Anonymous
02/28/2025 18:33
Subject: Stanford REA
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Someone got in from DC’s school who has several patents pertaining to insects and has developed a novel mosquito repellent and is an amateur blacksmith etc etc. It’s kind of ridiculous.
Sounds super contrived to me. The 'unique' interests, passion projects, etc. almost seem comical and trite. Rarely genuine. Do admissions people really believe it or see through this stuff? I know a kid who, at the recommendation of a private counselor, spent years cultivating a niche environmental science topic with 'published research' for their college profile. The counselor created the plan and they were coached on the entire process. - but it worked because they are now at Duke! Just makes me skeptical when I hear things like this...
Sorry your kid was rejected.
No skin in this game...just reacting to the trends. Finding it both entertaining and ridiculous
The alternative is to pick based on standardized test scores like the rest of the world. But that would be horrible so we end up valuing the ability to row a boat in college admissions.
Rowing a boat requires crazy amount of hard work and dedication. Watching birds or insects?! Please.
Multitask. Plenty of wildlife along the rivers. 🐜 are in the 🛶.
Anonymous
02/28/2025 17:02
Subject: Stanford REA
Saw this in a link from another post....what is he getting at? Can you be specific?
"Stanford also looks for "irreverent" students - they have a very west coast informal vibe and are willing to dip a little in their academic expectations if the students EC and essays show them to truly be spectacular (they will only dip VERY little, your essays and ECs will not make up for a 3.5). They curate a specific culture on campus - overachievers with deep passion who don't take themselves too seriously. Bonus if you also have a great (or deeply creative) service profile."
https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/comments/1izd1tt/comment/mf2s9cs/
"Stanford also looks for "irreverent" students - they have a very west coast informal vibe and are willing to dip a little in their academic expectations if the students EC and essays show them to truly be spectacular (they will only dip VERY little, your essays and ECs will not make up for a 3.5). They curate a specific culture on campus - overachievers with deep passion who don't take themselves too seriously. Bonus if you also have a great (or deeply creative) service profile."
https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/comments/1izd1tt/comment/mf2s9cs/
Anonymous
02/05/2025 13:23
Subject: Stanford REA
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Someone got in from DC’s school who has several patents pertaining to insects and has developed a novel mosquito repellent and is an amateur blacksmith etc etc. It’s kind of ridiculous.
Sounds super contrived to me. The 'unique' interests, passion projects, etc. almost seem comical and trite. Rarely genuine. Do admissions people really believe it or see through this stuff? I know a kid who, at the recommendation of a private counselor, spent years cultivating a niche environmental science topic with 'published research' for their college profile. The counselor created the plan and they were coached on the entire process. - but it worked because they are now at Duke! Just makes me skeptical when I hear things like this...
Sorry your kid was rejected.
No skin in this game...just reacting to the trends. Finding it both entertaining and ridiculous
The alternative is to pick based on standardized test scores like the rest of the world. But that would be horrible so we end up valuing the ability to row a boat in college admissions.
Arrogant much?
Rowing a boat will not save the world, but watching and understanding birds and insects just might. Those birders are some of the brightest kids you'll ever meet, and it's not a manufactured EC.
Rowing a boat requires crazy amount of hard work and dedication. Watching birds or insects?! Please.
Anonymous
02/05/2025 11:48
Subject: Stanford REA
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Stanford is to Duke as
MIT is to Carnegie Mellon, as
Harvard is to Brown, as
Yale is to Williams, as
Princeton is to Bucknell
Bucknell, bwa hahahahahahah
PP
I feel like we need humor these days more than ever.
Anonymous
02/04/2025 23:53
Subject: Stanford REA
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Someone got in from DC’s school who has several patents pertaining to insects and has developed a novel mosquito repellent and is an amateur blacksmith etc etc. It’s kind of ridiculous.
Sounds super contrived to me. The 'unique' interests, passion projects, etc. almost seem comical and trite. Rarely genuine. Do admissions people really believe it or see through this stuff? I know a kid who, at the recommendation of a private counselor, spent years cultivating a niche environmental science topic with 'published research' for their college profile. The counselor created the plan and they were coached on the entire process. - but it worked because they are now at Duke! Just makes me skeptical when I hear things like this...
Sorry your kid was rejected.
No skin in this game...just reacting to the trends. Finding it both entertaining and ridiculous
The alternative is to pick based on standardized test scores like the rest of the world. But that would be horrible so we end up valuing the ability to row a boat in college admissions.
Rowing a boat requires crazy amount of hard work and dedication. Watching birds or insects?! Please.
Anonymous
02/04/2025 23:49
Subject: Stanford REA
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:DC at Stanford. In during REA. CS major. Didn’t even apply to MIT. That wasn’t their vibe and I’m confident they wouldn’t have been happy there. Has one friend who was rejected from MIT (as a MITES alum too) but the only other school their Stanford peers considered attending and were deciding between was Harvard. Just a small sample of course but makes sense. Extremely diverse friend group. All super outgoing, accomplished, interesting, and do a million things including have lots of fun.
