<p>hookem168, did you even read my post? Seeing as you “reinterpreted” amciw’s comments to say pretty much exactly what i said in the second half of my post it appears not</p>
<p>Cardin Drake:</p>
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<p>Proof of the adverse effects of this scape-goating conjecture. Instead of people improving their applications for the regular round, they are contented with blaming “quota systems” and the politics of admissions. While it’s true that once you do the best you can many factors outside your control affect your admissions outcome, their are always things that you can do better. Focus on the things you can control.</p>
<p>Don’t get bitter, get better. (I think I’m quoting somebody)</p>
<p>Many of you seem to be implying that every URM student who gets into Stanford just got in because they’re URM. Yes, affirmative action does help… marginally. 95% of black/Hispanic/Native American undergrads at Stanford would be there even if Stanford didn’t practice affirmative action. Would some of the deferred white/Asian people have gotten if there were no affirmative action? Yes… about 10 of them. </p>
<p>Harvard and other Northeast schools have fewer minorities than Stanford because the Northeast has fewer minorities than the West Coast. Despite both institutions being very internationally well-known institutions, about half of their respective applicant pools come from their respective regions of the country. Besides, the biggest difference in demographics is among Asians: Stanford has twice as many Asians as a percentage of its student body (25%) as Harvard has (13%), just as California has twice as many Asians as a percentage of its population (12%) as Massachusetts has (5%).</p>
<p>Yes, there is a difference between a 2400 and a 2200 on the SAT, but its marginal. So, the difference in acceptance rates for students with these scores is also marginal. Just skimming through the decisions thread, it seems like plenty of the accepted students have 2300-range SATs. And fewer had 2200-range SATs. And even fewer had 2100-range SATs. And on and on…</p>
<p>As for the whole gay thing, I seriously doubt Stanford will give you a bonus for that. If anything, they’d give you a minus: LGBT students are hugely overrepresented at Stanford. That being said, I’ve never felt more accepted as a gay student than at Stanford. As an aside to that, please stop Stanford-bashing because you hate its adcoms. I love Stanford to death. It’s both sad and wonderful, but I feel more at home at Stanford than in my own house.</p>
<p>I know someone with a 2400 SAT who was rejected early. He was class president, valedictorian, water polo team captain, and had a host of other accomplishments. He was black. I also know someone with an 1800 SAT who was accepted. He was not even in the top 20% of his class at a public high school that rarely sends kids to elite colleges. He was Asian. </p>
<p>There’s a reason things like that happen. The first kid probably seemed like a follower, someone who just does what he is supposed to. Stanford wants innovators and trailblazers, so he was rejected. The second kid was an incredibly gifted writer and someone who constantly tries to change the world for the better. This showed in his essays, so he was accepted. These are obviously just my own thoughts on these decisions, and I could be completely off. The point is that it’s not affirmative action that’s causing people with 2400s to be rejected. I do know for sure that Stanford takes its admissions very seriously; not only does it spend $150,000 per year per student (in addition to tuition), but the reputation of the Stanford name is at stake in every student it admits.</p>
<p>I realize all of those rejected/deferred worked damn hard for this. Realize, however, that those who got in also worked hard, regardless of the box under “ethnicity” they checked on the application. You don’t know what they did, how great their essays were, or what their application fully consisted of, so don’t assume from the summary they post on this site that your application was better. You have every right to be upset about this decision, but you have no right to diminish the accomplishments of those who did get in. </p>
<p>Many rejected/deferred applicants try to find a reason for the decision that exculpates themselves and for the white and Asian students, affirmative action is the obvious target. Accept your rejection/deferral with grace and poise and try to figure out what the people who got in did that’s different than what you did. Transform a failure into a tool for bettering yourself instead of wallowing in it and complaining about the injustices of the world, which will continue to exist regardless.</p>
<p>Sorry for the extra long post. ^.^</p>
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<p>Tylor90, it’s easier for a victor to say.</p>
<p>making it no less true. I think that mantra applies to life in general, and all setbacks we face (and I have had my fair share of setbacks), not just to the narrow world of admissions. Admissions is just the first instance of many in life where it seems like our lives are outside of our control.</p>
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<p>Well, maybe I’m just dumb, but who writes “very very nerdy essays”? I think THAT is what made you stand out. Unless I’m misunderstanding what you mean by “nerdy”.</p>
<p>Edit: kliviz, I just read your post - honestly, your intelligence shines through even on a forum post. And I mean intelligence as in NOT 2400, but as an overall human being… the type that you could have an amazingly intellectual conversation with. Maybe THAT’S the type that gets in.</p>
<p>Tyler09, it doesn’t appear that you got the point of my post. To quote another student, outside of curing cancer, I’m not sure what else my son really could have done to “improve” his application.
He does the EC activities he loves, and although they are “typical” high school activities, I don’t think he would have wanted to change a thing.
