Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD got into both and chose Stanford. Like your DD she didn’t know what she wanted to study so academics didn’t come into play with her final decision. She preferred Palo Alto to New Haven and has not regretted her decision. She has loved being able to ride her bike to the farmers market or to the mall to workout at places like Barry’s Bootcamp, Pure Barre or soul cycle. On weekends, she frequently rents a car at the Enterprise on campus which rents to Stanford students under 25. She has gone to many places including Napa, Big Sur, Capitola, Halfmoon Bay, into SF, Carmel, Sausalito.... As a parent, it would have been nicer to get in the car versus a plane to go visit her but once you arrive Palo Alto is much nicer than New Haven and has many many more hotel choices. Two of my kids, including DD who is currently attending Stanford, have done YYGS so between YYGS, college visits, and Bulldog days I have had numerous occasions to stay in New Haven hotels. I definitely feel she is much safer on campus at Stanford and would have worried about her going back and forth from the freshman dorms to the residential college late at night. I do not understand why Yale has not taken a page out of Penn’s book and drastically increased security around Campus and past it’s perimeter.

Yale's campus is actually quite safe. There are campus police everywhere. Shops near the campus are required by their leases to stay open until 3 or 4 am, so that there are lights on and people around. If you compare crime rates for Yale and Stanford (look at, e.g., collegefactual.com), they are virtually identical; Stanford's is marginally lower overall, but it's rate of serious crime is marginally higher.

FWIW, at Yale you can walk 3-4 blocks to work out in the world's biggest gym (actually) for free -- including free classes/programming -- rather than bike to a mall to do suburban mom workouts. Stanford is the same driving distance from Carmel as Yale is from New York City, so the idea that there's more to do around Stanford (if we're counting Carmel as around Stanford) seems a bit strange.

Most Stanford undergrads bike around campus. Campus parking is hard to get. I personally loved the bike culture, as did my recent graduate cousin. It's easy to take the train into San Francisco. As an undergrad, many students rarely need to venture off campus, for better or for worse. They call it the Stanford bubble. And you don't need to go to the mall to pay to workout. There are amazing athletic facilities on campus.

I think the Palo Alto scene is more important for grad students. Undergrads living in dorms with the most amazing food ever can be blissfully ignorant of the $3 million teeny tiny houses down the road.

My main critique would be that start up culture can be pervasive, depending on your major or crowd. That can be tiresome. But overall, students at Stanford tend to be pretty laid back. There's a work hard, play hard ethos. There are good sports, which is a nice diversion, but many students are not into that scene, and that's fine, too.

Having hired a lot of recent grads from HYPS, they're all very bright. Stanford grads have tended to be more well rounded and less burnt out. Since Stanford is on the quarter system instead of semesters, students generally get to take more courses throughout their schooling, giving them the potential for greater breadth of study. Many profs fit an entire semester into a shorter quarter, which can be intense. It does make it easier to go abroad or study in DC for a quarter or two Junior year.

Anonymous wrote:I never made a comment on the state of either school (other than to say that Stanford looks like a Taco Bell). I only said that $3 mil homes doesn't indicate that life in Palo Alto is idyllic.

NP. I agree!

sport is not a hook as it is a sport not currently available on any college campus (except maybe one ag school in colorado or kansas, I cant recall) but DC is nationally ranked in it and has participated since age 5, which some colleges like to see. No one here has yet addressed the issue of being undecided on major and which of these schools is better for an undergrad changing their mind once or even twice (and still graduating in 4 years). This was my own personal experience, at a large university but like a hundred years ago (i'm what they call advanced maternal age mom!)

Anonymous wrote:op here. of course everyone knows its a crapshoot. but dc can take a chance. and I'll be back in December of 2021 to tell you all what happens

Wait, your kid just starting junior year? Maybe wait until you have some more data. Also, assuming sports is not a hook as your child would have verbal offers by now.

I never made a comment on the state of either school (other than to say that Stanford looks like a Taco Bell). I only said that $3 mil homes doesn't indicate that life in Palo Alto is idyllic.

Anonymous wrote:I never said that houses were $3 mil in the 80s. I only said it was a very high cost area back then for the same reason it is now. These high prices do not reflect the better amenities then nor now. These high prices and lack of grad school housing meant that I lived in a dump in EPA. And I predate you.

Well maybe neither of us has anything relevant to offer someone asking about the state of the school in 2020 then.

I never said that houses were $3 mil in the 80s. I only said it was a very high cost area back then for the same reason it is now. These high prices do not reflect the better amenities then nor now. These high prices and lack of grad school housing meant that I lived in a dump in EPA. And I predate you.

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Anonymous wrote:There’s a reason houses in Stanford/Palo Alto cost upward of $3M - it’s a fantastic place to live. Also there are allotment gardens and arguably the best dining halls in the nation. Fantastic exercise facilities (even for non athletes) and access to the outdoors.

Yes. Awful land use policy screwing over most who cannot afford to live close in. I had to live in a dump in East Palo Alto in grad school. The area might be nice, but not $3 mil house nice.

Curious why you didn’t live in grad housing? My DW lived in a brand new studio for $1600 (paid for by his department as a grad student).

I predate you by many years. There was very limited grad housing back in those days.

Seems odd then that houses were that expensive back then too.

