stanford

Applying to Stanford as an International Student

Stanford University in Stanford, California is one of the most prestigious, and most difficult to get into, research universities in the world. The institution is passionate about educating students for the purpose of changing the world, and they take that mission very seriously. Home to a little over 8,000 undergraduates, Stanford is extremely popular for students interesting in emerging technologies, innovation, and the health care sciences, research, and technology fields. They also love seeing fields overlap and engage, and budget more than a billion dollars to fund research projects that push boundaries and challenge expectations.

What to Do if You've Been Waitlisted by Stanford 2024

Stanford is a highly, highly competitive school. While Stanford doesn’t release their “official” admissions numbers, they do release the raw data in the Common Data Set, so we know that in 2022, 56,378 students applied to Stanford and that they accepted 2,075 of those students. That’s a 3.6% acceptance rate!

Deferred by Stanford — Now What? (2023-24)

You got the news, and it isn’t what you wanted. Stanford deferred your early application to the regular decision pool, and now you have to wait to see what happens and submit a bunch of applications you probably weren’t planning to send. It’s frustrating and bruising, we know, but after you take a moment to wallow in your disappointment, there’s work to be done — and we are here to help.

Rejected from Stanford Early Decision 2023  

Being rejected is not fun. You worked extremely hard to be a qualified applicant. You studied for tests, labored over homework, and participated in extracurriculars while some kids watched TV. We know you wanted to be done and we know this hurts. And we want to remind you that it’s not personal. College admissions are incredibly competitive. WAY more competitive than they were back in your parent’s day. In fact, Stanford’s acceptance rate hovers around 4% these days!!! So, first thing first: you need to understand that this isn’t a reflection of who you are and additionally, that you’re going to be okay. Here are some tips about what to do next:

How to Write the Stanford University Supplement 2023-2024

Stanford University, located in Stanford, California (very creative) is one of the most competitive and sought-after universities in the country. You probably knew that, though. Stanford famously does not post their acceptance rates, but they do put out a Common Data Set, so we know that last year the acceptance rate dropped to 3.86%. Less than 4%! With a super competitive acceptance rate like that, you don’t just need perfect grades, scores, and impressive extracurriculars. You also need supplements that stand out from the crowd.

Stanford Legacy Strategy

“Will being a legacy help them get into Stanford?” It’s a question we hear all the time from parents. It feels like it should be an easy “yes or no” answer, but it’s actually a little more complicated than that, especially for top schools like Stanford. Since it's a complex question, we wanted to break down the ins and outs of Stanford legacy admissions and what your legacy needs to get in.

What to do if you're waitlisted by Stanford 2023

Stanford University isn’t just one of the best schools in the world, it’s also one of the hardest schools on planet earth to get into. The acceptance rate is minuscule, and applicants are competing against the best students in the world. With an acceptance rate of only 3.68%, Harvard is the only US undergraduate college with a lower acceptance rate.

Transferring to Stanford 2023

When one of our students gets into Stanford, it rarely surprises us. Before we agree to help a student apply to Stanford, we make sure it’s possible that they could get in. With a minuscule regular first-year acceptance rate below 5%, we don’t want stressed-out teenagers wasting their time. If we’re working with a student on a Stanford application, it’s because they are genuinely qualified to get in — which is to say, profoundly exceptional.

Stanford Deferral Rate

You’re a brave soul — you applied to Stanford. Getting into Stanford is tough regardless of what you’ve accomplished, what your grades look like, or whether you invented a new flavor of ice cream. After the Stanford acceptance rate rose (a tiny amount) in 2020, they did an about-face in 2021 with a record low acceptance rate of only 3.95%. Despite this up and down, we have no reason to believe it will be easier to get into Stanford this year.

Regular Decision to Stanford

Stanford has one of the lowest acceptance rates out there. Because of this, we get a lot of questions about Stanford from students and parents alike. For the Class of 2025, Stanford had an overall acceptance rate of 3.9%. That is already very low, but there is more to this story. The overall acceptance rate is a combination of early acceptances and regular decision acceptances.

How to Write the Stanford University Supplement 2022-2023

Stanford University doesn’t need much of an introduction, but we’ll do it anyways. Located in (shocker) Stanford, California, Stanford is one of the top colleges in well, almost everything. They famously like to claim they don’t publish admission data but you can look at their Common Data Set to find the raw numbers. Last cycle, Stanford touted a 3.94% acceptance rate, one of the lowest in the biz.

Stanford Legacy Guide

We were recently talking with a UC Berkeley staff member who said, “Well Berkeley doesn’t do legacies, but who the heck knows what’s going on at Stanford?” Well, we do… To be fair, we make it our business to know everything there is to know about admissions at top schools, and recently, due to a California law, we know quite a bit about legacy status at Stanford. We work with children of alums all the time and the same sort of questions come up again and again. So today we wanted to break down some of the most asked questions when it comes to being a legacy applicant at Stanford.

9 Unique Programs at Stanford University

With over 100 majors, minors, research institutions, think tanks, and programs at Stanford, you might be having a hard time narrowing down what you’re interested in. Sure, you could apply to study something broad like engineering or political science, but does that really capture what you’re passionate about? If you’re thinking about applying to Stanford, there are a million pieces of advice we could give you. Maybe even more than a million. But the biggest thing in your application to Stanford needs to be specificity. Thankfully, Stanford offers a ton of unique programs and majors that can help you dive deep into your interests, prove you did your research and could introduce you to things you didn’t even know you could study.

Stanford University SAT Requirements

The pandemic has upended everything in the college application process. But the most radical change has to do with testing. Most schools have made standardized testing optional during coronavirus, or have done away with it all together. That’s because you can’t ask thousands of kids to cram into testing centers and classrooms across the country during a pandemic. Stanford is one of those schools, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take the test.

How To Show Intellectual Vitality

It’s no secret that getting into Stanford is incredibly difficult. Despite the lengthy supplement and the tragically low acceptance rate, many of our readers still choose to throw their hat in the ring year after year. If you were to google the holistic admissions process at Stanford, you would come across a section that is titled “Intellectual Vitality.” Here’s what they say:

What Is Intellectual Viability (Stanford)?

Getting into any college these days is much harder than it used to be. But getting into Stanford is like, really hard. Getting in requires, not only excellent grades and a strong resume but foresight and thought regarding your application. If you are really dead-set upon getting into Stanford, you’re going to need to push the envelope.