<p>^^I always had a gut instinct that NJDS’ hypothesis is somewhat valid. </p>
<p>Another factor that could explain it is that Princeton seemed to me to be the most grade-focused, Harvard the most leadership focused, and Yale well I don’t really know. Stanford on the other hand seems to care a lot about general personality, non-competitiveness, etc. They like student leaders too but not to the extent Harvard does it seems. </p>
<p>So if you have a very diligent applicant who pulls of a 4.0 and is the leader in many student or local groups, then Harvard and Princeton seem like their best bet. </p>
<p>Actually, the one person I knew best from the east coast at Stanford was a 4.0 student leader prick, which goes against what I was saying. So even Stanford will make exceptions. But most of the other east-coasters were different it seemed. Like a few are in the band now, others are living in coops, others are the chillest b*mfs I know.</p>