Gawd you are obnoxious and stupid. Houses in PA were relatively expensive back then but not $3 mil. The price difference then still reflected poor development policies limiting the supply of housing and not the higher quality of life associated with PA.

We live in a HCOL area in the DMV,. Do you think higher housing prices indicate a higher level of amenities here than in lower cost areas?

I just think that you said houses were $3mm but they weren’t when you were in grad school. Stanford built and has built a ton of grad housing as prices in the area have gone up.

I lived in Mountain View in the late 90s and plenty of people found off campus housing. It wasn’t as expensive then. Perhaps I predate you.

And calling me obnoxious and stupid for pointing this out certainly suggests you are a kind person.

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a reason houses in Stanford/Palo Alto cost upward of $3M - it’s a fantastic place to live. Also there are allotment gardens and arguably the best dining halls in the nation. Fantastic exercise facilities (even for non athletes) and access to the outdoors.

Yes. Awful land use policy screwing over most who cannot afford to live close in. I had to live in a dump in East Palo Alto in grad school. The area might be nice, but not $3 mil house nice.

Curious why you didn’t live in grad housing? My DW lived in a brand new studio for $1600 (paid for by his department as a grad student).

I predate you by many years. There was very limited grad housing back in those days.

Seems odd then that houses were that expensive back then too.

Gawd you are obnoxious and stupid. Houses in PA were relatively expensive back then but not $3 mil. The price difference then still reflected poor development policies limiting the supply of housing and not the higher quality of life associated with PA.

We live in a HCOL area in the DMV,. Do you think higher housing prices indicate a higher level of amenities here than in lower cost areas?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"My sibling went there and his friends all had their “favorite homeless people” who they felt good about supporting each day on their way to class."

Gross.

Yes, you are.

I think the pp meant how you described what your sibling and his friends did was gross, not that helping homeless people is gross.

Anonymous wrote:DD got into both and chose Stanford. Like your DD she didn’t know what she wanted to study so academics didn’t come into play with her final decision. She preferred Palo Alto to New Haven and has not regretted her decision. She has loved being able to ride her bike to the farmers market or to the mall to workout at places like Barry’s Bootcamp, Pure Barre or soul cycle. On weekends, she frequently rents a car at the Enterprise on campus which rents to Stanford students under 25. She has gone to many places including Napa, Big Sur, Capitola, Halfmoon Bay, into SF, Carmel, Sausalito.... As a parent, it would have been nicer to get in the car versus a plane to go visit her but once you arrive Palo Alto is much nicer than New Haven and has many many more hotel choices. Two of my kids, including DD who is currently attending Stanford, have done YYGS so between YYGS, college visits, and Bulldog days I have had numerous occasions to stay in New Haven hotels. I definitely feel she is much safer on campus at Stanford and would have worried about her going back and forth from the freshman dorms to the residential college late at night. I do not understand why Yale has not taken a page out of Penn’s book and drastically increased security around Campus and past it’s perimeter.

Yale's campus is actually quite safe. There are campus police everywhere. Shops near the campus are required by their leases to stay open until 3 or 4 am, so that there are lights on and people around. If you compare crime rates for Yale and Stanford (look at, e.g., collegefactual.com), they are virtually identical; Stanford's is marginally lower overall, but it's rate of serious crime is marginally higher.

FWIW, at Yale you can walk 3-4 blocks to work out in the world's biggest gym (actually) for free -- including free classes/programming -- rather than bike to a mall to do suburban mom workouts. Stanford is the same driving distance from Carmel as Yale is from New York City, so the idea that there's more to do around Stanford (if we're counting Carmel as around Stanford) seems a bit strange.

I'm not sure when most of these posters have last been to New Haven, but the area around the campus is beautiful and now super gentrified (there is literally an Apple Store). It is urban, which I personally love. Lots of actual stores within walking distance. Virtually no one has a car. You can get to NYC on the cheap train in 2 hours. Palo Alto is pretty, but suburban bordering on rural. Most people use cars -- even just to get around the campus. For me, Yale is (and was) a no-brainer, but I'm a city kid.

Yale is nice rest of nh is a shit hole

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a reason houses in Stanford/Palo Alto cost upward of $3M - it’s a fantastic place to live. Also there are allotment gardens and arguably the best dining halls in the nation. Fantastic exercise facilities (even for non athletes) and access to the outdoors.

Yes. Awful land use policy screwing over most who cannot afford to live close in. I had to live in a dump in East Palo Alto in grad school. The area might be nice, but not $3 mil house nice.

Curious why you didn’t live in grad housing? My DW lived in a brand new studio for $1600 (paid for by his department as a grad student).

I predate you by many years. There was very limited grad housing back in those days.

Seems odd then that houses were that expensive back then too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a reason houses in Stanford/Palo Alto cost upward of $3M - it’s a fantastic place to live. Also there are allotment gardens and arguably the best dining halls in the nation. Fantastic exercise facilities (even for non athletes) and access to the outdoors.

Yes. Awful land use policy screwing over most who cannot afford to live close in. I had to live in a dump in East Palo Alto in grad school. The area might be nice, but not $3 mil house nice.

Curious why you didn’t live in grad housing? My DW lived in a brand new studio for $1600 (paid for by his department as a grad student).

I predate you by many years. There was very limited grad housing back in those days.