<p>^LOL, Dad2–I knew you’d show up in this thread, since you can’t seem to get over your disappointment that Stanford didn’t admit your kid. But no amount of sour grapes will change that. </p>
<p>Princeton and Stanford are both superb universities. I have two generations of legacy at Princeton and know it well, but chose Stanford because it combines an excellent undergraduate experience with the opportunities of a stellar research institution.</p>
<p>the idea that princeton has unmatched focus on the undergraduate experience just isn’t true. yes, it’s great, but a few of its peers are just as great, especially Stanford. what people are really talking about is the extreme focus on academics as opposed to a balanced lifestyle. princeton just doesn’t have that balance between coursework, ECs, research, etc. and people assume that just because princeton doesnt have large graduate schools that their undergraduate programs are automatically better than other institutions with graduate schools, and that is often confused with “focus on undergraduate education”.</p>
<p>[Princeton</a> University - Princeton endowment earns 14.7 percent return](<a href=“http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S28/71/07M45/]Princeton”>Princeton endowment earns 14.7 percent return)</p>
<p>Princeton: $14.4 billion endowment. ~5200 undergrads and ~2500 grad students
Endowment per student: ~1.9 million. More money, less students.</p>
<p>[Finances:</a> Stanford University Facts](<a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/about/facts/finances.html]Finances:”>http://www.stanford.edu/about/facts/finances.html)</p>
<p>Stanford: $13.8 billion endowment. ~6900 undergrads and ~8500 grad students.
Endowment per student: ~900k. Less money, more students.</p>
<p>Who has it better?</p>
<p>^Although your post says nothing about how that money is distributed. You assume an equal split, although who knows? Also does spending more money guarantee improvements in undergraduate education? </p>
<p>If your assumption is true, and if the answer to my second question is yes, than yes Princeton is better in terms of undergraduate education.</p>
<p>More money = more resources to do ANYTHING. </p>
<p>That means Princeton can get better, more renowned faculty, provide more funded research opportunities, and give financial aid for pretty much anything. Seriously, Stanford may have great financial aid, but Princeton is ridiculously generous; they fund people to study abroad over the summer. Although there is a summer savings requirement, they can easily waive it, no questions asked, if you didn’t meet it. </p>
<p>More money also means more recreational events for undergraduates (lawnparties…) and so forth. Money is pretty much everything, it makes the world go round: with money, you can get anything you could possibly want. Thus, the school with more money per student is obviously the better one. This may seem like an ill-contrived conclusion at first, but it’s reality. </p>
<p>How do we determine the world’s most powerful countries? How do people define social status? How are some people guaranteed protection while others are not? How are you able to acquire anything to do anything in the first place. The answer is simple…</p>
<p>I could continue with this philosophical argument regarding the BENEFITS of having MORE MONEY (sounds a little obvious and redundant, though) but at this point, it’s clearly obvious which school is better for an undergraduate education.</p>
<p>
What if said school spends all of its money on one student, selected by a lottery at the beginning of the school year? Well obviously it’s the better one according to your logic. Again what matters is where this money goes. </p>
<p>Do you judge a house by looking at how much money it cost? Because if a 5 billion dollar house was just a wooden shack with a diamond sink, then obviously it’s better than a 1 billion dollar estate. </p>
<p>
The most powerful country =/= the best country. The upper class =/= the best class. </p>
<p>
I’m tempted to think you actually believe this. </p>
<p>Your arguments (philosophical and Princeton) are not at all obvious to me. I can see why you think Princeton undergraduate education is better, and if the only thing I knew about either was the money spent per student and the percentage of students that are undergraduates, I would have more confidence in saying that Princeton is better than Stanford. I’m just trying to tell you there’s more than this at play though. Frankly I don’t know which is better. I don’t think you know either. I don’t think anyone knows.</p>
<p>You’re now debating the value of having more money, which is silly. </p>
<p>You have no valid argument. You are solely going off of hypothetical instances (e.g. what if the money isn’t distributed / spent wisely, etc.)</p>
<p>Stanford and Princeton are both great schools; however, there are facts regarding rankings, acceptance rates, average scores of those admitted, and the resources of each school. </p>
