<p>Hey, I've been accepted at Stanford, Dartmouth, UChicago, CMC, and other schools as well. I'm in the process of deciding the ideal school and plan to visit most by the end of this month. However, for now I am researching the majors of the schools and it seems like Stanford doesn't really lag in any major. If you had to say, what do you think Stanford's weakest majors/areas of study tend to be? Also, just to add, I am interested in Physics, Political Science, and Chemistry, but may change my opinion in college. How does Stanford compare to Dartmouth, UChicago, and/or CMC in those categories? Any input you have would be highly appreciated and thank you so much in advance. I'm just trying to find a nice school for me =)</p>
<p>First of all, congratulations on your acceptances! Stanford sounds like an excellent choice for you. Its programs in your intended fields of study are arguably a notch above the other schools you mentioned. </p>
<p>Plus…as a local, I can attest that it is beautiful and in a GREAT area :)</p>
<p>Ha, does it not have a weak major? I’m only asking because I’ve heard of it referred to as the MIT of the West, where tech/science soars, but the social studies and humanities suffer.</p>
<p>Where is all this “social sciences and humanities aren’t as good” coming from? Stanford’s ranked in the top 5 in the world for both.</p>
<p>[Top</a> Universities for Arts & Humanities 2010-2011](<a href=“http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/arts-and-humanities.html]Top”>Subject Ranking 2010-11: Arts & