<p>To some degree i agree wiht everyone even the OP. Sometimes, us as parents as especially, start to feel thats its a lottery because there is no “formula” or set way of gettin in. But that doesnt mean thts its a lottery. Stanford is the most competitive and the hardest undergrad school to get into. there is a REASON why stanford is 5% acceptance. but we have to look at tht acceptance rate not as a PERCENTAGE but more of a percentile. stanford doesnt accept 5% of its applicant, I look at as if stanford accepts the top 5% of the applications. thts more accurate and removes the lottery aspect. its hard to tell for normal applicants (my son isnt anything special for stanford, has wat every applicant seems to have and he realizes that he probably won’t get in, but to be honest u just gotta take it as one step at a time and see what happens.</p>