Hi everyone!
I was just accepted to Stanford this month and I am ecstatic! However, I was wondering if I should accept the offer or wait to see if I get into Yale. I have been unable to visit Yale, so I am not sure what I should do. It is very hard to not press the accept button for Stanford, but Yale intrigues me.
^^ There is absolutely no need to accept Stanford now – other than sheer ego – as Stanford gives you the time to hear back from your other RD schools before making a decision. You also might change your mind over the next 5 months. In addition, if you accept Stanford now, you lose your leverage for schools (Stanford, Yale, and the rest of your list) to potentially match financial aid offers. I’m gong to wager than every adult on College Confidential will tell you to hold off on pressing the accept button until you hear back from your RD schools.
Yup. From personal experience, I waited until the very last minute to press the accept button, since I had a bit of a hard time deciding and wanted to visit the two schools one last time just to make sure. There is no advantage to accepting early.
@dolphin456 are you considering of turning down Stanford for Yale in the event you get into Yale, or are you completely set on Stanford no matter what?
If you think there is a chance you would choose Yale then of course wait, but also even if you are currently 100% certain that will choose Stanford, it does not hurt to wait a few months, as you might change your mind for some reason. There is no harm in waiting and no benefit in pressing that accept button now.
@dolphin456 there is no advantage to accepting now… see if you get into Yale and other schools you’re considering… visit the schools you get accepted to and then make your decision… and as the other poster mentioned being able to play one school off another may be beneficial for you too… that’s how I would play it.
fear the tree:)
If Yale “intrigues” you, by all means wait. DS accepted Yale early, as the result of a thought experiment after his SCEA acceptance when friends were advising him to apply to various other schools. "If you could trade your Yale acceptance for an admit to any other school (H,P, M, S, etc), which would it be? He thought about it and decided not to trade, and so didn’t apply elsewhere.
I should note that FA was not a consideration, as it woukd probably have affected his decision.
In your case I would wait for the other responses before making your decision since you did not state unequivocally that Stanford was your first and only choice. That is normal for a student your age so you are in good company. My goodness. What an accomplishment. Many of your peers would kill to be in your position. So, sit back and enjoy the beginning of your last semester in high school without any of the pressures that many of your peers are dealing with.
From my perspective, my D got in Yale SCEA and hit YES immediately. But, she was a legacy, was very familiar with the campus and its students (since I was very active on campus as an alumni) and she had the advantage of knowing that we were wiling to pay for her to go there no matter what. She had been to other colleges and universities and knew lots of students at them, but still knew that Yale was the best fit - especially after going to Bulldog Days on her own. This is not the case for you. Stanford and Yale, beyond academics, are two very different institutions with very different vibes. Take your time, maybe go to Bulldog Days and see the campus and hang with some students. Then when you make your decision, you can feel much much better about it.
Congratulations whichever way you go!!
Yale >> Stanford, IMO. But you probably expected that conclusion in this thread!
^^^^
That statement is so wrong in so many ways, but it is your opinion.
stanford >>>wall>> all other universities
Many would agree that Stanford has supplanted Yale and has become Harvard’s main rival in a way that Yale never was. The Harvard vs Yale rivalry has always been lopsided with Harvard having the clear edge in pretty much everything.
That said the Yale vs Stanford choice comes primarily down to fit. The schools are both excellent but quite different.
OP: Here are some other threads you might find useful
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/yale-university/1636648-yale-vs-stanford.html
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19256042#Comment_19256042
@Penn95 - that’s an interesting assessment since they only thing that really ties Yale and Harvard together in reality is that they are both part of the athletic Ivy League. The fact that other schools vie for the “Ivy” moniker is interesting because there are arguably other schools, including Stanford, that are better rated than some Ivy League Schools. Conversations about schools based solely on name recognition or the exclusivity based on admit rate is really useless for the students who are on here. We are really trying to push them past name gaming to finding a school that actually fits them, whether Yale, Harvard, Stanford or some equally great school. While I know happy kids at each of these schools, they have also had their share of tragedies with unhappy students so the goal is to find the “right” school for the individual student and that’s what most of us try to do in our own small way.
Yale and Stanford are very different and it’s important OP experience both if possible before choosing. My son is at Yale and loves it! It’s the perfect place for him. I don’t think he would have been happy at Stanford. FWIW my father is Stanford Alum and he enjoyed it. Different strokes, different folks 
No need to dump on one to highlight the other. Both are excellent I their own way!
@penn95, here’s one area where Yale beats both Harvard and Stanford: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/colleges-with-the-happiest-students_us_55bfe207e4b06f8bedb5b584
I’ve found that Harvard students, when prompted, generally acknowledge this. At Stanford, where many students feel pressure not to show effort or stress (just Google “Stanford Duck Syndrome”), they might not.
^ absolute anecdata, but DS’s tally of student sentiment during The Game weekend (where one year, he’ll crash at H friends, the next year v.v.) is that many H kids are unhappy with the campus life and wish they had decided differently when applying. He doesn’t know any Y kids that feel the same.
The usual caveats about selection bias, survivor bias, confirmation bias, and all the other biases apply.
One of my kids friends got into Stanford and Yale and chose Yale. Comment number 2 from skieurope is right on the money
My daughter did not even apply to Stanford because at an informational gathering we attended, they said that all students ride bicycles and that there are roads for bikes rather than cars because of this. They said that the campus is so large that it is impossible to get from one place to another quickly without one. She has an irrational fear of bicycles and so that killed it for her. That does give one very big difference between the schools however. There is nowhere on Yale’s campus that she can’t get to in less than 20 min and that is walking time. There are shuttles all the time and she uses them regularly.
She also found that Harvard was the same as Stanford when she stayed with a friend over the game weekend. Her friend’s dorm was almost 2 miles away from the yard and she never really felt like she was ever actually at a university. Her friend said that she has to use a bicycle everywhere because she could never get to class on time otherwise. It was very eye opening for her and yet another reason she loves her school over the others out there. Academics and weather aside, they are very different styles of school entirely. I agree that you should visit them.
There is no advantage to hitting that button, other than checking off the box and not having to think about it. Stanford won’t be giving you any brownie points. There are plenty of downsides, the financial aid leverage may be very relevant particularly since both schools are 100% grant these days. So many things can happen between now and May 1. Stanford is only about 5 miles from the San Andreas fault! Definitely visit the “finalist” campuses. My kids came back with very different vibes from the various campuses they visited, even of schools that presented themselves similarly on their website and in their literature. Also remember the accepted students’ weekends are a big marketing effort by the schools. The upside of those is you get to meet a bunch of your potential future classmates. If it is feasible, another visit outside the hype may be more insightful.
Wait. Visit both if you are accepted. Not sure if Yale will pay plane fare to accepted student days if you are low income, but it isn’t uncommon for lower ranked schools to do that. So if you get in, see if they will do that.