In the next few weeks you will probably be meeting an overwhelming amount of different people - different because each one possesses such unique experiences, knowledge and talents from the next. Each of them got into Stanford for a reason but no one (not even the individual himself) knows what exactly got him in. The May 11th editorial considered this topic and also discussed how we as a student body can influence future admissions processes in order to retain Stanford?s unique environment.

Why are we here? We don?t mean this in a metaphorical sense. Rather, why did the admissions office decide that we should be admitted to Stanford? Perhaps we?ll never really know.

Because college admissions are holistic, they are intended to focus on more than just your GPA and SAT scores. However, as a consequence, it?s nearly impossible to know exactly why we accepted to Stanford — or any other university, for that matter.

On the flip side, this makes it equally challenging for the people in admissions to have a clear idea of who they are admitting to Stanford. After all, it is just as difficult for them to evaluate candidates based solely on a few essays they write or other similarly vague criteria that a holistic admissions process demands.

Yet this does not mean that there is not some standard by which the University cannot set, with the broad goal of emphasizing certain characteristics and de-emphasizing others. In fact, the very nature of the admissions process would make it more important for us to think more clearly about the sort of applicants we would like to attract to the Farm.

In the face of mounting pressure to improve our rankings, we should remember that any changes we might make to the admissions process should not come at the cost of student quality. Rather, Stanford should continue implementing policies that have given the University its unique character.

One path that we feel the University admissions should take is to ensure that Stanford continues to differentiate itself from other universities of its caliber. At first, this may seem like an idle pronouncement, with no possible method by which it could be carried out or its results measured.

And due to the opacity of the admissions process, it is hard to measure the success of the admissions process until several years after a class is admitted.

But we should remember that admissions is one of the most important processes that determine the essence of the University, even if its effects are not directly felt in our day-to-day lives.

Why should Stanford try to continue to differentiate itself? The reason is neither mere worship of tradition, nor an ill-will towards similar-caliber Ivy League universities. Rather, by differentiating ourselves, we are making an effort to attract students who would thrive at Stanford. Students who desire an environment like Stanford?s will end up in a place where they can be happy. Similarly, students who, for whatever incomprehensible reason, know they wouldn?t be happy at Stanford will know that they should enroll in a university more suited to them.

More importantly, however, the student body should ask questions about the sort of qualities we would like to see in incoming freshmen classes of the future. As we create a diverse student body, what forms of diversity do we value? Do we want the academic environment at Stanford to be more scholarly or more laidback? Would we like students to be more athletically inclined, political active or socially involved? Together, we have a responsibility as a community to work collectively toward articulating our vision for what future generations of Stanford students should look like.