<p>UCLA, Duke, UPenn</p>
<p>Haha, I was wondering why people recommend Rice, definitely does not fit weather. Stanford does not have winter, not as harsh as other place.</p>
<p>"“I like having seasons/the winter”</p>
<p>“UCLA”</p>
<p>Shaking my head in amazement…</p>
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<p>The OP wasn’t being clear on what he means by “seasons/the winter.” Since he’s asking about schools similar to Stanford’s atmosphere, I assumed he meant he liked Stanford-style seasons/winters. Stanford has winter, just not snow. UCLA is less like Stanford in this respect; NorCal winters are colder and a bit more rainy, while its summers are marginally hotter. However, UCLA is more like Stanford in weather than Michigan is. Believe it or not, both Stanford and UCLA have seasons; they’re just not as extreme as in other parts of the country. ;)</p>
<p>Bunch of Stanford wannabes here. Let’s see which school has the most fans coming here. That school will be the winner of our 1st “Stanford wannabe” contest.</p>
<p>^ I think Duke is currently winning… not that it surprises anyone. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>Nothwestern!!!</p>
<p>It so happens that many people do like to think and suggest that Duke is the Right Coast counterpart of Stanford. I always find this surprising, but everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. As far as mine, I do not think that it is feasible to find a good comparable for Stanford. Although it might sound cheezy, the unique character of Stanford makes valid comparisons difficult, if not impossible. </p>
<p>And for what it is worth, Stanford is not Duke and most definitely not Rice, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, or UVa.</p>
<p>USC says it’s USC…</p>
<p>[The</a> Audacity of USC | Spring 2012 | Trojan Family Magazine](<a href=“http://tfm.usc.edu/spring-2012/the-audacity-of-usc/]The”>http://tfm.usc.edu/spring-2012/the-audacity-of-usc/)
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I don’t see the need to be snippy here Sam. The OP asked CC a question and we’re doing the best to answer his/her question. No school in the world is exactly like Stanford but there are a number that share a lot of similarities which may be helpful to the OP in making a college list: Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Duke, MIT, Georgia Tech, Michigan, and Rice come the closest.</p>
<p>Of the bunch, Duke is probably the closest; it has the same number of undergraduates per year (1,600-1,700), has warm weather but still experiences seasons, is entreprenurial, is located in the Research Triangle (kind of a miniature East Coast version of Silicon Valley), has D-1 athletics, and has a lot of research opportunities. Stanford’s Greek Life is more subdued than Duke’s but the OP is actually interested in that so Duke might stand out to him/her even more.</p>
<p>Duke’s engineering program isn’t anywhere close to Stanford’s though; if Duke and MIT swapped engineering programs, then Duke would be the exact equal of Stanford on the East Coast.;)</p>
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According to the Stanford Faculty Minutes, Stanford shares more cross admits with Duke than any other East Coast school besides HYPM, so why does it surprise you that its being bought up in this thread? </p>
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The OP is asking us to state the impossible, so its only rational for us to lists schools that at least share some similarities with Stanford like the ones I mentioned below. All schools are unique in their own way by the way.</p>
<p>I agree that Duke isn’t like Stanford nearly as much as some people like to think. Duke even gets snow, isn’t as good in sports as people assume, doesn’t have across-the-board top programs, has a more prominent Greek scene, etc. It is very difficult to find a truly analagous university, and I say that from an objective standpoint. Berkeley is similar in weather, strong in sports, and comparable in faculty, but it’s 2x the size of Stanford and is in a dense city. UCLA’s weather is a little dissimilar, is strong in sports, but doesn’t have a comparable faculty, is more than 2x the size, and is in a major city. The same goes for USC, except its faculty is even less comparable than UCLA’s. Harvard has similar breadth/depth, but it’s not nearly as strong in engineering and has a greater focus on professional programs; it’s also in a dense city and has completely different weather. Northwestern is about as dissimilar as Duke is. Rice is too small and isn’t across-the-board strong. The same is true of Notre Dame, which is also religious/conservative, neither of which Stanford is. Most of these don’t particularly stand out in the startup criterion, and many have a more prominent Greek scene than Stanford’s.</p>
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<p>According to the Stanford faculty minutes, Stanford’s greatest overlap is with Berkeley, and also has a large overlap with USC (yes, I know these are on the West Coast). Does that mean that they’re like Stanford? No. According to those same minutes, outside of HYPM, no school makes up more than 2% of the pool of students who choose not to attend Stanford. Duke isn’t special.</p>
<p>I stand by my previous statement: Harvard and Berkeley share more characteristics with Stanford than Duke does.</p>
