STANFORD "Stand for the Door"

Finally i can write something without pressure. I finished a decent draft on Stanford's First Essay - "what matters to you most and why?" If there was something like a Nobe Prize for Generalization then Stanford's Essay would have got one. Stanford is notorious for open essays and this is one of its masterpieces. It took me exactly 4 hours to finish the essay - but i am still not 100% impressed with the draft. I can take a look later on, for now let's forget about it.

OK, let's talk about Stanford. Stanford is a GMAT whore - that's what the reputation on the streets. Stanford prefers superstars - the one with great scores, great numbers, stellar work experience and fantastic achievements. Look at their brochure - they boast of having the best faculty in the world - three nobel laurates. Location is an advantage for Stanford - heart of Silicon Valley, great weather, Palo Alto (the VC den) , the Engineering School [strangely but true]. Stanford shrugs at Indian engineers - the usual cold shoulder i have talked about before. But still we dare (DARE in all caps) to apply to Stanford. STANFORD after all is STANFORD. Sad but true that "acceptance rate" makes Stanford as one of the most coveted business schools in the world besides Harvard and Wharton.

I DARED to attend one of the Info Sessions of Stanford in their Palo Alto Campus. The Campus is beautiful - no doubt about it. The Architecture of the main building reminds me of Peter Keating from Ayn Rand's "FountainHead". [If you haven't read "FountainHead" make sure you read both "FountainHead" and "Atlas Shrugged"]
I reached the Palo Alto Campus quite comfortably before time but i was dumb enough to park the car far from location - I was afraid that i won't get parking as it happened before.I was there early as i saw a fellow countrymen passing by me with a grim face. (Strangely we forget to smile at each other - maybe we get our old habits back) The auditorium was pretty small filed with maybe 100-150 people. The diversity was loud in the crowd. I picked up the brochure and made myself comfortable at the end of the hall. I had another fellow countryman sitting beside me (Seriously man. We are dime a dozen)
There were atleast 10-15% indians in the crowd - I presume that would be the percentage of the entire application pool of Indians applying to Stanford (do the math!!)

To be frank, it seemed the same rambling to me as in the brochures. Nope !! No difference other than some of the answers given by the alums. The alums were pretty impressive - there was this African American Engineer who was a first year, an American born Indian with semiconductor experience, a funny oil-driller [ I don't remember the rest] This old driller harped on the fact that we should try to spend our money before we get admitted (wishful thinking!!) to Stanford because Stanford has lot of fellowships and grants which is distributed based on your needs. There was one more useful information that "I want to waive my rights" in Recs usually is used after you get an admission. After admission you can see the entire application and Recs would be baised on whether you waive or not ( silly!! I use to sweat on this).

Essays are very very important - it was evident from the Session. It was very important to be yourself and rather than stressing on "What" , stress on "How". I think most of you guys applying to Stanford got the newsletter yesterday - Make sure you read the Essays section.

I am packing off right now - need to go to bed. It's already 2-00 in the morning and i am amazed i still have the energy to type :)
I would like to end it on a note - Have you guys noticed that Stanford stands for "Stand for the door" ....