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<p>@gravitas2: The first reason you mention makes institutional sense to me. The second is juvenile nonsense, and I would hope that a school with Stanford’s level of self-regard no longer feels the need to make decisions based on what a bunch of old fogies back East do. </p>
<p>A third reason for Stanford lagging some other schools that you didn’t mention but also would make sense is simply that they have a significantly greater number of early applications to process than any of the Ivies and, thus, need the extra working days. In fact, that’s why it wouldn’t surprise me if they go the distance to the 15th. After all, Michigan releases even later than any of the Ivies OR Stanford, and I doubt you’d credit them for “one-upsmanship.” But they are dealing with over 23,000 early applications. </p>