<p>Hi. I'm a rising senior next year considering applying early to either Princeton or Stanford as an East Asian Studies major (China concentration, from more of an economic/political perspective than a humanistic one, though I am interested in the latter). I plan to do at least some study abroad in my time at college, and the quality of their china program is very important to me. Any advice? I'll be visiting both schools later this month but I really want to figure out which school is academically better suited to my interests before I visit, so that I won't be as influenced by my aesthetic attachment to either campus.</p>
<pre><code>Also, can you give me a feel as to the overall environment and atmosphere? I'm not exactly sure about the eating club scene at Princeton, but I also worry that the strength of the engineering program at Stanford has detracted from its reputation in other areas. Oh, and I go to phillips exeter, so it doesn't make a difference to me whether the school is ED or EA since the college office will make me enroll if I'm accepted early regardless of policy.
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<p>I know less about the program at Princeton, but East Asian studies is awesome at Stanford. There are a lot of extremely dedicated faculty and students in that field, especially in Japanese (I was considering transferring there in part because of that program). I don't think that you have to worry about Stanford's rep in this area, engineering or no engineering.</p>
<p>I know this has nothing to do with your question, but think about it in more broad terms. There's a reason people have an attachment to campus, and it's hard to tell until you set foot on campus. There's no doubt that both of these schools are going to be tops in the East Asian Studies department, but there are definitely other factors to consider when choosing a school other than academics (especially when they are both top 10s!), such as weather, closeness to home, student body, campus, clubs/organizations, etc.</p>
<p>Princeton and Stanford are completely different schools. I would think, only because Stanford is on the West Coast that East Asian Studies would be better over there, but that's just a guess. Both will be excellent academically regardless. In terms of the atmosphere, I've never visited Stanford, but Princeton has a very liberal artsy feel to it (the reason I disliked it; felt like a very suffocating environment). The town of Princeton is small; beautiful but very quiet. You won't see much (if anything) in the way of nightclubs and such. Stanford on the other hand is a much bigger school; granted it's located more in suburbia than say Columbia or Harvard, but it seems like it would be a more vibrant campus. Like I said, though, I've never visited Stanford, so I can't tell for sure.</p>
<p>At a lot of prep schools where many people apply to the top schools, it's kind of an unwritten rule to not apply anywhere else if you get in early somewhere. It's considered rude to take other people's spots during the RD round. The single exception to this "rule" is if the financial aid package at one's first-choice school is not enough.</p>
<p>I would totally break that policy. I would apply to the RD schools I wanted, and no stupid high school could stop me from enrolling if I got accepted.</p>
<p>Yeah ForeverZero, that's exactly right. Of course there are those who get in EA to harvard for example, and still decide to try stanford or yale in the regular round. Last year one of our math olympiad stars got in early to MIT but still applied regular to harvard and subsequently enrolled there. </p>
<p>But in general, I think it's a good policy. Collegeperson12, it might seem like the school is taking away your process-given privileges, but it's really a collaborative process on many levels, esp. at exeter. If everyone shared your philosophy, then the top few students would rack up all the slots at every single school and really no one would be better off. The idea is that if you apply early, you are applying to your first choice school, and therefore there's no reason to apply to any other schools in the regular round. The only acception, as ForeverZero mentioned, is financial aid. </p>
<p>But that's just my opinion. Actually, although this wans't the original intent of the thread, I'd be interested to know what others think of the policy? </p>
<p>I'd be interested to know what others think of the policy? </p>
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<p>I would be dead set against it at most high schools, because I think it's extremely valuable for kids to have more time to think about what they want, visit schools, etc.</p>
<p>But at Exeter, there are such great advising resources, and the kids on the whole are so well prepared, and the kids are so likely to have friends enrolled as freshmen at virtually every good college who can give them the inside scoop, that the up side probably outweighs the down.</p>
<p>to the OP: you should really consider re-posting this on the princeton and stanford boards, where you might find a few people in the know. i'm unfortunately not one myself, but i can attest that princeton's east asian library in the frist campus center is pretty sweet. from the website: "The Chinese books of the East Asian Library, amount to about 425,000 volumes, including traditional string-bound books, modern western bindings, and bound periodicals." as for economics and politics, u.s. news ranks princeton's graduate programs in international econ and politics 2nd and 3rd, respectively. good luck!</p>