Stanford Early Action Acceptance Rate & Decision Date - collegegazette.com (2024)

Stanford University is a private research institution with a vast, 8,180-acre suburban campus located in Palo Alto, 30 miles away from San Francisco.

It is positioned in the heart of California’s Bay Area and the famous Silicon Valley.

Established in 1885, the college has expanded to include seven different constituent schools, three of which are graduate schools.

Although Stanford is not considered an Ivy League school, its high rank, prestigious reputation, and single-digit acceptance rate are quite similar to those of the Ivy League.

According to the US News and World Report’s 2022 annual list, Stanford is ranked #6 among the best colleges and universities in the United States.

The high quality of education and world-renowned faculty at the school have earned it the nickname “the Harvard of the West.”

Notable Stanford alumni include 31st US President Herbert Hoover, professional golf star Tiger Woods, and Hollywood actress Reese Witherspoon.

The school’s alumni network includes over 220,000 living graduates, who are highly esteemed professionals and scholars across the world.

Moreover, Stanford’s expert teaching faculty currently includes an impressive 20 Nobel Prize laureates. Looking at the entire history of the college, Stanford can claim an impressive 84 Nobel Prize winners with a significant Stanford connection, placing it high on the list of colleges with the most Nobel Prizes.

For anyone who wants to become a part of the Stanford University community and earn a degree from one of the best undergraduate institutions in the country, applying under the school’s early action program could be a great decision.

Read on to learn more about Stanford’s early action acceptance rate, application deadline, deferral rate, and more.

Stanford Early Action Acceptance Rate

Stanford Early Action Acceptance Rate & Decision Date - collegegazette.com (1)

The acceptance rate for early action applicants at Stanford University was about 9% in 2021, according to Ivy League Prep.

The school received 7,822 early action applications for the first-year graduating class of 2021, and 721 students from this applicant pool were offered admission.

During the same year, Stanford received a total of 44,073 applications for first-year admission. Of these applicants, only 2,050 students were accepted to the school.

Thus, the acceptance rate for regular action applicants during this admission cycle was a mere 4.7%.

With such low acceptance rates, Stanford is one of the most selective colleges in the country. Furthermore, the elite school’s acceptance rates have dropped even further in the past few years.

For the first-year graduating class of 2025, Stanford received 55,471 applications, accepting only 2,190 students. This makes the acceptance rate for this year alone 3.95%, the lowest ever recorded in the university’s history.

In fact, the last time Stanford’s acceptance rate was in the double digits was over a decade ago, for the class of 2011.

Stanford Early Action Decision Date

Students who apply to Stanford University under the school’s restrictive early action program will receive an admissions decision by December 15 of each year.

There are three possible decisions early action applicants may receive. First, students may find out that they have been rejected and will not be offered admission.

These students may not apply again under regular decision; however, they may choose to reapply during the following admissions cycle.

Second, students may be accepted and offered admission to Stanford. Applicants who receive offers for admission have until May 1 to notify the school about whether or not they will accept the offer and enroll at the school.

The last possible admissions decision early action applicants may receive is deferral, which means that their application will be reviewed a second time during the regular decision application cycle.

In general, Stanford’s policy for their restrictive early action plan is that applicants are free to apply to other colleges under their regular decision programs, but they may not apply to early action at any other university, public or private.

However, Stanford early action applicants who are deferred to the regular decision are permitted to apply to another school’s early decision II plan.

Stanford Early Action Deadline

Stanford Early Action Acceptance Rate & Decision Date - collegegazette.com (2)

The deadline to apply to Stanford under their restrictive early action program is November 1 of each year.

For comparison, the regular decision application deadline is not until January 5, over two months later. Deadlines for applying for early decision II — an option for admission offered by some schools, but not Stanford — are generally around the beginning of January as well.

On top of that, the deadline to apply to the school as a transfer student is March 15 each year.

This means that transfer applicants have around four and a half months longer to compile application materials, craft a strong essay, and submit the completed application bundle to Stanford, compared to students who apply under the restrictive early decision program.

Another critical deadline to keep in mind for those considering applying to Stanford is the financial aid deadline. The priority application deadline for applying for financial aid is November 15 every year.

