@texaspg if you look through the foreign language and English offerings (my areas of specialty) you will find many courses taught by lecturers. In the first few years there are no profs at all.
texaspg brings up a good point - Athletic classes are usually taught by people who actually teach athletics for a living (no PhD required usually). Music classes/lessons are often taught by professional musicians who may not have an advanced degree (e.g. players from the SF opera).
Most academic areas are taught by professors (engineering, chemistry, physics, psych, history, etc.). Except for the occasional guest lecture by TAs (or Mark Zuckerberg/other influential people from the industry).
Foreign language is a bit different considering that many instructors are native/fluent in their language. It’s a bit like music in that those who practice with the medium the most are desirable instructors. I’d rather have a native-speaker teaching their language than someone who has just studied it. I’ve enjoyed the language classes here immensely and mine were taught by established lecturers (not undergrad TAs). English may be an exception as well. The more research-based disciplines are usually professor taught.
Thanks for the info. While obviously Silicon Valley is more popular at Stanford are there still a fair amount of NYC firms recruiting on camps too?
@schakrab I’ve found there to be a lot of NYC options (certainly not as many options as SF, but still plenty). Firms often get in touch with our campus career center so there are tons of jobs on our career site in NYC.
This might not be a popular view and it might reveal my bias as an alum, but I think you’ll have a harder time avoiding a superb undergrad education at Williams. You can get just as good an education at Stanford, of course, but at Williams it’s almost unavoidable. Tutorials, for instance, are life-changing, and they have no equivalent at Stanford. FWIW, my sister went to Stanford and when we compare our undergrad experiences, it’s pretty clear to me that Williams is hard to beat.
That said, it’s a win-win, and the most important factors are probably more about fit and preference than actual quality. @ASJU9511
Yes OP is a foster kid but FA can still vary. Some schools might include loans or more WS or have higher student contributions.
D is a sophomore and never had a class taught by a TA and she got to know several professors during her freshman year. She has had TAs for sections of larger classes but never as the main instructor. Most of her classes have been smaller and not large, auditorium style lectures. You will likely find this to be the case for most history classes and for Econ classes past the intro ones.
To answer the question, yes, I am a foster kid. For purposes on the FASFA I am an independent. Stanford gave me their FA package Friday actually. It was really good, totaling around 4,775. It would cost slightly less for me to attend there than my State Flagships. BUT, it is not as good as what Williams is promising. And tonight, I just got a letter from Duke that said I was a “Washington Scholar.” I don’t know much about it, but from what I’m getting from the letter, my cost of attending Duke will be SIGNIFICANTLY less than Stanford.
I’m just kind of torn. On one hand, I’ve grown to really like Williams. Williams seems like its making a concentrated effort of trying to get me there. And even Duke, which I didn’t even consider since I wasn’t even thinking I would be accepted, seems to really be doing the same thing. I really like the small class sizes at Williams and Duke (even though I know significantly less about Duke than Williams). But on the other hand, Stanford is Stanford. I heard their campus is beautiful, the students are amazing, and there are amazing opportunities. But, what is bothering me about Stanford is their undergrad quality and whether it would prepare me sufficiently for getting me into a top law/business school.
Plus, Stanford seems to be much more geared toward STEMs majors and those wanting to be programmers and work in Sillicon Valley. And if you know anything about me, I am a Humanities/Social Sciences student through and through.
Congratulations! So many great options!
The Washington Scholar thing looks like you would get some pretty amazing support:
@ASJU9511 The key reason to turn down Stanford for Williams is if you think you will thrive more into a more intimate setting and smaller class sizes. There is absolutely no reason to turn down Stanford for Duke as long as financials don’t come into play, and pretty much nobody does it. Duke is not a LAC and the setting will not be much more intimate than Stanford. Also Williams and Duke are making an effort to get you there because they need you. They don’t have as many super brilliant kids like you probably are, who turn down schools like Stanford or Harvard to attend. This is especially true for Duke (many might choose Williams over these another achools if they want a LAC over a research university). Stanford has hundreds of similar kids on the waitlist and kniws that they will choose attend in a heartbeat so it does not have to make any effort.
