Why do the admissions ask "have you applied to Stanford before?"

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>I applied before and was rejected. Could this be a disadvantage?</p>

<p>Do the admissions keep record of those rejects? If they do, for how long? And why do they still ask this question if they have this piece of info in their database?</p>

<p>Thank you for your inputs!</p>

2

<p>I think some of these colleges don’t want people to apply too many times. Like I know that Harvard allows you to apply a maximum of 3 times (grad school included). This must mean something.</p>

<p>Otherwise, I would think having been rejected once does reduce one’s chances to be accepted the second time around – unless the applicant has made tremendous improvement or accomplished something spectacular.</p>

3

<p>In a prior thread (March 2013) you were admitted…what happened?!</p>