Decision Between Princeton and Stanford for Undergrad Engineering/science

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello All,</p>

<p>My daughter has the happy dilemma of having to choose between Princeton and Stanford for undergrad. She is interested in pursuing a engineering or science degree. We are from the East Coast, so Princeton is great in terms of proximity but Stanford seems to be ranked higher for engineeing (US News). My questions:
1. Could someone comment on the pros and cons of the two?
2.Which one is a better university in terms of teaching by Profs and welcoming student body?
3. We are an average middle class family and I hear a lot about the eating clubs at Princeton.
4. When we visited Princeton they talked about their undergraduate focus. Is this true for the science and engineering departments?</p>

<p>Thanks so much for your time,</p>

<p>Happy but anxious mom.</p>

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<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/stanford-university/687807-stanford-vs-princeton.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/stanford-university/687807-stanford-vs-princeton.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>This is on the Stanford forum and might help you.
My S would choose Stanford any day if he was in a simillar situation :)</p>

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<p>Stanford seems like the obvious choice IMO. It has world class engineering in the middle of Silicon Valley! The opportunity for interaction with industry is superb and can really make a difference career wise.</p>

<p>I’m also in the camp that believes when possible going to school on the other side of the Country from where you grew up is a major plus.</p>

<p>I hear mixed things about the eating clubs. Princeton certainly has some E. Coast formalities that you won’t find at Stanford. If you google, you’ll find a recent article talking about the clubs. Stanford is certainly more laid back.</p>

4

<p>Go experience the west coast.</p>

5

<ol>
<li><p>I’ll leave this to someone else.</p></li>
<li><p>Both are world class universities and while I cant speak for Stanford, I had a fantastic time at Princeton and I’m sure that Stanford would be roughly the same with respect to teaching and student body. I don’t know about Stanford but Princeton also doesn’t have grad students teaching any classes which is nice :)</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t worry about that, almost 60% receives financial aid ([Princeton</a> University - Princeton makes offers to 9.79 percent of applicants; expands class and aid](<a href=“Princeton makes offers to 9.79 percent of applicants; expands class and aid”>Princeton makes offers to 9.79 percent of applicants; expands class and aid)) which is higher than Yale’s (<a href=“http://www.yale.edu/oir/open/pdf_public/W085_FA_PercntbySch.pdf[/url]”>http://www.yale.edu/oir/open/pdf_public/W085_FA_PercntbySch.pdf&lt;/a&gt;). I’m only using Yale since I couldn’t find the number for Stanford but I’m assuming it would similar. By no means is Princeton (or Stanford for that matter) the same bastion of wealth that it used to be. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Most students join eating clubs and most students at Princeton are middle class. University financial aid even adjusts for your Junior and Senior years to account for the slightly higher board costs that an eating club would entail. </p>

<ol>
<li> The science and engineering departments are indeed very ug focused. The JP and Thesis requirements ensure that everyone will spend time doing research. As such, its never odd to have a UG work in any given lab. Also, Princeton graduate programs are tiny, much smaller than Stanford’s so they kinda have to focus on UGs.</li>
</ol>

<p>Hope that helped :)</p>

6

<p>Thanks so much! Yes- that helps a great deal daddy1</p>

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<p>Stanford University!</p>