<p>I'm actually not sure which I would prefer... my first reaction is that I'd rather be rejected, but then on second thought maybe that's not really true. So what do you guys think? Yeah, I know, I'm being so optimistic. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Being deferred would be like torture. I've read letters from other schools and they say that a deferred applicant gets the same consideration as a regular applicant in the second round, but I get the feeling that this is not the case at Stanford. A very small number of deferalls are eventually accepted at the end of the RD round.</p>
<p>All things considered, I'd rather just get in...</p>
<p>-Ender</p>
<p>theres still hope with deferral. id just be so bummed after all the work and dreaming id done about a school to be rejected cuz its like 'now what?'</p>
<p>Either way, I'd still be applying to my other schools, so I'd rather be deferred and at least have some chance of going to Stanford. The torture of waiting to hear back from Stanford wouldn't add much to the torture of waiting for the other schools.</p>
<p>At Stanford they read the deferred apps AFTER they get through the other ones... so it's like if they have fewer strong regular applications then they thought, then you have a chance. Augh, that'd be hell! Especially since my college counselor would know if I'd be accepted later but I wouldn't! If I'm lucky I won't have to deal with that. But with people like feuler applying, as time goes on it seems more and more likely that I won't be accepted. <em>gulp</em></p>
<p>I agree with Ender. I'd rather get accepted. However, reality sucks, and chances are that I won't get in even though I have high hopes. Oh well, I will still probably be real happy in an UC.</p>
<p>Yeah --</p>
<p>Reading the stats on this board makes things look really gloomy, cause I know almost all of you will get in ahead of me. Hopefully there's room for all of you, and all the people just like you not on CC, and just one spot left for me.</p>
<p>-Ender</p>
<p>You sounded pretty enthusiastic about your essays/recs in one of your earlier posts, and I think if they're strong you stand a good chance. I really do think that a lot of it comes down to essays and recs. Here's why: Imagine you are reading tons of apps, and after a couple of weeks you start to get lazy (it happens! even to the best of them). What's the easiest way to get a sense of what the person is like? Probably a quick glance though the transcript and then reading the recs/essays, since it is a LOT easier to be told what the applicant is like then to try to analyze the data and figure it out for yourself. But yeah, I'm starting to get kinda scared. A month or two ago I was pretty confident, maybe overconfident, but now... <em>crosses fingers</em> The worst part so far has been stopping by the college counseling office to ask about not getting the complete card as of the end of last week and asking if there was any way to find out if they got my abstract and my optional rec (since they aren't necessary for a complete file) and I was told that my GC would ask when she talks to the admissions people. So scary! Since it's all out of my control now... Hopefully she'll say good things! I hate waiting!</p>
<p>Yeah, I agree, this wait is killing me! I wish we could just know now...I keep wondering if they've seen my application yet. It would be interesting to sit in on an admissions committee session and actually see how they do it and see what they say about people! How many more weeks of waiting do we have?</p>
<p>Yeah. Realistically, my essays are probably above average. One of my teacher recs was from a Stanford Alum, and I think it will help me because he mentioned a lot of Stanford-specific stuff, and it was really good in its own right. My other teacher rec was basically average, which means bad. (For recs, great=good, good=average, average=bad). I explained the situation in the letter I sent them, but, I hadn't planned on having this guy write me a rec, but my other teacher had an unexpected accident and couldn't do it last minute. My optional rec was really great (I'm gonna try and find a way to use it for my other schools), and balanced out my app really well cause it focused on leadership and "well-roundedness" etc. But the fact is, my stats are good, but not as good as most of you. The other kids applying from my school are all huge legacies (9 or 10 relatives). I'm just hoping that the actual pool is far, far, below what I see here. </p>
<p>Also, I guess TECHNICALLY I am a legacy, sort of. Right before I sent my app. in, my Aunt, who is really into geneology and mapping out the family tree and stuff, called and said she found out that my Great-Grandmother had graduated from Stanford in 1910, heh. I included it on the app, but does this even count??</p>
<p>-Ender</p>
<p>P.S. -- About watching a committee: watching that video on admissions at Amherst was really unnerving. You basically see them reject a kid with good stats, and move on to a kid with much worse stats, and then the lady slips in that "her sister goes here," and she becomes an admit. Also, on a similar note, the book "The Gate-Keepers" gives you a similar inside look at the committee, how they read the apps, how they present them in the committee, etc.</p>
<p>How do you know what your recs are like? I have NO clue what mine say! We get comments each quarter along with our grades, so I have some idea how my teachers write and what they've said before, but that's all I know. </p>
<p>A question about recs: How much do you think it helps to have a rec from 1) a current Stanford prof or 2) a Stanford graduate? I had my BC Calc teacher from last year write a rec, since he was my junior year math teacher and I want to be a math major (I think) and he got his BA, MA, and PhD from Stanford. I also got a rec from my prof from a summer program I did at Stanford last summer who's a prof at Stanford during the year. Assuming they were both strong recs (which both profs claimed they were) how much could that help?</p>
<p>ugh, I think I would rather be outright rejected. It's annoying enough to have to wait a month. If I was deferred I'd have to go through the whole thing again after convincing myself that it would no way it would work. Besides, I don't really like having to go around tell people I know where I'm applying...</p>
<p>Ender - tell me about it, buddy...the unworthiness is addicting otherwise I would have stopped coming here long ago...</p>
<p>but deferred and you could at least feel good that you were among the best...whereas rejected you could've been just below deferred or at the bottom. still the suspense of deferral would be horrible...</p>