Stanford is the most famous and well-respected university on the west coast, and one of the top schools in all of the United States. Getting into Stanford is comparable with gaining admission to the Ivy League, and getting an acceptance is actually harder than getting into most of the Ivy League schools. In recent years, Stanford has held back from releasing the most recent admissions data. However, based on what data they have released for both the Class of 2028 and the Class of 2027, the acceptance rate is less 4%.
Stanford has, historically, practiced legacy admissions. Being a child of a Stanford graduate was a boost to an applicant’s chances of admission. It wasn’t an easy-in by any means, but it helped. Up until the fall of 2024, legacy applicants benefitted from an advantage, as reported in the 2024-2025 Common Data Set. Then, in the fall of 2024, California changed the game.
When Assembly Bill 1780 was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, legacy admissions were officially banned for private universities in the state of California — including at Stanford — as well as giving preference to donors and applicants who are the children of donors. The University of California system, for comparison, “eliminated legacy preferences in 1998.”
However, Assembly Bill 1780 was a major shakeup. 13.6% of the admitted first-years for the Stanford Class of 2027 were reported to have a legacy or donor tie. A few years earlier, 16.2% of undergraduates admitted for entrance in the Fall of 2019 were reported as the children of Stanford graduates. Legacy admissions isn’t a myth at Stanford or, rather, wasn’t. It was a real, and really impactful, piece of the college application process. Now, for the 2024-2025 application cycle, this boost to legacies and the children of donors was erased. In this post, we’ll break down what this means for legacy students applying after the fall of 2024 and what legacy applicants must do to increase their admissions odds.
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What’s going on with Legacy Admissions?
California isn’t the only place that the role of legacy in admissions, especially to elite universities, is in question. Across the country, students and experts are asking if a legacy admissions approach is in the best interest of the schools they love. Many say no. Legacy admissions may reduce economic and racial diversity.
Others say yes, that getting rid of legacy admissions does have a negative impact on student experience and the health of the university. Legacy admissions, they argue, nurtures strong alumni networks that benefit everyone at a given school, not just the legacies. It is a community building tool, they argue.
At Stanford, this argument was considered fact, at least until this past fall. Now, there’s nothing pro-legacy advocates can do. The decision has been made for the school. Stanford cannot legally practice legacy admissions, so they are not permitted to take an applicant’s legacy status into account when making an admissions decision.
This has left legacy applicants and their family members asking: “Ack, what do I do then?!” Well, below we break it down.
What Should You Do?
Legacy had power at Stanford. Now, students and their families cannot necessarily lean on it. This is what to spend your time on instead of stressing about the lost legacy advantage.
For the Family Member: It may be a bummer, but legally, legacy can’t sway admissions anymore. We recommend that Stanford graduates with kids applying to the university support their student in pursuing their passions as deeply as they can. Stanford cares a lot about direction, commitment, and passion. Talking about wanting to do something doesn’t go a long way with Stanford — taking action does.
For the Applicant: Applicants to Stanford need to do a few things to make their application stand out. These were important when legacy advantage was in play, and are even more important now.
Grades + Scores
To get into Stanford, a student’s grades need to be spectacular. While Stanford does not have minimums, they do expect students to be exceptional. There are so many students with such high GPAs and scores applying to Stanford that anything much less than perfect stands out in a bad way.
For your GPA, you’re aiming a 4.0 — or higher.
For your SAT or ACT, it’s basically the same kind of situation. You want as close to an 800 in each section as you can get to. Like with grades, there is not a minimum SAT or ACT score for consideration, but functionally there is. Stanford is, once again, requiring standardized tests as part of the application process. Simply not sending scores is not an option. So, study.
Extracurriculars
If you have the grades and the scores, the most important tool for setting an application apart from the pack is what happens outside of the classroom. Stanford looks for applicants who are singular. They don’t want copycats, so looking at what has helped someone else get into Stanford isn’t the answer. Students need to follow their passion as far as they can take it, which might mean independent research, an internship, employment in the field, starting a business, or teaching others. What’s most important isn’t what you are into, but that you are truly committed and focused — and, of course, that it is something that you could study at Stanford.
Apply Early
Typically, we tell legacy applicants that they need to apply early to make the most of the legacy advantage. Here, obviously, that needs to be worded differently. Students shouldn’t apply early because of legacy, but they do need to apply early.
The overall acceptance rate for Stanford is less than 4%. However, this is an average of the early and regular decision acceptance rates. Like most colleges, Stanford accepts a higher percentage of applicants early than they do regular decision. So, if you want to get in you must apply early.
In the fall of 2024, Stanford was required to take legacy off the table when considering an applicant. For students who were betting on a legacy advantage when they applied, this is a bummer. But that isn’t a reason to be discouraged. Instead, double down on the things that make you stand out and focus on the aspects of your application that are in your control.
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