Differences between Stanford and Yale

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>I live in Palo Alto and was accepted EA to Yale. The only other place I decided to apply is Stanford and I think that I have a good chance of being accepted to Stanford (I don't want to brag about stats tho). Could someone RESPECTFULLY differentiate the schools with respect to (don't make this a Stanford kicks ass thread just b/c it is in the Stanford section or vice versa):</p>

<p>-Academics
-Social Life
-Extracurriculars
-Job Placement
-etc.</p>

<p>My general feel is that they are both GREAT institutions (I prefer them to Harvard personally). My main interests are politics/business but I will probably double major with a science degree wherever I go. I am currently leaning towards Yale because I like the residential college personal feel, the strong history department, and think it might be weird to go to college in my hometown. What's your take?</p>

2

<p>Just search Stanford vs. Yale. There have been plenty of threads on it.</p>

3

<p>A big difference is Yale's housing system, which will group you with a block of incoming students that you will live with for all for years. When we toured last summer, Yale students seemed very enthusiastic about this system and some said they strongly identify with their residential college, even above the school as a whole. The weird part to me is that the Yale housing groups are created (supposedly) without regard to your academic/athletic/EC interests.
At Stanford, you will choose your living group after freshman year based on your own interests and you can change locations every year.
As a Californian, you will find the weather at Yale very different than what you enjoy in Palo Alto. We spent a week at Yale in August...thundershowers two days, humid and hot other days. We talked to some Yale students from the West Coast who said the first winter is tough. One guy described putting his Converse shoues on the dorm room heater every night to dry out until they finally fell apart from mold and he had to buy appropriate winter shoes. (He said he put away the flip flops in September and had to buy a real jacket by October).
Another big difference is the surrounding community. New Haven is sketchy, no matter what anyone on the Yale board will tell you.</p>

4

<p>Stanford has stronger science departments, and a much, much stronger engineering program. There will also be more students who share your love of the sciences, and more who share both a love for the sciences and the humanities and social sciences. That said, you may find that you'd actually prefer a weaker program because that may mean less competition and possibly more admiration/attention from the faculty. Stanford faculty will, of course, also happily get to know you, have you work in their lab, talk about their research, offer extra help outside of class, etc. </p>

<p>The housing system is a HUGE difference. I personally like Stanford's housing system because I can choose who I want to live with and what kind of housing I want. It can be sad not to see your freshman year friends much sophomore year, etc., but it's also a chance to meet new people, which I like a lot. Both systems have advantages and disadvantages. The row houses at Stanford are pretty neat. It's physically laid out a bit like a fraternity or sorority, only it's open to all students. Some row houses have themes, most of them have their own chefs, and they range from about 20-60 students each. </p>

<p>I doubt there are any clubs offered at either school that wouldn't exist at the other. If you're at all interested in conservative politics, there's the option of taking advantage of the Hoover Institute as a resource. Stanford has great sports teams, which can be a lot of fun to watch. </p>

<p>You know what Palo Alto is like, and realize that it isn't <em>that</em> close to San Fran, the beach, etc. You can of course still go to those places, but most students don't. If you really want to get away from home that may be a reason to go to Yale instead, but I have a few friends here who grew up in Palo Alto (one in Stanford!) and they don't seem to mind at all. </p>

<p>Weather is a big deal. It may seem silly, but it can really effect your mood and the mood of those around you. It also restricts what activities are possible. Ultimate frisbee in the middle of the winter doesn't really work when there's a blizzard. </p>

<p>One thing you should know that might tip the scale towards Yale is that there isn't tons of political discussion at Stanford. There's some, and I'm sure much more between friends who like talking about politics, but it's possible that there's more of it at east coast schools. If you start a conversation, people will be able to carry on an intelligent conversation about politics, but you may have to be the one to start it.</p>

5

<p>One important thing to note is the difference in the academic periods. Yale follows the semester system, while Stanford has the quarter system. The people I know at Stanford comment on the fast paced academics there because of the quarter system.</p>

6

<p>Also Yale seems to have more of a focus on undergraduates where graduate students outnumber undergrads by about 2 to 1 at Stanford. I'm still try to get a better understanding of how that translates to the undergraduate experience at Stanford.</p>

7

<p>I would go to Yale, even if it's just for the fact that everyone needs a change of scene, at least for 4 years!</p>

8

<p>"Also Yale seems to have more of a focus on undergraduates where graduate students outnumber undergrads by about 2 to 1 at Stanford. I'm still try to get a better understanding of how that translates to the undergraduate experience at Stanford."</p>

<p>while graduate do outnumber undergrads, undergrads do get extreme personal attention. You get you own faculty mentor, residential advisor, residential tutor for every dorm, residential computing advisor for every dorm, 2-3 ACADEMICALLY qualified RA's for every floor of every dorm, free golfcart service on-demand, and a huge building (Sweet Hall) dedicated to and only to undergraduate life and tutoring.</p>

<p>if you need help, whether it be academic, social, financial, etc., there will ALWAYS be someone there to solve your problems.</p>

<p>and yea...if you are doing anything science-related, coming to stanford is no-brainer.</p>

9

<p>Can someone elaborate on the quarter v. semester systems? Does that mean that you just have two classes per quarter at Stanford, or is it just a way to break up the semester into two segments? (And if it's the latter, how does that create a difference?)</p>