This means that early decision applicants have only a couple of weeks from the time of submitting their application to the school and submitting a financial aid application, which includes completing the FAFSA.

Stanford EA Deferral Rate

The deferral rate for restrictive early decision applicants at Stanford University is 8.5%.

Compared to other highly selective, elite schools similar to Stanford.

For example, at Harvard and Yale, the deferral rates for early decision applicants are 68.1% and 57.6%, respectively.

Additionally, at Princeton, the percentage of early decision applicants who are deferred is much higher, with a deferral rate of 78.9%.

In short, this means that, compared to similarly ranked colleges, early decision applicants at Stanford are far more likely to be rejected rather than deferred.

The school’s policy of not deferring a large majority of early decision applicants is reflective of an intentional underlying philosophy that they have explicitly stated in the past.

According to their website, Stanford’s general policy is to make as many final admissions decisions as promptly as possible.

For this reason, the college defers as few restrictive early decision applicants as they can.

Representatives from Stanford have stated that students who apply during the early decision cycle, only to learn later that their application has been deferred for reconsideration during the regular decision cycle, should actually consider this a good sign.

This is because Stanford generally does not generally reconsider applications that are anything less than outstanding, so deferral is promising.

How to Apply to Stanford for Early Action

Stanford Early Action Acceptance Rate & Decision Date - collegegazette.com (3)

Students can use either the Common Application or the Coalition Application to apply to Stanford University under the restrictive early application program.

Both applications will include a personal essay prompt.

On top of the personal essay, the college also requires that applicants answer the Stanford Questions. These are a series of several short answer questions, with a limit of 50 words each for responses.

Furthermore, the application will include three short essay questions. These essays must be a minimum of 100 words long, with an upper limit of 250 words.

The short essay prompts are available on Stanford’s website for students who would like to familiarize themselves with the topics prior to beginning the application process.

Because of the ongoing difficulties for standardized testing caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Stanford has decided to waive the SAT or ACT score submission requirement for any students applying during the 2021–2022 and 2022–23 academic years.

However, those who wish to apply after the 2023 academic year are required to submit their test scores by the application deadline.

Stanford does not prefer either of the two tests, nor do they not require students to complete the writing or essay portion of whatever test they choose.

Students may choose to self-report scores at the time of applying, but those who receive offers for admission will be required to have their official test scores sent to the school through the College Board or ACT.

There will be a nonrefundable application fee of $90 due at the time of applying. For students for whom the application fee may pose an insurmountable financial barrier to applying, fee waivers are available upon request through the application of their choice.

In addition to the application information and the processing fee, students are required to submit an official high school transcript or equivalent academic record.

A midyear transcript is also a required component of the application, but this is due later than the rest of the application materials.

The deadline for submitting an official midyear transcript is February 15 each year, after first semester grades have been returned.

Other required supplemental documents include a letter of recommendation written by a school counselor or another school administrator and a school report sent directly from the student’s high school.

Additionally, students must request two letters of recommendation from two high school teachers.

Stanford recommends that students request these letters from teachers they have had in eleventh or twelfth-grade teachers in a major academic area of study.

These include, but are not limited to, subjects such as English, mathematics, science, a foreign language, social studies, or history.

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Stanford Early Action Acceptance Rate & Decision Date - collegegazette.com (2024)

FAQs

What is Stanford's acceptance rate for Early Action decisions? ›

Stanford typically admits around 25% of its incoming freshman class through early action, which is significantly less than some of its peer institutions. However, applicants can expect the REA acceptance rate to be around twice that of its RD rate, which has hovered around 3 to 4 percent in recent years.

What day do Stanford Early Action decisions come out? ›

Application Deadlines
EventRestrictive Early ActionRegular Decision
Application with Optional Arts PortfolioOctober 15December 5
Standard Application DeadlineNovember 1January 5
Notification of Missing DocumentsMid-NovemberMid-February
Decision Released ByMid-DecemberEarly April
1 more row

Can I get into Stanford with a 3.7 GPA? ›

There is no minimum GPA or test score, nor is there any specific number of AP or honors courses you must have on your transcript in order to have your application reviewed or be admitted to Stanford.

