[BillBradley]

Meanwhile, I found that some of my new friends on the Farm came in without any strong feelings about Cal, no ties to that other school at all. Because why would they? They were from other states and had mostly applied to private schools.  Berkeley was never on their radar. The rivalry was just about some nearby school and they weren't into football anyway.  

Has the profile of our admits changed at all over the decades? Are there fewer Californians? Or at least fewer that attended public high schools? Just a thought.

Anecdotally, I think the profile has really changed. In my different Stanford residences in the 80's, I was surrounded by many great athletes who weren't rostered on a Stanford team - they were just regular students. All-state quarterbacks/receivers, basketball players, baseball players...they were everywhere. A-League intramurals were highly competitive. I think the admissions office really valued excellence in athletics. My sense was they would admit the 3.9 1450 3 sport All-League athlete over the 4.0 1500 student who might have played a few sports recreationally. This helped to make a student body who did care somewhat about Stanford football and the Big Game. It was never a rabid fan base like at other schools, but the campus had some solid energy leading up to Big Game. I could be wrong (I don't have any evidence to back up my opinion), but I think the current admissions office doesn't score athletic excellence very highly. Applicants who have a lot of non-athletic extracurriculars (e.g. student government, community service, business, activism, etc.) plus some recreational athletic participation are admitted ahead of the kids who spend most of their high school careers in the gym and on the field, racking up the wins and the awards. This results in a student body that cares as much about sports now as they did in high school.

[BillBradley]

Meanwhile, I found that some of my new friends on the Farm came in without any strong feelings about Cal, no ties to that other school at all. Because why would they? They were from other states and had mostly applied to private schools.  Berkeley was never on their radar. The rivalry was just about some nearby school and they weren't into football anyway.  

Has the profile of our admits changed at all over the decades? Are there fewer Californians? Or at least fewer that attended public high schools? Just a thought.

Anecdotally, I think the profile has really changed. In my different Stanford residences in the 80's, I was surrounded by many great athletes who weren't rostered on a Stanford team - they were just regular students. All-state quarterbacks/receivers, basketball players, baseball players...they were everywhere. A-League intramurals were highly competitive. I think the admissions office really valued excellence in athletics. My sense was they would admit the 3.9 1450 3 sport All-League athlete over the 4.0 1500 student who might have played a few sports recreationally. This helped to make a student body who did care somewhat about Stanford football and the Big Game. It was never a rabid fan base like at other schools, but the campus had some solid energy leading up to Big Game. I could be wrong (I don't have any evidence to back up my opinion), but I think the current admissions office doesn't score athletic excellence very highly. Applicants who have a lot of non-athletic extracurriculars (e.g. student government, community service, business, activism, etc.) plus some recreational athletic participation are admitted ahead of the kids who spend most of their high school careers in the gym and on the field, racking up the wins and the awards. This results in a student body that cares as much about sports now as they did in high school.