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College and University Discussion
Reply to "Nate Silver: "Go to a state school""
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[quote=Anonymous]I attended Stanford for undergrad, and then a flagship state school ranked around #100 for a fully-funded master's degree. I was a TA for undergraduate courses at the state school. Huge difference. A few things stand out to me: *The amount of work expected of undergraduates at Stanford was significantly more than the state school. I was used to reading at least half a book a week per class at Stanford (and typically an entire book). At the state school the typical reading load was 20-30 pages out of a textbook, and not a real scholarly book. The writing requirements were similarly low. Two 3-page papers, a midterm, and a final at the state school for an intro class. An intro course at Stanford was a 5-page paper, a 10-page paper, a midterm, and a final. I was used to writing papers in the 15-30 page range, which is more typical of graduate requirements at the state school. *Stanford encouraged "big" thinking--engaging with big ideas, taking risks. I felt like the state school had me in the weeds, writing about obscure things instead of working at a higher level. Part of that may be undergraduate vs. graduate study, but when I returned to the top-5 for law school, I found myself once again in the "big thinking" world. None of this is to say that you can't find state schools with rigorous requirements, but I think you really have to move up a lot in the rankings if that's what you're looking for. And this isn't a product of the caliber of the professors--most of the state school professors went to places like Stanford. It was the other students--a professor told me he used to assign more work, but the students just wouldn't do it and eventually he gave in. [/quote]
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