The way to “improve” his application is to apply to colleges that value the things that he has accomplished. Some of them may not have quite the prestige of Stanford, but at the end of the day, it will all work out. He wants to become a doctor, and he has heard over and over that all medical schools care about are your GPA and your MCAT scores, and you really don’t get much credit for attending prestigious schools anyway. I am starting to understand why the med schools feel that way.</p>
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Cardin Drake,
Stanford’s undergraduate prestige is overrated. A Stanford professor that I read even recommended students go to a college that emphasizes on undergraduate education and come back Stanford for graduate and profession schools where Stanford’s reputation is earned.</p>
<p>^ Harvard is the same way.</p>
<p>Humility is the greatest asset when applying to college.</p>
<p>I think strong test scores and grades speak are pretty straight forward. however, i think there is a lot of differences when people say they have “strong extra curriculars” </p>
<p>From my first quarter at Stanford I’ve realized that most of the students very talented. Many of them have distinguished themselves on the state or national level. Some of my classmates have been in big name media publications like the new york times, time magazine, business week and others for their accomplishments. My advice for future applications is to really put time and effort into something that you love. It sounds cliche, but today there are many people out there trying to pad their resumes. Just do your best to make a difference in your high school or your community even if it doesn’t directly relate to getting you into your dream school. If you work hard enough at it, your efforts will be noticed. </p>
<p>I know a few people that were accepted into the class of 2013 and they are absolutely amazing.</p>
<p>Honestly, trying to find out what Stanford is looking for is moot. This comes from an accepted asian nerd, in the worse possible category you could possibly put an applicant.</p>
<p>At least, that’s what I thought, until I was accepted. My essays got me in? Give me a break, I wrote a whole essay on a physics concept: yes, that’s right, i’m not lying. I’m not even an english whiz, being a recent immigrant and non-native speaker. My why stanford essay was generic: for the specific research projects I wanted to participate in, the track team etc… and things I planned to do. My score? Generic 2300+ multiple 800’s expected from an asian nerd, who does a bunch of math/science stuff. My research? the experiment did not even work out completely, yielding incomplete data. My science math competitions? Never qualified for USAMO, won a few local/regional competitions, and that’s it.
Oh… My musical ability, I almost forgot that one 
: well if you are curious, I play the worst instruments an asian could play: piano and guitar. I have perfect pitch, but so does half of the symphonic orchestra, did a few competitions, but so did half of the asian piano players I know.</p>
<p>Maybe my recommendation? I’ll never know. I heard my teacher wrote several pages for her rec, but I think it’s unlikely the recommendation stood out, because I heard most good students can and will obtain stellar recommendations anyways.</p>
<p>So all in all, this discussion is moot. Before applying, I thought that all my research on college admissions made me an pundit, with the ability to assess how much my profile could “fit” into the acceptance pile. And Stanford was the last college I expected an acceptance from (in fact, I thought I was more likely to get into MIT or Caltech or even Princeton than Stanford, being a nerd with a lack of leadership).</p>
<p>After being accepted, I’m really confused, happy, overjoyed… but confused nonetheless.</p>
<p>Did my post completely confuse you? that was the purpose.</p>
<p>Wow, although those are excellent stats, I, too, am surprised that you got in due to your status. Although you didn’t qualify for USAMO, did you take the AIME or another science Olympiad? If so, how’d you score?</p>
<p>kliviz- while you made many good points in your post, saying that 95% of the minorities would have got in without affirmative action is total bs and i think that you know it</p>
<p>Well, i kind of scored horribly on my AMC12 (97), but got a 6 on my AIME. But still, that’s nothing compared to those USAMO, MOP, Harvard-MIT Mandelbrot USMTS AoPS geniuses (yes, i’m referring to guys like you DataBox)</p>
<p>I really did not know or prepare for AMC, b/c I learnt about it a week before I took the test.</p>
<p>@BCSbuster</p>
<p>I frankly have absolutely no idea what the absolute percentage of minorities who would’ve gotten in without affirmative action is, but I’m pretty confident its very high. </p>
<p>I’ve met plenty of brilliant people at Stanford of every race. I’ve also met a handful of people for whom I wonder, “How the hell did this kid get in?”, but they’re also from every race. </p>
<p>I honestly don’t believe its possible for there to be such a dramatic difference in the average academic capacity of different races that a large percentage of Stanford students are there solely because of affirmative action. If there is such a huge difference, I think it could only mean that the social mechanisms that discriminate against and depress the achievement of minorities are much more pervasive and powerful than I would like to realize. In that case, I think affirmative action is the best approximation of correcting these societal injustices that an admissions office can institute.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, I could be completely wrong, and ethnicity, ancestry, and in-born abilities have a far greater impact on our capacity for achievement than I want to realize. However, I refuse to believe we are so bound by our pasts.</p>
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<p>Haha, thanks but I’m no genius faraday. And you know what many of those geniuses are turned down by Stanford, but you got in, so congrats!!! =)</p>
<p>i have done activities solely to list them on college apps.</p>
<p>and you know what?</p>
<p>i quit all of them, eventually.</p>
<p>the activities that i actually had a passion about are the ones that i am sticking with, and i do think that they will demonstrate my passion…</p>
<p>“As for the whole gay thing, I seriously doubt Stanford will give you a bonus for that. If anything, they’d give you a minus: LGBT students are hugely overrepresented at Stanford.”</p>
<p>Hmm…the logical fallacy in this statement is outstanding." Hint: How did they get hugely over-represented?</p>