Stanford is honestly the best choice. Did they give you any financial aid?
OP has not yet been accepted to Stanford; he wrote that he received a “likely letter”.
And this is about where OP will fit and thrive, his/her perception, that decision, not the adcom’s. Not ours.
@lookingforward: I think that you misunderstand why OP started this thread. OP has the right to ask for & receive the opinions of others.
In fact OP titled this thread “help me decide on a school”.
thank you very much for all the help! i suppose i should have been clearer in my interests and where the schools stand for me right now. i am a bit scared of a lot of these programs just because it’s so high intensity and i don’t want to burn out too much. obviously these are very strong programs so it is to be expected and i of course am ready to work hard, but i want it to be rewarding in other aspects besides test scores and grades. additionally, with a lot of top ranked programs, i worry the social life of the students and their happiness is at risk. i love the idea of stanford and its program, and the size and location, and for what i want to study. it is more so fitting in with other people, i’d say. you all are absolutely right that it is hard to gauge the best fit without having gone to all the admitted students days, which is something i am looking into. is it reasonable to be worried about the types of students in my prospective college? do you think that visiting and spending a day on campus is an accurate representation of what it would actually be like to be there?
as for cal tech, i really worry about the types of students going there and the fact that it is such a small school. obviously i would be able to find someone but for the type of intensive work and research, i am just not sure that the rewards would outweigh all i would have to do to stay afloat. and i know this is just a number, perhaps an irrational fear or something present everywhere, but i can’t get over the presence of sexual assault at this school.
UT is very appealing because it is such a strong program in a good school but with large and broad student body. i feel like i could find anything i wanted there. it seems like the best of both worlds. but, i can’t help but imagine the opportunities i’d be giving up by going to a school that is populated entirely by intelligent and interesting people, like stanford or harvey mudd. i’ve heard it is incredibly difficult to graduate turing as well. is that something i should be afraid of?
i love harvey mudd and its program and the other claremont schools so much. it is such an appealing program to me. but, here especially is where the social life seemed dead. the campus is small, the sports are nonexistent, and you’re in the middle of like a retirement town. and the student population is like the size of a high school. is it fair to judge schools like this? of course, i need to wait and see if i even have this opportunity.
i am looking into grad school but i also don’t really know how i’ll feel after undergrad, and i hope that i will be able to explore many employment opportunities upon graduation.
again thank you all so much for the help and insight. it is very appreciated!
also, if i were interested in eventually getting a job in say, CA, would undergraduate in CA be a significant factor in helping get those sort of opportunities as opposed to another state?
California tech firms know about the University of Texas at Austin.
Also, did you attend the reception for Turing Scholars at UT ? If so, what were your impressions ?
Which schools have actually accepted you ?
@kalons thank you so much for that youtube channel- i have been watching a bunch and it has me actually very excited for it potentially being my school next year. thank you!!
I cannot imagine paying the OOS cost for a CA public when you could go to Stanford or Caltech or Mudd. UC’s and SLO are excellent schools, but competition for resources goes with the territory - why pay private U prices for huge weeder classes taught by grad students? FWIW, Mudd has the best gender parity of any top CS program, with slightly more than 50% of CS majors being female. CS at Stanford is about 30% female. At Cal Poly it’s under 15%. (Gender balance might not be a big deal to you in terms of immediate peer group, but I think it reflects more subtle aspects of the culture as well.) Overall it’s hard to see why you would pass up Stanford unless you specifically wanted a more STEM-specialized environment like Caltech or Mudd. Both Mudd and Caltech are socially “quirkier” (but in two different ways) than Stanford - depends what feels like your “tribe” in that regard As for feeling intimidated, I think Stanford is one of those schools where the hardest part is getting in - not to say that it isn’t challenging, but once you’re in, the context is more a commitment to your success than an attempt to wash you out. The same is not true in many top public CS programs. There are reasons you might choose other schools over Stanford, but feeling intimidated probably isn’t a reason you should assign a lot of weight to. There’s a reason the freshman retention rate is 98% and the 6-year graduation rate is 94%. Congrats on all the great offers!
Where do you want to be?
Stanford, Caltech and HMC are top private schools for CS. If Stanford feels too big, or rah-rah jock/sports-oriented, Caltech and Mudd might be more up your alley. If you want four seasons, though, forget California. Of those three, Mudd has by far the most undergrad focus. (duh, it’s a LAC…)
If you were going to pick a public school, I would pick Minnesota because it is going to cost you half (or less…) what the others will OOS. It’s huge and suffers in the rankings because it serves its state primarily, and OOS applicants don’t really flock to frostbiteland… but the Gophers have a pretty fair number of Nobels in their trophy case, more than some of the other schools on your list.
I would pick Stanford in a heartbeat. It’s an incredible place, has top-notch faculty and programs, and values quirkiness, Irreverence, and good, old-fashioned fun.
You will work hard, be surrounded by really bright people, and have an amazing time. The approach toward learning is collaborative, not competitive, and the professors are accessible.
Suffering from imposter syndrome is not unusual. Stanford–or anyplace else for that matter–would not have excepted you if they didn’t think you would thrive. Go to admitted students days, sit in on some classes, and get a feel for the school and the environment.
If you feel that you want a smaller school, I might consider Caltech or Harvey Mudd. I can’t, however, see paying for an out-of-state public school education when you’ve got acceptances from some of the best private schools around.
Congrats!
hello, i just thought i would update you all- i was rejected from harvey mudd, accepted to both UCLA and uwashington directly into my major, and waitlisted at UCSD (??). now, I am just waiting for USC. i am very much leaning towards either stanford or UT now (probably stanford), unless something crazy happens with scholarships elsewhere. thank you all!!