When my son was an admitted student, Yale provided air fare, and other transportation to Bulldog Days. We were blown away with the kindness and generosity they showed. I have a reasonable job as an engineer with a large company, but in the eyes of Yale, we’re deserving of their aid. (I’m really OK with that, and will be forever grateful to them.)
OP, I have no way of knowing if Stanford would be as kind and generous as ElMimino found Yale to be; I expect that they are also. But, it is the large and small things that create a college’s nature, and you should wait, and visit, to see it for yourself.
Unless you have a compelling reason to accept now/quickly, it’s always better to have choices. The application process is massively competitive; it’s where you try to get a school to like you. Once they accept you, it flips. Now you decide which of the schools you were accepted to is the right place for you. For my son, being on the other side of the acceptance line was fantastic. What he thought he wanted earlier in the year was no longer true come decision time. You change a lot in your last year of high school. Your perspective shifts too. Congratulations on such an amazing result, and good luck!
Same situation but vice versa. I got into Yale early and am waiting on Stanford. I haven’t visited Stanford yet but well, it’s STANFORD. I’d say wait. You lose nothing except having to say that you haven’t committed to a school yet.
You are absolutely right about looking past name and choosing the best school for each student and when we are talking about the level at which Stanford and Yale the choice comes down to fit. That is why I said that the Stanford vs Yale choice should be mainly about fit more than anything else.
Now the first part of my post was just some objective observations about the standing of both schools in public perception. I was just making a counter-point to a claim above that Yale >>> Stanford.
My son was in the same position. I would recommend you to follow his lead. Wait visit Yale in January or February. Then choose Stanford!!
I noticed a lot of comments about “fit” and “college feeling right” and how Stanford and Yale have completely different vibes. My daughter is a junior and will be applying hopefully to at least one of these next year and I am curious what do those words mean ? We did tour a couple colleges(Emory and Duke ) and on the surface , it seems hard to determine if a college is a good “fit”? Of course , in instances if a student is completely put off by a college then the decision is easy but in other situations what does one look for ? She would like to pick a liberal arts major with the ultimate goal of attending Law School.
IMHO: Several other factors should be considered:
LOCATION (urban vs suburban vs rural). For example Yale, Princeton and Williams are all wonderful colleges, but each is in different location that will effect how much a student interacts with the surrounding environment (or not) and whether once the student leaves campus, they need to travel some distance for culture and entertainment.
WEATHER is also a big factor. Cold, snowy Northeast winters vs California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada sunshine/
And don’t forget FINANCIAL AID when deciding fit! For example, my son was admitted to a number of colleges including Yale and Brown – both wonderful schools. Brown offered more creative computer science programs (motion capture, animation, computer graphics, Applied Artificial Intelligence, 2D Game Engines, 3D Game Engines, Designing Humanity Centered Robots, computer vision, etc) but offered little financial aid ($18K per year). Whereas, Yale offered a ton of Financial aid ($44K per year). We asked my son “Do you want to attend Brown strongly enough to take out loans to do so?” He thought about it and he said no. Hence, Brown was eliminated for the sole reason that it would require my son to graduate with debt – not something that fit his needs.
You can also google additional sites like this one with more detailed information about finding a college with the right fit: http://schoolbuff.com/forms/Qualities%20COMPLETE.pdf
20 minutes is all you need to traverse the academic buildings at Stanford, but who’s got 20 minutes?
@bullishmom. Nonacademic factors that my kids were sensitive to:
• Size of school (total student body size, class sizes, size of campus – long trudges to classes in bad weather is a real factor)
• Student socialization: residential colleges/houses, other systems where there is more to the dorm building than a place to sleep; Greek life; dorm rooms quality and whether they are primarily singles, doubles, suites; robustness of intramurals/student groups
• Food: choices and quality
• School athletics – it may or may not be a big part of school identity (not necessarily that the school is a perennial champ, but whether it is a focal point of activity)
• In addition to good weather vs. bad weather, some kids like seasons
• Observations of students in and out of classes: more smiles/less smiles; study together/study apart; students engaged/energetic in classes; social gatherings well attended with friendly people or lots of insular cliques.