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<p>“Exact equal”? :rolleyes: Don’t forget you’d also have to change the weather (cut out the snow, reduce rain by 2/3, and lower the average temperature), become far stronger in sports outside of basketball, increase the quality of most of Duke’s programs (not just engineering), and cut down significantly on the Greek scene. Not to mention significantly increase the selectivity of both the undergrad and grad divisions.</p>
<p>If anyone took the time to notice where the OP was applying to colleges, they were all located in the northeast and midwest. Obviously the OP is interested in distinct seasons.</p>
<p>^ his list does not necessarily suggest that (just that “these are the schools I’ve come up with, what else is there?”), especially since he is looking for schools similar to Stanford. To be clear, Stanford isn’t in the Northeast or the Midwest. ;)</p>
<p>We know Duke isn’t exactly like Stanford I don’t know why you guys are trying to prove a point we all already agree on.</p>
<p>^ no one is trying to prove the statement Duke isn’t exactly like Stanford; as you said, we all know that. Rather, the point is that, contrary to what some posters would lead you to believe, Duke is no more similar to Stanford than a handful of other schools are. Some, such as goldenboy, assert that Duke is nearly a replica of Stanford, and more similar to it than any other school. That isn’t true.</p>
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<p>Do you meant that people agree that Duke is neither “exactly like Stanford” nor … much like it at all. You could make Trinity a new MIT and the schools would still be different. </p>
<p>The OP asked about the atmosphere at various schools. The atmosphere at Duke is very different from Stanford’s as itheir student bodies are not as interchangeable as one might think. Schools can have similar stats or similar facilities and still be vasyly different. All it takes to find out is to walk around the campus or spend a few hours to see how different the Farm is from the Plantation. Or inquire about the integration of freshmen at Duke. Or inquite about the differences in town-gown relations between Duke/Durham and Stanford/Silicon Valley. </p>
<p>They are only similar on paper!</p>
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That would require focusing on providing helpful information to the OP, something often foreign to certain posters who would rather argue over nitpicky details and/or get off on the sight of their own universities than provide useful advice. </p>
<p>For example, one piece of advice glaringly absent from this thread is that the OP lacks any match schools. Stanford, Cornell, CMU, Northwestern - these are all highly selective universities, and admission is by no means guaranteed even for superb applicants. Michigan, long a safe match for top applicants, is increasingly selective. </p>
<p>While the OP may be happy at U Mass if the more selective options do not work out, I think many would prefer to have other options. Universities like Georgia Tech, Case Western, Syracuse, etc. may be well worth a look. Many private universities offer hefty merit scholarships, and some public universities waive out-of-state tuition for top students.</p>
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Indeed, Penn has a specific program devoted to such students. </p>
<p>[THE</a> JEROME FISHER PROGRAM IN MANAGEMENT & TECHNOLOGY | ABOUT THE PROGRAM](<a href=“Home - Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology”>Home - Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology)</p>
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<p>While you got a point there, the OP did not ask any of us to “rank” its choices as reaches or safeties. Simply stated we know nothing about how competitive the OP will be at the schools he listed, ecept that UMass is his … safety. </p>
<p>One could easily think that a student who is very competitive at Stanford might consider any of the big state schools (or CMU) to be matches as even the most selective ones often admit one of every two applicants. And, unless one confuses the terms matches and safety, a school that offers a very reasonable chance (not a guarantee) of admission IS exactly what a match mean.</p>
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With a [2240</a> SAT and top 10% class rank](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1356821-help-me-find-safety.html]2240”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1356821-help-me-find-safety.html), most of these are reaches for the OP, as they are for most people. Very reasonable reaches, to be sure, but reaches nevertheless. </p>
<p>Regardless of what the OP requested, I think including colleges that are a little more feasible is more helpful than quibbling over whether an average December high of 60 is drastically different from a high of 52, or whether first place in the directors’ cup standings is radically different from eighth or tenth…especially if Stanford is so magically special that no school is truly like it.</p>
<p>“Universities like Georgia Tech, Case Western, Syracuse, etc. may be well worth a look”</p>
<p>Case Western and Syracuse are indeed in cold weather climates. Finally, some suggestions that the OP could really use…</p>