Is Stanford the "gold standard?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Can't speak for that PP but my DD didn't give it a glance because of: 1) Silicon Valley douche bro culture; and 2) suburban location. The weather is undeniably nice, though. She's headed to Columbia and loves everything about NYC.

This statement really says more about you than the students at Stanford, you know.

Really touched a nerve there. Why so sensitive?

Ignorant and unfair comment and characterization, is all. Plus the lack of the PPs self-awareness. And yes, I am a sensitive person, and proud of it.

[Anonymous]

This thread is hilarious! I guess everyone hates Stanford, which is great. If it's so horrible, tell your chid not to apply so mine gets in. Seriously, though, "gold standard" is a little crazy and the OP is probably a troll, but their acceptance rate is 4.5% or something, so people want to go there regardless of it being in a "boring suburb."

[Anonymous]

UBERing to and from Muir Woods strikes me as unlikely and 50% of Seniors having cars is a bad sign.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Stanford- super boring suburban location. Feels very pre-professional. Too obsessed with Silicon Valley. It was #6 on my kids list and I didn’t disagree with his ranking. He ended up at Columbia which was #4 on his list and loves it there.

I’d say we have the same kid, except yours is a boy. Stanford may have great weather and architecture, but it felt really cold and pre-professional to DD who ended up at Columbia.

Which is to say, Stanford may be a great school, but there’s no “best” school for every kid.

What did your DD like at Columbia that Stanford didn't have?

Can't speak for that PP but my DD didn't give it a glance because of: 1) Silicon Valley douche bro culture; and 2) suburban location. The weather is undeniably nice, though. She's headed to Columbia and loves everything about NYC.

I’m “that PP.” Both schools offer DC’s unusual double major combination, one STEMy and the second arty. NYC offers better access to the classical music scene, which is DC’s minor. Mostly, though, DC didn’t apply to Stanford because of the sterile-seeming atmosphere. It may be unfair to base impressions on a tour and College Confidential, but Columbia more obviously offered the quirky, urban atmosphere DC wanted.

[Anonymous]

To answer the post - yes it is absolutely the Gold Standard and attracts the very best - in many ways - students. (Quirky it is not).

[Anonymous]

There is no “the Gold Standard.” There are at least a few “Gold Standards” depending on what you want to study and what atmosphere you want to study in.

Is anybody here seriously claiming that Stanford beats Harvard unambiguously on most measures? Even on many measures?

[Anonymous]

Ivies are better and I'd rather go to UC Berkeley than Stanford

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Can't speak for that PP but my DD didn't give it a glance because of: 1) Silicon Valley douche bro culture; and 2) suburban location. The weather is undeniably nice, though. She's headed to Columbia and loves everything about NYC.

This statement really says more about you than the students at Stanford, you know.

Really touched a nerve there. Why so sensitive?

Ignorant and unfair comment and characterization, is all. Plus the lack of the PPs self-awareness. And yes, I am a sensitive person, and proud of it.

Do you have a child who goes there or are you an alum?

[Anonymous]

Stanford may attract the very best students to apply. That doesn't mean they enroll or are offered the chance. The Stanford kids from our school have all been hooked in some way and while very nice, only one was exceptional

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Can't speak for that PP but my DD didn't give it a glance because of: 1) Silicon Valley douche bro culture; and 2) suburban location. The weather is undeniably nice, though. She's headed to Columbia and loves everything about NYC.

This statement really says more about you than the students at Stanford, you know.

Really touched a nerve there. Why so sensitive?

Ignorant and unfair comment and characterization, is all. Plus the lack of the PPs self-awareness. And yes, I am a sensitive person, and proud of it.

Do you have a child who goes there or are you an alum?

This reminds me of a super-tiger on College Confidential. She was desperate for all her kids to get into HYP, but only one did—and opted for Stanford instead. After that, she started threads like this one regularly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stanford may attract the very best students to apply. That doesn't mean they enroll or are offered the chance. The Stanford kids from our school have all been hooked in some way and while very nice, only one was exceptional

I hate to say this, but I agree about the one current Stanford student I know. Very nice, but not a genius, only a hook. I feel disloyal to the kid for even saying this, but I’ve known this kid for many years and it’s hard to get around this.

[Anonymous]

35% of Stanford students are from California.

It attracts many Californians who are not interested in leaving the state for university (and there are many of them). The Silicon Valley successes have given it worldwide publicity, but whether it is at the level of the PR trumpets is another matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:35% of Stanford students are from California.

It attracts many Californians who are not interested in leaving the state for university (and there are many of them). The Silicon Valley successes have given it worldwide publicity, but whether it is at the level of the PR trumpets is another matter.

You are wrong if you think Stanford is different than basically any other university in that regard. Virtually all universities draw significantly from the region they are located in.

Take Harvard. The equivalent area to CA would be, I’d say, New England and the mid-Atlantic, which comprise 37.9% of the class of 2021. (https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/admissions-statistics)

A lot of kids look to the schools relatively close to where they live, even among top schools.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Stanford is only the most selective school due to lack of competition. It's the only truly world-class elite private university west of the Mississippi. Yale, Harvard, and Princeton are located a couple hundred miles from each other and are tugging away for applicants and interests. Furthermore, you get a lot of weaker applicants at Stanford who are more interested in athletics and stand no chance of getting in. The desirability of California plays a big impact as well, which is why you see Berkeley/UCLA as the public schools with the lowest acceptance rates and Pomona/CMC as the LACs with this.

You have no idea what you're talking about. It's hilarious that you seriously think the only reason people apply to Berkeley is because it's just some random public school in California where the weather is nice. And that Stanford is only famous because it has no competition.

Have you heard of this little thing called the Internet? Where do you think it came from?

And you think non-Californian universities don't have weaker applicants who are hoping to slip in based on athletics?

Ummmm well since you asked: the Internet was originally developed by the USG.

You think the USG does actual work? You really do sound like someone in DC. Totally clueless.

As a PP said, yes, the work was funded by the USG (like a huge percentage of research) but the work was done at Californian universities. Not just Stanford, also UCLA, etc. I wasn't giving full credit to Stanford.

And there was a bunch of stuff coming out of Berkeley. Like Unix, for example, which I don't expect will mean much to someone like yourself, but to those of us who know anything about the tech industry, it's a very big deal.

Uh. Do YOU know anything about the tech industry yourself? UNIX was originally developed by Bell Labs. Berkeley developed just one “flavor” of UNIX. Sun and others created other “flavors.”

Berkeley certainly fostered a lot of innovation though. You did get that part right.

Unix was developed at Bell Labs by Ken Thompson immediately after he graduated with both Bachelor and Masters from... Berkeley. He later returned to Berkeley to develop a specific “flavor” of it.

He wasn't the only one. . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:35% of Stanford students are from California.

It attracts many Californians who are not interested in leaving the state for university (and there are many of them). The Silicon Valley successes have given it worldwide publicity, but whether it is at the level of the PR trumpets is another matter.

You are wrong if you think Stanford is different than basically any other university in that regard. Virtually all universities draw significantly from the region they are located in.

Take Harvard. The equivalent area to CA would be, I’d say, New England and the mid-Atlantic, which comprise 37.9% of the class of 2021. (https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/admissions-statistics)

A lot of kids look to the schools relatively close to where they live, even among top schools.

Duh. Where are the best private boarding schools located?????