<p>I'm interested in this question in a hypothetical sense, as I don't really expect to get into both (or even either) of these schools :-p</p>

10

<p>hey ethanrt let me break it down for you...</p>

<p>In the regular semester system, there are 2 semesters per year.
In the stanford quarter system, there are 3 quarters per year. (The other quarter being the summer quarter).</p>

<p>We do the same amount of work/courses in a quarter that other universities do in a semester.</p>

<p>So basically it's a lot of work and very fast paced...for ex. i had my first midterm 4 weeks after school started.</p>

11

<p>Hmmm. That's actually pretty interesting, and I'm surprised I hadn't heard of that difference before. It leads me to this question: do you think you get the same amount out of any given course at Stanford as you'd get out of the same course at another excellent school? Because, and I mean absolutely no offense, I somehow doubt that Stanford students just work 50% harder and learn 50% more in a year than their Ivy semester-system counterparts. Do you think any depth is sacrificed?</p>

12

<p>
[quote]
We do the same amount of work/courses in a quarter that other universities do in a semester.</p>

<p>So basically it's a lot of work and very fast paced...for ex. i had my first midterm 4 weeks after school started.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>this is true in my experience. at least for CS dept.</p>

13

<p>
[quote]
We do the same amount of work/courses in a quarter that other universities do in a semester.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>In comparing the curricula of courses at schools under the semester system with those of courses at schools under the quarter system, I see that the material is often broken up and spread over two quarters (though sometimes additional topics are covered, which would be covered in other classes under the semester system).</p>

<p>Also, the usual # of courses under the quarter system is 4. The usual # of courses under the semester system is 4-5.</p>

14

<p>Hmmm I had to make the same decision between Stanford and Yale, and I live 20 minutes away from Stanford. The biggest obvious difference that many have already pointed out is the weather. The setting is also a huge difference. Stanford's environment is much more like a "bubble"; whether that is a good thing or not depends on the student. At Yale, there are busy streets running through most of the campus, and the surrounding area can be grimy and not-too-pleasant. Stanford is much more peaceful and its campus is manicured and gorgeous! Yale's buildings are beautiful but the gothic architecture seems a little out of place in the middle of a city.</p>

<p>As for your major both schools are strong in those areas so it shouldn't be a problem. Even if you switched to the sciences Yale is still pretty strong although not as strong as Stanford; however, there is a lower faculty-student ratio at Yale.</p>

15

<p>I'd say the biggest difference is the housing situation. In fact, at the first Yale seminar I went to, the counselor described how at Yale games instead of jeering at the other team, the house jeered one another. That just doesn't seem very School Spirity to me, as opposed to the Stanford Band which practice polygamy in Utah...look it up if you don't know what I'm talking about.</p>

16

<p>Seriously, take that opportunity to see the East coast. California really, truly is VERY different from the rest of the United States.</p>

<p>If you go to Stanford, you may live in California all your life. I think in terms of life experience alone, Yale has an invaluable edge in your situation. </p>

<p>Stanford is distinctly Californian, which you know, having lived in Palo Alto. Too bucolic and spread out for me though; I found it extremely beautiful, peaceful, and boring. Not centralized enough for the kind of mayhem I intend to cause.</p>

<p>Yale is more compacted with residential "houses" and courtyards in between. Beautiful campus. I only decided not to apply because New Haven gives me the creeps. I think that's a personal issue though. Still, most agree it's not the greatest place, but I assume that tons of Yale kids do just fine there and get used to it.</p>

17

<p>There are only a handful of schools in the U.S. which use the quarter/trimester system. Stanford, Northwestern, Dartmouth, Chicago, Union College, UCLA, UC Davis, UCSD, UC Riverside, UCSB & UC Santa Cruz. Berkeley is on the semester system, and I don't know about UC Irvine. The typical course load for semester calendar schools is 5 courses, sometimes permitting 6 courses per semester. Trimester/quarter system schools take either 3 or 4 courses per quarter or trimester. Dartmouth, for example, calls their system a trimester calendar requiring 3 courses per trimester; Northwestern's quarter system assumes 4 courses per quarter. Quarter/trimester system schools are reputed to be academically demanding with a consistently heavy workload that typically covers the same amount of material in a ten week quarter/trimester that is covered in the usual 15 week semester, but students take one or two fewer courses per term. The advantage to the quarter/trimester systems that expect 4 courses a term is that the student takes about 48 undergraduate courses over 4 years vs. 40 courses on the semester system.</p>

18

<p>ye i know someone who chose MIT over stanford. one of his reasons was seeing some place new, maybe you'll decide you want to do the same</p>

19

<p>Some other schools on the quarter system include Caltech, Cal Polies, Santa Clara and U Washington, Western Washington, Evergreen State, Seattle, Seattle Pacific and Gonzaga. </p>

<p>Quarters are mostly a west coast thing. UC and Stanford went to quarters in late sixties. Berkeley then reverted to semesters in the eighties.</p>

20

<p>I forgot to mention U Oregon, Oregon State, CSULA, CSUH, and CSUSB. </p>

<p>Actually, U Minnesota invented the quarter system in 1916. Went to semesters in 1999. Ohio State has quarters.</p>