Admissions officers at elite schools like Stanford don’t just look at GPA, SAT and AP scores when they pour over thousands of applications every year. They also care about character and wonder whether the person they are considering is a good “match” for their school.

“We obviously look at academic records and their records overall,” said Richard Shaw, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions. “But we are also quite interested in their overall progress in school and if there are any blips in the progress.”

When the facts don’t check out or performance doesn’t remain up to par, the University can revoke offers of admission.

“We might be reviewing 10 to 15 [students out] of the total class where we have concern,” Shaw said. “Last year we took pretty serious action on four of them. But we do take serious action and that’s the message.”

New questions about an

applicant’s past

This year, the Common Application — which Stanford will adopt next year — added a question at the bottom of the last page asking students if they have ever been convicted of a misdemeanor. While the Common App did include a question about felonies in previous years, the question about less serious crimes was a new addition to the 2006-2007 document.

The application also inquires whether applicants have been suspended, expelled or put on probation at any secondary school. Stanford’s application has included the same questions for some time, with an additional question about whether a student has “had a criminal charge sustained against you in a juvenile proceeding.” On the 2006 application, Stanford made its language broader when it added a question about whether a student has “violated an Honor Code.”

If misconduct is reported (either on the application or after students have been admitted), the University reserves the right to deny or rescind admission to otherwise qualified students.

The scrutiny of applicants’ legal backgrounds highlights the importance of being well-rounded in the admissions process. Shaw says that Stanford’s policies toward misconduct have always been strict, and the University’s policies will remain the same through the transition from the current Stanford-specific application to the Common App.

Shaw noted that each high school treats “misconduct” differently, making it necessary to evaluate each student’s case on an individual basis. The reasons for disciplinary action can vary from misuse of the Internet to vandalism to simply skipping class.

“[The type of infraction] obviously is something we might take into account,” said Shaw of applicants who require special attention. “Some students might be expelled [for] things like plagiarism or academic dishonesty — those are pretty serious.”

As a result of the variance in cases of misconduct, the University makes sure to hear the student’s side of the story as well.

“We always ask the student to get back to us and give us some reason why these things occur,” he said.

Indeed, on the application, students who acknowledge being disciplined in the past are told they must “explain fully on a separate sheet.”

Some applicants don’t disclose their backgrounds

Shaw acknowledged that students and their families are not always straightforward with the University about these sensitive issues. The dean, who came from Yale to the Farm in 2005, said that staff in his office usually discover misconduct by searching for media coverage about the student or, occasionally, from other students at the school who tip them off.

Even with the help of the media and information from inside sources, the Office of Undergraduate Admission doesn’t catch every misdemeanor, suspension or felony.

One male undergraduate, for instance, said he was expelled from high school for selling marijuana, but the University never found out about his checkered past. By the time he began applying for college, he said, the charges had been sealed by a court, and because he was a minor at the time of the incident, all history of the case had been removed from his official record.

“The court realized I was a smart kid with potential,” he said. “I had to meet with people, I did community service. I stopped doing that stuff and started thinking.”

The student was granted anonymity by The Daily because of the offense’s sensitive nature and his continuing efforts to stay away from drugs.

“I absolutely think I deserve to be here,” he added. “I’m completely ambitious, I’m getting good grades. I honestly do regret [what I did]. I put my mom through hell. I didn’t need that — I had everything. The reason I did it was because I was unhappy. I was rebellious.”

If he had been open with the University, he said, “there’s no way in hell I would be here.”

The University retains its right to revoke offers of admission even after students have been accepted.

“Some students get in trouble [after acceptance] too — after being admitted they are suspended or have some kind of disciplinary infraction,” Shaw said. “We can withdraw their admission — that happens. We can ask them to stay out a year — which often happens.”

Admissions reviews transcripts

Acceptance is also contingent upon finishing high school in good academic standing.

Drops in grade point average may elicit a warning letter and, Shaw said, “would be perhaps a suggestion of senioritis.”

A female member of the class of 2009 said she received a warning email after her GPA dropped from a 4.56 to a number still above 4.0.

“I had two jobs,” said the student, who was accepted early and granted anonymity because of the stigma that comes with low grades. “I wasn’t as motivated.”

“It was really traumatizing,” she said. “If my admission actually got rescinded it would have been really, really hard to tell my parents.”

“It’s really just a good idea,” Shaw said, “to maintain a strong academic and extracurricular personal record to the end of your school year.”