@sbballer - When I think of Stanford as being more “laid back” than Princeton, I am referring to their respective student bodies more than the schools themselves or the amount of work that students have to do at those schools. I was comparing the more quirky and irreverent student body of a place like Stanford, with a definite west cost vibe and lifestyle, and contrasting that with the more east coast, (in my opinion, somewhat more uptight) preppy vibe of a place like Princeton.
This is what I said: "Stanford has a very west coast feel – its student body is quirky and irreverent, every bit as accomplished as those of its peer schools, but a bit more laid back, IMO. My D would not have “[appreciated] the … ‘preppy’ vibe.”
I cannot comment on the quarter vs. semester system and how that works with athletics, but quarters do move at a fast pace. I think that the frequent mid-terms are more of an issue for some of the STEM classes than for the humanities and social sciences, although there are no shortage of papers to write for the latter two areas of study.
@sushiritto - To my mind, Stanford is hardly what I would consider an “urban” campus. More suburban than urban, IMO. And Princeton is, indeed, a beautiful hamlet.
Yale, Columbia, NYU, Northeastern, U.Chicago are urban. Stanford is sprawling and suburban, and I’d hardly consider Palo Alto to be an urban metropolis, no matter how much building is going on there.
I’d pick Stanford simply for logistics. If your family is on the west coast they will have more of a chance to see you than at Princeton, and could probably attend some of your meets too. Flights up and down the coast are very cheap and are essentially shuttle runs. You can’t go wrong with either academically. You don’t mention cost - is that an issue? Is there scholarship money involved at Stanford?
@LoveTheBard we disagree then. I actually live here and the commercial construction activity is HUGE. Seriously. New hotels, office buildings, retail, etc., between Redwood City to Sunnyvale and beyond. Have you seen Page Mill Road in PA lately? Suburban? Nah. Urban to me, and certainly when compared to Princeton.
@cllgerower1999 congratulations on your wonderful choices! I have a kid at an Ivy in a different sport. From California as well and wanted a different culture. It’s working out ok for him there and the deciding factor was the major, school culture, the team competitiveness and team culture. One thing to seriously consider is the weather especially given that yours is an outdoor sport. My kid would compete in 30-40 degree weather and that was in the spring. Not ideal but it is what it is. The other factor (which may or may not be important to you) is the racial mix of the student body.
You mention you had unforgettable feelings about being on princeton’s campus which is great but you bring up a good point that you’re a teenager and might not trust your feelings. You may have that feeling now but there’s always a honeymoon period then reality sets in once practice and school starts and the grind becomes that…a grind. Your teammmates will really shape your experience during your undergrad much more than anything else.
I’d give the nod to Stanford: prestige, high quality academics, weather and PAC-12 athletics. Good luck!
P.S. Now that my kid has had some experience as an Ivy athlete coming from another coast, the drawback has been distance. The lack of family support at meets was evident and the struggle was real. I’m sure it’s contributed to some positive takeaways such as character building but I have to agree with @TooOld4School
If you are “accepted” as in an assistant coach said you’re in, well, good luck.
Anyway, have to agree with what others said - Princeton attracts a certain kind of person looking for a certain education, a.k.a., not much time spent on non-academics.
Stanford freaking caters to Olympians and pro athletes. I can’t imagine any true athlete picking Princeton over Stanford purely for the athletic advantage.
Having gone to an Ivy, I know that at my school (near Princeton LOL) had few West Coast kids and it was isolating as far as I could tell from a third person view.
@sushiritto - it all depends on what your definition of “urban” is both in terms of residential areas and in terms of campuses.
When I think “urban,” I think “inner city” and when I think “urban campus” I mean one that it within the inner city, especially if buildings are interspersed with city streets.
Ultimately, it’s all a matter of perspective – I grew up in Manhattan, and consider most “metropolitan” regions in CA (except for downtown LA or downtown SF and a few scattered other cities) to be a series of concatenated suburbs, so everything’s relative.
And I agree with @TooOld4School. @CALSmom, and @rhandco – distance and logistics matter (more to some than others). These are all considerations when it comes to finding “fit.”
@LoveTheBard I grew up in a large city too, though admittedly not nearly the size of NYC. Times change. High rises are sprouting up everywhere here. Come visit sometime.
I’ve been there three times in the last couple of months and am heading up this later this week. I’m sure I’ll get to know the area pretty well over the next four years!
Gotta say, I love those > dozen 1-hour non-stop $59 flights per day.
My comment concerned special academic tutoring exclusively for the benefit of athletes, which Stanford offers and, by conference agreement, Princeton does not. Fact, not opinion.
As a former Ivy rower who spent hours in the tanks, Stanford sure has nicer weather! That said, a rower at Princeton is going to be considered more “elite” by fellow students than is the same rower at Stanford. That’s because Stanford has amazing athletes and teams in every sport!
I would have to agree that Stanford is located in a suburban area and not an urban one. after Stanford I always considered campuses such as Princeton as way too small. I much prefer a larger campus and it’s easy to get around on bike.
I also agree that as far as rowing you’re going to placed higher on the pecking order of athletes at Princeton than at Stanford. Rowing is part of the culture and esprit of an ivy school. Stanford athletics is part of the Pac12… the most competitive conference in the US but also a.completely different athletics conference and culture compared to the ivy conference.
People keep saying that Stanford has stronger athletics. The OP is a rower. Just looking at 2017 IRA champs, Princeton men crushed Stanford. Of the 3 V8 boats Princeton was in the grand final with each boat, and Stanford was in the third final with each boat. That is not to say you should go to Princeton. The competition to get a seat will likely be much tougher at Princeton. There is still much more rowing depth in the east than the west.
Stanford has the strongest athletic dept in the country… Stanford has won more NCAA individual and team championships than any other Div 1 university… along with winning the directors cup for 24 straight years.
on the women’s side it looks like the names I see coming up are Washington, Berkeley, Ohio State, Virginia, Brown, Stanford.
I am frankly surprised at the strength of Ohio State and the Pac 12… would have expected more ivies.
apparently men’s is not part of the ncaas…so don’t have the results for that but on the women’s side I see more rowing depth in the midwest and west coast than the east coast.
and actually the pac 12 has dominated men’s rowing since 2006 with either Washington or Berkeley winning the IRA championship…although Yale did break the streak this year.
PAC 12 is surprisingly the conference to beat in rowing…not the ivies.
You will notice that Stanford is not UW or UCB which are indeed very strong mens crews and have been for around 90 years. That is why I said there is more depth in the east not that the best mens crews are in the east. Stanford is strong, just not as strong as most of the Ivy.
@riley2 I have to agree with @sherpa concerning the hand-holding. Stanford has each varsity sport as an actual class the team members take for credit in which they just do their sport. They were also dinged by the NCAA for passing around a list of easy classes for athletes to take. You aren’t going to find that at Princeton. Of course that might be appealing to the original poster due to the requirements of rowing.
but it’s clear that the PAC 12 is the stronger conference for rowing… both women’s and men’s which I am sure comes as a surprise to many of the posters at CC who tend to be predominately of the ivy persuasion.
oh btw… the Harvard football team also passed around a list of easy classes to take… they had a name for it which eludes me now so I wouldn’t be so sure about that.
@sbballer Harvard and Princeton aren’t the same school. Every school has easier courses available - there aren’t any athletes taking the Integrated Science Curriculum with my D but there are in her Psych 101 class - but maybe due to size and less grade inflation fewer at Princeton. Also there’s no ducking that Senior Thesis requirement. Basically the rigor floor is lower at Stanford which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. That’s not a statement about the rigor ceiling which obviously at school like Stanford is as high as the student desires.