You can’t get a lot of this from the guided school tour. If you can swing it, overnight trips during the school year can be more informative. I’d also say there are probably a lot of schools that will be great fits since kids adapt and will find the place academically and socially where they are the most comfortable at any school. The task is to identify and cull the schools where there are just too many question marks.
@bullishmom forgive me for asking but why liberal arts for law school? My advice to you is to have your daughter pick a major that will get your daughter thinking critically and analytically and also serve as a second career choice. Please do not buy into the political science advice.
I have never been to Stanford but have grown up in Yale’s backyard and I just don’t get the attraction. New Haven? Crime rate? Turn the corner the wrong way and you are in the midst of stray bullets. I have to say that I see this with many college campuses (stuck right in the middle of crime ridden territories with no job opportunities nearby) and families/students just continue to flock to these schools.
Stanford’s rival is Cal and always will be. Sorry Cal wannabes. Neither Harvard nor Yale are up to the task to rival the trees, or cardinals. Agree that OP should visit Yale if accepted. I was waitlisted at Yale and got into Cornell and Brown and spent almost a lifetime pining away for a college I had never seen. Luckily life gives you lots of chances. When I finally got a chance to see Yale with my own kids applying to colleges, I realized that Yale would have been the wrong fit for me. Pining away for something you’ve never experienced is not worth it. You have to go experience all these colleges for yourself. No regrets.
Like a lot of posters have said, there’s no harm in waiting for more results. The list of colleges I initially applied to in high school was uncannily similar to the list of top engineering schools, and I applied to Yale on a whim the day before the deadline. Come decision time, and Yale just pulled on my heartstrings in a way that none of my other choices did, so here I am today 
@xaviermom2017 - Perhaps you have a misunderstanding about “liberal arts” majors.
In my opinion, studying the liberal arts is an ideal preparation for law school, as they focus on precisely what you encourage, “thinking critically and analytically”.
Do you truly believe the study of economics, history, or physics doesn’t require critical analysis?
It really doesn’t matter what you study in preparation for law school. Study something you like and that you can do well in. That’s pretty much it. There is no subject, including poli sci, that will really give you a leg up in your 1L courses.
Also:
This is nonsense, of course. But Yale is in an urban environment, and not too far away from poor areas. Some people may prefer a more sterile environment.
@Hunt my husband was a police officer in NH for 24 years, I lived on Wooster and worked on Orange for years. I am well versed as to the problems and crime rate surrounding the area and do not consider it nonsense.
@sherpa I do not disagree that there are majors within the school of liberal arts that support success in law school. In fact, I was an economics major myself - unfortunately, not by choice - long story short - I quit UCONN in the middle of a semester and just picked up whatever major I could at at different local University and economics had the most availability at the time for course selection. Needless to say, I stuck with it. Rather, my point is that one should not be glued to the idea that a liberal arts major is the only path to law school. I see a lot of friends who took that route because that was the way of thought and either hated law school or the practice of law and did not really have a major that supported another viable career choice. I think it is important for students to understand that liberal arts is not the only path. I would like them to understand that they can explore alternative majors/schools and still be viable law school candidates. I’d also point out that attending a “highly selective” college is not a prerequisite to law school. It is my belief that working hard towards a great education at an institution where a student feels comfortable should be top choice. Just my thoughts
Still some way to go, but New Haven seems to have become a lot safer over the past few years: http://wtnh.com/2017/01/12/new-haven-police-to-announce-drops-in-major-crime/ . In particular, those “stray bullets” seem to have been cut in half.
http://www.nhregister.com/article/NH/20160102/NEWS/160109939 yes, an increase in homocides and human remains scattered downtown NH makes me feel very safe.