of this information, and it is all technically hearsay. so make of it what you will. i can’t guarantee it’s all true, but that’s what he told me from his “contact”</p>
<p>So what would get a reject by Stanford, and admit to H-Y-P? My D got 2 full scholarships based on merit ,all others admitted (going to Harvard ) yet reject by S?It is really annoying to not know.Did Stanford know about H acceptance somehow? That would make sense as we live in NJ…We even forked out money for her to visit S ,and attend a tour .I am just curious if there is an answer here.</p>
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<p>There isn’t. The process involves subjective evaluation.</p>
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</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>^^There is no way to know why it happens exactly, but I’m just curious. Was Stanford their first choice?</p>
<p>Every top college tries to protect their admit yield a little bit. Many east coast students, when given the choice of Stanford and HYP, will choose HYP because East Coast culture and other pressures tell them to. I saw that trend in my area. About 10-12 students were admitted from my county and the one next to us, but only 3-4 of us will be attending. When you compare that number (even though it is a VERY small sample) to the overall yield of seventy-something percent, theres a big difference. Students make similar choices all around New Jersey and in other states in the Northeast as well.</p>
<p>This is just a hypothesis: i think they may want to be careful with the students they admit from the East Coast. They don’t lower their standards for admission, but I think they look for some subjective things that we just can’t see in applicants. Many of them are still cross-admits to one or more of HYP (including myself), but there’s something else.</p>
<p>Of course, there are many students from outside the East Coast who are admitted by HYP and not Stanford…so I may be completely wrong. But there are still some subjective factors that we just don’t know.</p>
<p>It’s not just the pressures of east coast culture that can induce cross-admits to stay on the east coast; many families need to consider the very large expenses incurred in flying across the country multiple times every year. I doubt financial aid will cover all of the following flights each year: September (to school); November (round trip for Thanksgiving break); December (round trip for winter break); March or April (round trip for spring break); and June (home from school for summer break). That’s a big chunk of change no matter how far in advance you plan. Of course this also affects the decisions of many west coast cross-admits to HYPS to stay on the west coast.</p>
<p>Also, in response to the OP’s question: here’s the link to last year’s REA results thread, since only the RD thread has been linked so far:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/stanford-university/824187-official-stanford-university-rea-decisions-class-2014-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/stanford-university/824187-official-stanford-university-rea-decisions-class-2014-a.html</a></p>
<p>You’ll see a lot of angst in this thread (and the RD thread), but keep in mind that the vast majority of rejected applicants eventually wound up at fantastic colleges, so don’t be daunted from trying if it’s what you want.</p>
<p>^^I always had a gut instinct that NJDS’ hypothesis is somewhat valid. </p>
<p>Another factor that could explain it is that Princeton seemed to me to be the most grade-focused, Harvard the most leadership focused, and Yale well I don’t really know. Stanford on the other hand seems to care a lot about general personality, non-competitiveness, etc. They like student leaders too but not to the extent Harvard does it seems. </p>
<p>So if you have a very diligent applicant who pulls of a 4.0 and is the leader in many student or local groups, then Harvard and Princeton seem like their best bet. </p>
<p>Actually, the one person I knew best from the east coast at Stanford was a 4.0 student leader prick, which goes against what I was saying. So even Stanford will make exceptions. But most of the other east-coasters were different it seemed. Like a few are in the band now, others are living in coops, others are the chillest b*mfs I know.</p>
<p>^ my point exactly. Only admissions can say why they admit certain ppl over the other. They have to also balance the school depending on what type of applicants they receive each year. If they’re getting like tons of premeds, they might be receiving almost the same types of stats. A certain uniqueness and luck is what does it to be honest, which is sorta common sense when one thinks about it lol.</p>
<p>East coast high performer I know (straight A, multi-national awards in both humanties and science) was admitted to Stanford and rejected from Harvard and a secondary Ivy. No other rejections (large state Univ and a couple of high-profile privates.) Additional essays were really well thought out and specific to Stanford. Recs were also likely tailored to Stanford, since it was a school this student had been talking about for a few years.</p>
<p>The Stanford admissions office has a pretty good knowledge of the profile of students likely to attend, and who won’t. They want a high yield, and unless an east coast high performer really stands out, or has clearly tailored their essay answers to Stanford…they are likely to be put in the more random choice “pile” of applications.</p>