Lastly, Stanford is super highly ranked and reputable in humanities and social sciences. The claim that it is only for STEM prople is rather unfounded.
It’d prepare you just fine to attend top business/law schools. There are top-of-the-line professors, incredible resources and amazing opportunities. Each year students from Stanford get into the top graduate schools in the country. I’d agree with @Penn95 - Stanford is not just for STEM.
It has great grad schools that you can take classes at during undergrad:
Its business school is ranked #2.
Its law school is ranked #2.
Its education school is ranked #1.
Other rankings: Economics #5, English #2, History #4, PoliSci #2, Psychology #1, Sociology #4
http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/stanford-university-243744/overall-rankings
Especially in the humanities there are many small classes at Stanford. 70% have fewer than 20 students: http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/stanford-1305/academics. Social sciences are some of the top 5 most common majors at Stanford.
If you think you’d thrive better at Williams then that’s a reason to attend Williams over Stanford. Academics (and the STEM stereotype) shouldn’t be reasons.
There is a good chance that Stanford will pay for your visit for admit weekend. They gave my d a pretty generous travel allowance to visit and we were only getting about half tuition. It’s certainly worth contacting admissions and asking them.
While Stanford is famous for its stem programs, they are quite determined to keep the humanities a strong part of the university. My d is also completely a humanities kid. I think at the start of her freshman year she felt like she should want to do something stem based because that’s what “everyone” was doing. She quickly realized that she should do what she loved. And now as a sophomore, she’s found that there are lots of people like her.
If I recall correctly, according to the Stanford faculty senate notes on this from last year the only schools where significant numbers of Stanford admits choose to go instead are Harvard, Yale and Princeton.
Of course that doesn’t speak directly to the OPs question, just that choosing Williams over Stanford would be an unusual decision.
OP cannot go wrong here if the onus is placed on fit, meaning that he or she chooses based on culture, academic style and offerings, social and physical environment, and finances.
On paper, there is not much difference – if any – in the quality of education offered at Stanford, Williams and Duke. Any student who thirsts for knowledge and is driven to succeed can get an outstanding undergraduate education at all three.
So if the OP’s chosen alma mater will come from among those three, the choice should definitely be made based on fit.
Duke and Stanford have more in common with each other than they do with Williams… in terms of the number of classes and programs offered, campus size and population, type of location (suburb vs. rural), class sizes and teaching styles, and even weather.
These are some of the things for OP to ponder in deciding fit. And if at all possible, OP should visit all three (or however many, and which, schools he or she decides to seriously consider).
Lots of great points made already. Just from our experience, my freshman son has never had a class—even a very large introductory one—taught by a TA. There are TAs in sections, though, and he’s spoken very highly of them. He also will have taken two or three Introsems by the end of this year. Introsems are very small classes for freshmen and sophomores (typically around 16 students, I think) and are taught by professors. There are a wide variety of course topics, and my son has really enjoyed having the Introsem option. Here’s a link to more information about them:
Thanks all, this is really helpful. You guys have made it easier to decide between my chosen schools already. I will ask if Stanford could possibly give me a bit of money to visit since I’m on the other side of the country and applied for FA.
Speaking of being on the other side of the country…when you compare your FA offers make sure you take travel into account. Cornell and Williams are somewhat remote, Stanford is pretty far and Duke is pretty close. Just a data point.
I’ve just been accepted RD as well and I’m sort of in the same position. I got a likely letter from Dartmouth and am waiting to hear back from other Ivies. I just feel like turning Stanford down would equate to throwing away a winning lottery ticket. There really is no wrong choice in either of our situations. I like the idea of an intimate LAC like D, but I’ve never visited so I’ll have to attend their admit weekend first before I can make comparisons. I’m interested in premed and doing neurobio/anthropology major/minor. I think it’ll honestly come down to gut feeling in my case. Maybe we’ll see each other at admit weekend!
I agree you have to go to the place that feels the best. I think Harvard Stanford Yale and Princeton are all at the same level and it is all about fit after that
@chocodog I’m glad you understand my situation! Yeah, that would be really neat seeing you. 