Is it better to apply Early Action to Stanford? ›

Restrictive Early Action (REA) is Stanford's non-binding early application option. Restrictive Early Action may be a good option for you if all of the following apply: You have identified Stanford as your first choice; You have taken a challenging academic schedule through grade 11 and have done well.

What percent of Stanford students get an interview? ›

While getting into Stanford is particularly challenging, getting the opportunity to interview at Stanford is less competitive. When it comes to the business school, only about 1,000 applicants will be interviewed, which equates to roughly 13% of expected applications.

What is the easiest Ivy League school to get into early decision? ›

Cornell is the easiest and youngest Ivy League school. It was established in 1865 and is situated in Ithaca, New York. Out of 49,114 candidates, Cornell accepted 5,330, for an admission percentage of around 10.9%.

How does Stanford notify applicants of decisions? ›

You will receive an email notification once admissions decisions are released. If you are accepted to Stanford, you will receive a college acceptance letter. Your Stanford University admissions decision will also include financial aid information.

What GPA is required for Stanford? ›

GPA Requirements

Stanford University does not have a strict minimum GPA requirement for undergraduate admissions. However, admitted students typically have very high GPAs, ranging from 3.8 to 4.0, with an average GPA of 3.9.

Is early action at Stanford binding? ›

Stanford uses restrictive early action (REA), which is a non-binding early action decision. However, you cannot submit early action applications at other selective universities if you choose REA at Stanford.

How do you increase your chances of getting into Stanford? ›

In order to get into Stanford, high school students need to have the following:
  1. High GPA. ...
  2. Rigorous Course Load. ...
  3. Extracurriculars and Leadership Outside of School. ...
  4. Essays. ...
  5. Recommendation Letters. ...
  6. Standardized Test Scores (optional) ...
  7. Apply Early.
Mar 28, 2024

What type of student does Stanford look for? ›

Academic excellence serves as a cornerstone of Stanford University's admissions criteria. As one of the world's leading educational institutions, Stanford seeks students who have demonstrated exceptional intellectual abilities and a genuine passion for learning.

Why is Stanford so hard to get into? ›

Stanford University says that its primary criterion for evaluating applicants is their academic records. The school says that it does not have a cutoff GPA score. However, given that tens of thousands of students apply every year, many applicants apply who have perfect or near-perfect GPAs, and many are not accepted.

What time do Stanford early action decisions come out? ›

2023-24 Early Decision and Early Action Notification Dates
SchoolEarly Decision Notification Date
Smith CollegeED I: December 15, 2023 (source: phone call) ED II: late January
Southern Methodist UniversityED I: December 8, 2023 EA: mid-December ED II: mid-March
Stanford UniversityREA: December 15, 2023 at 4pm PST
133 more rows

Does everyone get a Stanford interview? ›

No. The interview is optional and applications are considered complete, whether or not a student receives an interview. Since alumni volunteer resources are limited, we may not be able to extend an interview invitation to each applicant attending high school in an interview area.

Does Stanford defer early action? ›

REA Applicants: Unlike many colleges and universities, Stanford defers relatively few early applications to Regular Decision.

Does Stanford or Harvard have a lower acceptance rate? ›

Compared to peer institutions, Harvard was the only university with a lower acceptance rate than Stanford. Similar to Stanford, the acceptance rate for the Class of 2027 increased, with 3.41% undergraduate applicants accepted, compared to 3.19% last year, according to reporting from The Harvard Crimson.

Which Ivy has the highest early decision acceptance rate? ›

Ivy League Admissions Statistics Class of 2026
Ivy League CollegesOverall Accept. RateEarly Decision / Action Accept. Rate
Cornell6.91%19.18%
Dartmouth6.24%21.27%
Harvard3.19%7.87%
Penn6.50%15.52%
4 more rows

What is Stanford's acceptance rate in 2024? ›

Stanford University's Class of 2024 acceptance rate was 4.3%, one of the lowest in its history, signalling its elite status and intense competition.

What is Stanford's legacy acceptance rate? ›

Hoover Tower is seen on the Stanford University campus. In the fall of 2019, 302 newly admitted students, which was 17.8% of the first-year class, were “legacy admissions,” children of Stanford graduates or financial donors.

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