How's the workload for your DC? Is it overwhelming, like I've heard at MIT? And social life is good? TIA!!
Workload definitely varies depending on major. Engineering school majors are tough, but workload is definitely manageable. They feel social life is great, but haven’t attended college elsewhere so hard to compare. Loves everything about Stanford. Thrilled to be there.
Thank you! DC accepted there but has not committed yet.
Anonymous
02/04/2025 23:36
Subject: Stanford REA
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Stanford wants to admit students who will change the world - more creative or unusual, if not an athlete.
Yes, sure. We don't need a ChatGPT bot statement like that.
It’s literally what their AOs have said. You can choose to ignore them, but they have made it fairly clear that perfect/near perfect SATs, Olympiad medals, and robotics do not really move the needle. A student with such a profile is wasting their ED/REA opportunity with Stanford.
They want kids that are in their J round or later of funding at their fintech start-up.
Or nothing to do with stem or science or startups….
Think outside the box!
Anonymous
02/04/2025 23:32
Subject: Stanford REA
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:DC at Stanford. In during REA. CS major. Didn’t even apply to MIT. That wasn’t their vibe and I’m confident they wouldn’t have been happy there. Has one friend who was rejected from MIT (as a MITES alum too) but the only other school their Stanford peers considered attending and were deciding between was Harvard. Just a small sample of course but makes sense. Extremely diverse friend group. All super outgoing, accomplished, interesting, and do a million things including have lots of fun.
How's the workload for your DC? Is it overwhelming, like I've heard at MIT? And social life is good? TIA!!
Workload definitely varies depending on major. Engineering school majors are tough, but workload is definitely manageable. They feel social life is great, but haven’t attended college elsewhere so hard to compare. Loves everything about Stanford. Thrilled to be there.
Anonymous
02/04/2025 23:30
Subject: Stanford REA
Anonymous wrote:Stanford is to Duke as
MIT is to Carnegie Mellon, as
Harvard is to Brown, as
Yale is to Williams, as
Princeton is to Bucknell
Bucknell, bwa hahahahahahah
Anonymous
02/04/2025 23:25
Subject: Stanford REA
Stanford is to Duke as
MIT is to Carnegie Mellon, as
Harvard is to Brown, as
Yale is to Williams, as
Princeton is to Bucknell
MIT is to Carnegie Mellon, as
Harvard is to Brown, as
Yale is to Williams, as
Princeton is to Bucknell
Anonymous
02/04/2025 23:18
Subject: Stanford REA
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Stanford wants to admit students who will change the world - more creative or unusual, if not an athlete.
Yes, sure. We don't need a ChatGPT bot statement like that.
It’s literally what their AOs have said. You can choose to ignore them, but they have made it fairly clear that perfect/near perfect SATs, Olympiad medals, and robotics do not really move the needle. A student with such a profile is wasting their ED/REA opportunity with Stanford.
They want kids that are in their J round or later of funding at their fintech start-up.
Anonymous
02/04/2025 23:17
Subject: Re:Stanford REA
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Rejected. 1590, Math Olympiad awards, on a top ranked robotics team. Literally don't know what more they could've wanted.
DC's friend too. Finalist for the largest science competition in America (you know the one...) + math awards + published research (and not the BS kind) + 1590 + 96 UW GPA with top rigor. Rejected. What else is there??
I'm starting to see a pattern here.
Don't bother applying with a 1590.
Anonymous
02/04/2025 23:16
Subject: Re:Stanford REA
Anonymous wrote:Rejected. 1590, Math Olympiad awards, on a top ranked robotics team. Literally don't know what more they could've wanted.
That's 1590 out of 1600. You can't see what more you could have done?
There are literally thousands of kids with superscored 1590s and they are almost all applying to Stanford.
Anonymous
02/04/2025 22:50
Subject: Stanford REA
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:DC at Stanford. In during REA. CS major. Didn’t even apply to MIT. That wasn’t their vibe and I’m confident they wouldn’t have been happy there. Has one friend who was rejected from MIT (as a MITES alum too) but the only other school their Stanford peers considered attending and were deciding between was Harvard. Just a small sample of course but makes sense. Extremely diverse friend group. All super outgoing, accomplished, interesting, and do a million things including have lots of fun.
How's the workload for your DC? Is it overwhelming, like I've heard at MIT? And social life is good? TIA!!
One DC at Stanford, one at MIT. Surprisingly (to me, at least), the social life at MIT is better.
Anonymous
02/04/2025 19:07
Subject: Stanford REA
Anonymous wrote:DC at Stanford. In during REA. CS major. Didn’t even apply to MIT. That wasn’t their vibe and I’m confident they wouldn’t have been happy there. Has one friend who was rejected from MIT (as a MITES alum too) but the only other school their Stanford peers considered attending and were deciding between was Harvard. Just a small sample of course but makes sense. Extremely diverse friend group. All super outgoing, accomplished, interesting, and do a million things including have lots of fun.
How's the workload for your DC? Is it overwhelming, like I've heard at MIT? And social life is good? TIA!!