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Pointless comparison. One does not apply to Stanford or Columbia’s graduate school; one applies to a program. It is not even worth comparing programs, as the selection process is highly individualized. At the graduate level, fit is the same as quality. Only ignorant high schoolers and undergraduates think graduate rankings are worth looking at.</p>
<p>I can count on my fingers the number of programs in any field that are absolutely and definitively the best in their field beyond all competition, and none of those programs are at Stanford, or Columbia for that matter.</p>
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Accurately and succinctly stated. That should have ended the thread.</p>
<p>That poster said that Columbia was more prestigious than Stanford to some east coast people, not that it was better. It’s rather pointless to argue it, as I know people who do believe Columbia is more prestigious, though I personally do not. Not everyone on the east coast, especially people on the street, considers Stanford on par with Yale or Princeton. What does it matter what such people think, though? Is it necessary to enlighten people so they may grovel before the might of Stanford?</p>