Both Stanford and MIT accepted about 4% of applicants into the Class of 2025. Most people look at this and think they must have a 4% chance of getting into either of those schools. That is a myth.
So many people are surprised when their cousin’s girlfriend’s brother’s coworker gets into MIT with a 3.8 GPA, but a 4.95 GPA student down the street gets rejected. But there’s a good reason for this.
Building off last week’s case study, we’ll investigate why this happens.
Stanford
Stanford’s Common Data Set from 2020-2021 shows that there are 9 application factors considered “Very Important,” 0 considered “Important,” and the rest either “Considered” or “Not Considered.”
9 “Very Important” factors for Stanford admissions
- GPA
- Test scores
- Ranking
- Recommendations
- Essays
- Rigor
- Extracurriculars
- Talent
- Character
Note: test scores are optional for Class of 2027.
Race and first generation status are considered, but not important or very important.
This means that a first-generation American Indian Stanford admit, contrary to popular belief, did not get into Stanford only because of his minority first generation status.
