5%: that’s the last publicized acceptance rate for Stanford University. It’s the second lowest in the country behind the Curtis Institute of Music according to the Education Corner. The prestigious university received 47,450 applicants last year according to their website and have announced that they will no longer publicly record such numbers in order to reduce the focus on the data.

With or without those numbers, everyone’s aware of the difficulty surrounding Stanford’s admission process. Of the 47,000 applicants, Lake Forest senior and Stanford bound student Porter Weisberg shared that 17,000 had perfect test scores. According to Naviance, 54 students from Lake Forest High School applied from 2016-2018: one got in. That’s a 1.85% rate at which Lake Forest students have been receiving acceptance.

This year, however, two seniors received the seemingly impossible admission. Weisberg and Kevin Lamp were accepted and both elected to don the cardinal and black. The duo has also decided to continue their athletic careers in crew and volleyball respectively. While the athletics may have helped, the school is often found within the top 25 rankings in both sports, so if anything the accomplishment looks even more impressive.

With that academic prestige comes the difficulty of balancing it with athletics for these two Scouts. However, Weisberg and Lamp are not too worried about busy schedules on the horizon. “I play club volleyball in Aurora three to five times a week, so I’m used to being super organized with my time management,” said Lamp. “There are tons of resources too, and the mandatory tutoring sessions will help a lot in the long run.”

Weisberg is in a similar boat (pun intended): “I already live long days from early bird gym to rowing practice in the city to long nights of homework (albeit those nights are becoming more rare – thankfully.)” The daily trek to Chicago on top of an already loaded class schedule can be daunting but will prepare Weisberg well for his next four years.

Judging by the other schools they were considering, Lamp and Weisberg were certainly aware of and excited for the upcoming challenge. Lamp also looked at UCLA, USC, Pepperdine, Princeton, and Loyola-Chicago before deciding on Stanford. “It came down to what school was the best fit and also the culture/vibe of the team. I also pretty much always knew if I got in (to Stanford), I would end up going there.”

Weisberg’s path to Palo Alto was a bit different; he was committed to the University of California, Berkeley, prior to receiving Stanford’s admission. “Stanford was always sort of on my radar, but it had never felt like a real opportunity until the night I got in. Even now it seems unreal at times,” said Weisberg. He was also looking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison along with Cal and considered the recruitment and decommitment process very taxing.

Now that Weisberg and Lamp have completed the near-impossible by being admitted, they are very excited for what lies ahead. When asked what they were most excited for, the two had different answers. “I’m most excited to meet the people there. Since Stanford is such an exclusive school, most people have to achieve extraordinary feats or be insanely talented; I’m stoked to meet and find out about all these really interesting people,” said Lamp.

He provides an interesting reason as Stanford is a diverse school with high-achievers in all sorts of categories. People from all walks of life will be attending classes at Stanford, and Lamp will surely have an enriching experience.

Weisberg’s clearly just thrilled for the entire experience. “I am extremely excited just to soak everything in at Stanford. Everyone there is going to have something to offer, and I have always enjoyed being a student and Stanford is a fantastic place to be a student.”

While the school will present a difficulty unlike any other, the soon-to-be Lake Forest High School graduates are as prepared as possible and are eager to take on the challenges that lie ahead. That 1.85% just got a teeny-bit bigger.