<p>What specifically does Stanford look for? I heard Stanford usually prefers athletes and also looks favorably toward leaders. </p>
<p>Is this true?</p>
<p>Stanford probably admits 250 or so athletes each year to ensure a director’s cup win. They have won 16 or something years in a row.</p>
<p>They are not admitting athletes but stars in individual sports where they have a need. So if you are really good at something then you contact the coach in your sport.</p>
<p>They also usually have upto 40% of class from California. </p>
<p>Leadership is a nebulous term but what schools like Stanford and others at that level are looking for are people with passion. So someone might have raised a lot of money for their favorite cause, given all their free time to do something they care about and so on while being a high achiever academically.</p>
<p>Your honesty </p>
<p>You can emphasize qualities that Stanford wants but in the end, you just need to be honest. Plus the essay prompts do a really good job at helping you and them figure out if you fit those Stanford “values”.</p>
<p>Well said Wendeli.</p>
<p>Stanford wants great candidates preferably with the ability to pay, donate and endow.</p>
<p>
It’s 18 Director’s Cup wins in a row. The Director’s Cup is given based on the combined finishes across 20 sports. It is much easier to be admitted if you excel at a sport to a degree that you can make a good contribution to the teams. When I attended Stanford, the majority of athletes I knew were quite a bit weaker academically than average. However, the athletes Stanford admits are good enough students to succeed at the classwork. 22 of the sports teams have a 100% graduation rate, and all are 88%+ . For example, the 1st NFL draft pick in 2012 was from Stanford. While a stellar athlete, he was also valedictorian of his high school class. </p>
<p>
They try to admit students from all 50 states to promote diverse backgrounds. I expect it’s significantly easier to be admitted if you are from a low population state, like Wyoming, than if you are from California. Similarly it’s easier to get admitted if your race or sex is underrepresented in your expected degree field.
They claim have the admissions selection fully independent from the financing and ability to pay/donate/endow and give a free ride including room and board + books to admitted students whose parents make less than $60k/yr (with some other criteria, including persons outside of the USA not being eligible). If two candidates had equal academic strengths, but one lived in poverty, I’d expect the low income candidate to have a big edge, due to the diverse and unique backgrounds mentioned above.</p>
<p>I tested their Net Price Calculator for a $55k/yr parents income with little savings. It reported an estimated cost $5k/yr, which is to be earned by a part-time job on campus during the academic year.</p>
<p>Answering the original question, you can get a good idea of what they are looking from from the info on the admissions page on the Stanford website [Our</a> Selection Process : Stanford University](<a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/basics/selection/]Our”>http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/basics/selection/) and the acceptance thread of this forum. You need to be a good enough student to succeed at the classes and have something unique that stands out from the other applicants. On the website they mention commitment, dedication, genuine interest, curiosity, enthusiasm, and initiative. I don’t get the impression that they are as big on leadership as many of the posts I’ve seen here imply.</p>
<p>Dude are you just a ■■■■■? Go away. edit: this was supposed to be in response to the quote which failed to be inserted into my post…</p>
<p>To the OP: stanford has a very random admissions process, even more random than the ivies. Just be really good at stuff. There isn’t much of a shortcut.</p>
<p>schools always say they want leadership.</p>
<p>but “leadership” is so subjective.</p>
<p>The Stanford admissions officer who attended the accepted student event near us, said that she looks for really nice people. Seriously. So do a very good job on the letter to your future roommate. Also, Stanford has a less uptight, more irreverant culture than the Ivies. Don’t take yourself too seriously in your essays; ie. it’s OK to admit you don’t know everything and have made mistakes.</p>
<p>The essay prompts give great insight into what Stanford is looking for, honestly what they have on their website is genuinely what they’re looking for too. They want passionate, nice people who will actively contribute to the fantastic community on campus. Financial standing is not considered when an applicant applies, and the school is only 30-40% Californian because 30-40% of the applicants are from California. Applying from Wyoming doesn’t make it easier to get in. Leadership is not required, however most admitted students happened to be leaders in high school just because they were passionate about whatever it was they were doing.</p>