<p>I cannot believe that Stanford would randomly admit any candidate. I am sure that at least say 98% (or even 95%) of the students admitted to Stanford have very good credientials and will preform very well at Stanford. The question is “Are there other candidates who were better than those actually selected”. When, you have so many good candidates, each very good in their own way, it is difficult to compare, but yes there are cases of good candidates being turned away in favor of slightly weaker candidates. </p>
<p>This can be considered as randomness, arbitrary etc. and unfair to many people. There is a luck element.</p>