[MV72018]

I always started with the question "What do you know about Stanford?" I was hoping to hear some of the same passion about the school that I have. The answer the 16 year old gave me was that she knew that Stanford was a top 10 school, and she wanted to be accepted by all 10.

To me, that was a sign that she was on an ego trip and not serious about attending Stanford. I included that in my review, and she, along with the others, did not get in. 

I think she gave an honest answer that's probably typical of being a very goal-oriented 16 year old, and I think you are way off base in deciding that "passion about the school" should play any factor in deciding whether someone is academically qualified and likely to contribute to the Stanford community.

The way I understand it, there are thousands and thousands of applicants who are academically qualified and likely to contribute to the Stanford community. So in trying to decide among those applicants, I don't have a problem with passion about the school being one of the deciding factors.

How many students that apply to Stanford for undergrad admission have any notion of what Stanford is all about and where that knowledge is the basis of the "passion" they have for wanting to be admitted to Stanford? I would guess that a good percentage of the nerdy students have heard about Stanford as a great place to study engineering with a view to launching or working in a tech startup. Apart from that and awareness of the fact that the campus is beautiful and that the area around Stanford including SF is an interesting and vital place, I doubt many students have any real knowledge of what makes Stanford special that motivates them to apply. Sure, most realize it's hard to get in and that gets the competitive juices of some flowing. But most have little idea of the range and quality of the non-technical majors, of the intellectual opportunities for undergrad research, of the relationships between teachers and students, etc. So, in light of all this, I think that the "passion for Stanford" that applicants for undergrad admission show to interviewers should count in their favor only to the extent that they actually know something non-trivial and meaningful about Stanford.

[MV72018]

I always started with the question "What do you know about Stanford?" I was hoping to hear some of the same passion about the school that I have. The answer the 16 year old gave me was that she knew that Stanford was a top 10 school, and she wanted to be accepted by all 10.

To me, that was a sign that she was on an ego trip and not serious about attending Stanford. I included that in my review, and she, along with the others, did not get in. 

I think she gave an honest answer that's probably typical of being a very goal-oriented 16 year old, and I think you are way off base in deciding that "passion about the school" should play any factor in deciding whether someone is academically qualified and likely to contribute to the Stanford community.

The way I understand it, there are thousands and thousands of applicants who are academically qualified and likely to contribute to the Stanford community. So in trying to decide among those applicants, I don't have a problem with passion about the school being one of the deciding factors.

How many students that apply to Stanford for undergrad admission have any notion of what Stanford is all about and where that knowledge is the basis of the "passion" they have for wanting to be admitted to Stanford? I would guess that a good percentage of the nerdy students have heard about Stanford as a great place to study engineering with a view to launching or working in a tech startup. Apart from that and awareness of the fact that the campus is beautiful and that the area around Stanford including SF is an interesting and vital place, I doubt many students have any real knowledge of what makes Stanford special that motivates them to apply. Sure, most realize it's hard to get in and that gets the competitive juices of some flowing. But most have little idea of the range and quality of the non-technical majors, of the intellectual opportunities for undergrad research, of the relationships between teachers and students, etc. So, in light of all this, I think that the "passion for Stanford" that applicants for undergrad admission show to interviewers should count in their favor only to the extent that they actually know something non-trivial and meaningful about Stanford.