<p>You can interpret them however you want, but I’m just laying out the FACTS of the situation. Stanford may be a better choice over Princeton for some people and the opposite also holds true. The schools are pretty much in the same elite tier, but there ARE differences in the type of student body, resources available to the school, and starting salaries / graduate school placements; these differences should be made clear.</p>
<p>I’m just making sure these FACTS are known to overcome school bias when people say “X school is teh bestest ever!” (Presumably because he or she attends said school)</p>
<p>
My argument is that your blanket statements are invalid. I don’t trust you to judge how well I did that. </p>
<p>
Silly in that it’s not really relevant to which school is better? Yeah maybe. But you were first to bring up the subject of the abstract value of money (post #65). Silly in that it itself is a silly debate? Maybe for you, but not for millions of other people. </p>
<p>
Yeah sure. Is this laying out the facts?</p>
<p>
Yeah that seems like interpreting the facts to me.</p>
<p>
Like how you attend Princeton? Even if you are providing just facts (which you aren’t) it’s only natural to be biased in searching for facts that support your school.</p>
<p>I haven’t really followed this thread thoroughly, but here are my 2 cents… I don’t understand why it matters for you to compare the two universities UNLESS they truly have the same program. My guess is that they don’t. Each has its own benefits through expansionary programs, internships, research opportunities, etc. If you’re simply trying to make a hit or miss decision on one of them because you don’t truly care just a single one of them, then you’re blind. I think you need to make sure you’re focusing on each one, attempting to find out every single bit of information needed to fulfill your thoughts of the ideal school. In my humble opinion, you won’t need to ask people to tell you the differences between a couple or multiple schools if you’ve done careful research. Once you’ve done that, it will be unnecessary to ask anything more of people.</p>
<p>Again, I didn’t look through the entire thread, so excuse me if this has already been said or if it’s unneeded.</p>
<p>^At the individual level, one person could realistically decide that not attending Central Canyon Community College is better than attending Harvard. CCCC is better than HYPSM for their situation. But no one is then going to say that “CCCC is better than Harvard”. Because for almost every other applicant, attending Harvard is the better choice. This is why people will say it’s the better school. It’s more than just an ego boost, it actually is a better school. </p>
<p>I don’t know this probably isn’t the most cogent explanation as to why this general argument matters, when all that (should) matter for each person is the individual fit.</p>
<p>Right Senior. However in this situation, as there are only two specific (and highly prestigious) schools being compared, why aren’t people just doing some research themselves? I don’t get it. It’s like you said, they could be comparing a City College and Stanford, etc. Why compare two prestigious schools? It’s like writing with a broken pencil… pointless. Even when applying to these two schools, there need to be some specific factors that differentiate them.</p>
<p>@Senior0991: Now that I’m awake and have the chance to reread your reply, I understand the meaning of it that much more. Scratch the post before this one. Anyway, you’re right in that the prestige of a university will always trump that of a little known school in the far reaches of a state. (CCCC in your example) However, what I’m trying to say is that when comparing two (pretty much equal in terms of prestige) schools, there comes a time when you cannot simply ask the community to provide you with answers as to whether one is better than the other. It’s a service that you need to do yourself. All that it takes is a little bit of research. As such schools are being compared in the first place, one needs to forgo their level of prestige as, stated earlier, they are roughly equivalent. What comes after prestige?</p>
<p>
Haha my parents are the same way ever since I got rejected.</p>
<p>^Sorry it didn’t work out, ripemango. Hell hath no fury like the parents of an applicant scorned, but a lot of that is probably because they think that you are feeling bad about it, and it’s hard for parents to see their kids unhappy or disappointed. Once you are focusing on your next group of schools, they’ll probably get over it. : )</p>
<p>So where else are you applying? Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>Look at my screen-name. </p>
<p>Now, look at my location. ;)</p>
<p>Both are great schools. I used to fantasize about Princeton but I prefer Stanford now. Stanford’s a completely unique experience. HYP are, in my opinion, more or less alike.</p>