I have just received the bad news: I was not accepted by Stanford
University. My problem right now is: in the email, they did not
explain to me why. I come from Germany and don't know many specifics
about higher education in the US.
Does a university as expensive as Stanford have to tell me why they
did not admit me? If not, could I try to nicely approach someone who
would know the answers?
Thank you very much!

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Clarification of Question by sp007c-ga on 04 Mar 2006 15:30 PST

I am ready to give a tip of ~30$ if I really find out what was wrong
with my application.

I doubt that you will be able to learn why Stanford did not admit you.
Schools do not usually give their reasons for not admitting
applicants. Later in life, you may face a similar situation when
applying for jobs. Much to the applicant's dismay, the reason for not
being selected is seldom known.

I sympahtize for how disappointed you must be about not being admitted.

I doubt the university is in any way *required* to give you an
explanation for their decision. But if during the application process
you had any contact with any admissions staff, I suppose you could ask
that person if they can provide any insight into their reasoning.

Honestly, though, it may be the case that there isn't going to be an
actual definitive answer. At least not one that you'll find
satisfying.  Looking at the statistics at
http://www.stanford.edu/home/stanford/facts/undergraduate.html it
appears that there are more than 7 times as many people who apply to
Stanford than who are admitted. With odds like that, I'm sure that
many, many perfectly qualified scholars (as you surely are) are
nonetheless not admitted to the University.

As a foreigner, you may not appreciate how litigious the US can be. 
I'd be shocked if anyone at Stanford provided a rationale for why you
weren't accepted because, once they did, they'd open the university up
to all sorts of legal liabilities.  I'm afraid you'll just have to
move on, and hope for a better outcome next time.

All the best,

pafalafa-ga

SpOO7,
The selection process at top universities in America is subjective. 
Probably 90+% of the applicants could pass the courses and graduate,
thus the selection board must look at different criteria:  extra
curricular activities (sports, theater, community involvement,
leadership, music, science [e.g.,Jugend forscht], overcoming social or
physical handicaps, etc., etc., but not in any order).  The board is
hoping to create a "well-rounded" diversed class (Jahrgang).  Such a
subjective decision cannot be explained or justified.

Unless you have already other plans, have you considered applying to
English Universities?  It may be too late for the autumn semester, but
one can apply to four of five (excluding Oxbridge) with one
application.

Good luck!