I’m excited to say that I have been admitted to Stanford and it is one of my top choices.
I know Stanford has excellent departments in the humanities and social sciences, but I was wondering about the student culture with respect to non-STEM subjects, since Stanford is known for its techie, entrepreneurial vibe. I’m interested in art history and literature, and I’m keen on applying to SLE. How many people at Stanford study the humanities? How do STEM students view humanities students? How does the experience of studying the humanities at Stanford differ from peer schools known for their strengths in the humanities (e.g., Yale, Princeton, Chicago, etc…)?
Stanford is the strongest school across the board of any university and that includes humanities. The number one ranked arts and humanities dept in the world is Stanford according to Times Higher Education of World rankings.
I lived in a SLE dorm Flo Mo and although I wasn’t in humanities (microbiology) I enjoyed the late night philosophical discussions with dorm mates… I was taking a western culture track at the time so our readings were very similar.
Stanford is also a leader in interdisciplinary studies… combining different disciplines including STEM with humanities… I think this is an exciting future for humanities and there is no better place to explore interdisciplinary studies than in the heart of Silicon Valley.
Stanford has recently created an arts district comprising Bing Concert Hall, the Cantor Museum and recently completed the McMurty arts building and a contemporary museum to house the Anderson Collection.
Stanford is what you make of it… the resources are there in every discipline and across disciplines.
btw… the schools you mentioned are making tech, engineering and entrepreneurship a top priority to become more like Stanford:)
@ChasingMerit I feel Stanford does a good job of balancing its entrepreneurial, techie vibe with the more intellectual, quirky vibe that the school also has. It helps that it is top in all fields across the board.
My d is a humanities student, but loves the energetic, vibrant vibe that the techie side brings to campus. She has lots of friends from both the techie and the fuzzy sides. She has never felt judged by her interests.
Yeah, I read that post. But if anything, it’s a reflection of how the economy and perception changed, not just Stanford. As Mark Cuban said “Humanities majors will become more important again.” He said something similar recently.
^ Yeah exactly it is a societal thing, not a Stanford thing. If anything at Stanford you got tippy top humanities programs with a smaller enrollment than a place like Harvard or Yale, so more individual attention and smaller classes. Seems like a good thing to me.
About 10% of Stanford students major in a Humanities discipline and another 15% or so in the Social Sciences: http://stanfordvisualized.soraven.com/. Stanford lies about halfway between MIT and Yale/Harvard/Princeton on this percentage.
The change has been worst at Stanford, CS majors now account for greater than 20% (and still increasing). All other universities (except the tech ones - MIT and Caltech) have a better balance at around 5% for CS enrollments. Stanford itself is to blame for it. Among other things, the dilution of the CS curriculum about 10 years ago saw enrollments growing must faster and earlier than the rest of the country.The media hype - calling Stanford a “Get Rich U” etc is not helping either. Frankly, there are many who should not be in CS but are. They need to be told to look at other majors more aligned with their abilities.
@CA94309 I am sure there are some CS bound students thinking they will be next Google founders etc. who look down on Humanities majors. All I am saying is it wasn’t long ago that computer kids were looked down by Humanities majors. Let them have their days in the sun; they deserve it.
@CA94309 this is one student you keep quoting and referring to. Bottom line is Stanford has top notch humanities (in certain areas higher ranked than YP) and the fact that fewer people major in it doesnt take anything away from it. If anything it creates a more intimate humanities community at Stanford. Ands being a humanities student at a school that also has a more practical, innovative element might be a good thing in terms of balancing things out.
It is not one students opinion, it is a widely held opinion. Read the comments section in Cath’s blog. Also read the Stanford Daily link @reuynshard posted.
Sure, Stanford humanities is top notch. If you are fine with dinner conversations being “party of one” affairs while your fellow classmates are drooling over the cool app they are working or the crazy CS assignment that had them hacking away all night, you can still be happy at Stanford. If these things bother you, then go elsewhere where they put more emphasis on humanities with better “intellectual diversity”
By the way, Stanford pays lip service to the humanities/social science. It’s recent rise to prominence is due to the popularity of tech and CS, it will do whatever it needs to keep the frenzy going.
No one’s belittling Stanford for either its great engineering programs or its humanities departments. This thread is about the study of humanities at different schools, please stop devolving it into yet another ego-induced X vs Y battle.
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Since Stanford probably has more students majoring in science fields than any area, the majority of students will probably view their majors as being more relevant or important. I think it’s just a case of numbers. I rather like it that my kid will be among fewer students in a non-STEM field who will be able to get more attention, while learning about what things are hot in tech areas.