[Mick]

of Stanford alums whose kid got the thin envelope - or thin email. A day or so after the email, an article ran in the paper indicating the out of the 2000 or so acceptances, there were people from 70 countries. That combined with the fact that 4 underrepresented kids from my son's school with weaker grades, scores, and academic load got accepted leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Right now, it looks like the kids who are truly underrepresented at Stanford are the people whose parents went to college and have jobs.  All in all, I would rather pass on the kids from Holland, Beliz, and UAE, and take more kids from California! I will still root Stanford football and encourage my other kids to apply, but for now...

Go Michigan! :)

I know about 1/2 dozen admissions people (including one currently on Stanford's admissions staff) and they say that the leapfrogging issue is their most difficult to deal with.  At the same time, though...unless your name is Arrillaga (or the equivalent donor), it is highly unlikely that it will move the needle.  I seem to recall that Stanford weighted their criteria (like most schools) in four categories; major, minor, "considered" and "not considered" and that the children-of-alumni factor fell into the "considered" category.  Major factors were academics, test scores and special abilities, essentially.

I do recall seeing my dear wife nearly sprain a muscle rolling her eyes when a friend of hers (MAJOR donor to Stanford -- $10 mms.+) worried aloud about her son's chances at being admitted...he was indeed admitted.

[Mick]

of Stanford alums whose kid got the thin envelope - or thin email. A day or so after the email, an article ran in the paper indicating the out of the 2000 or so acceptances, there were people from 70 countries. That combined with the fact that 4 underrepresented kids from my son's school with weaker grades, scores, and academic load got accepted leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Right now, it looks like the kids who are truly underrepresented at Stanford are the people whose parents went to college and have jobs.  All in all, I would rather pass on the kids from Holland, Beliz, and UAE, and take more kids from California! I will still root Stanford football and encourage my other kids to apply, but for now...

Go Michigan! :)

I know about 1/2 dozen admissions people (including one currently on Stanford's admissions staff) and they say that the leapfrogging issue is their most difficult to deal with.  At the same time, though...unless your name is Arrillaga (or the equivalent donor), it is highly unlikely that it will move the needle.  I seem to recall that Stanford weighted their criteria (like most schools) in four categories; major, minor, "considered" and "not considered" and that the children-of-alumni factor fell into the "considered" category.  Major factors were academics, test scores and special abilities, essentially.

I do recall seeing my dear wife nearly sprain a muscle rolling her eyes when a friend of hers (MAJOR donor to Stanford -- $10 mms.+) worried aloud about her son's chances at being admitted...he was indeed admitted.