<p>here’s my advice, folks -
a) you can’t change what criteria Stanford or any school is using, so your goal needs to be to get a good outcome
b) There’s no point arguing with anyone on this thread. Some people are posting the same opinions on multiple threads all over CC, and you’re going to waste energy debating them
c) What you need to focus on is making your apps the best they can be (see my suggestions and other people’s comments earlier on this thread, plus there are tons of books available) by really taking another look at them to see if you have done the best presentation you can
d) You need to apply to a strong set of colleges, any of which you would like to go to, and IF you have done a good job of presentation, the outcomes will be independent of each other, and you are pretty certain to have a number of good choices in April. Note I didn’t say you could be certain of any specific outcome - only that, if you apply well, you will have several great choices.</p>
<p>You’re all terrific, talented people! You have so much going for you. As someone said, you had a million options on Thurs, and today you might have a million less one - that’s disappointing, but not the end of the story</p>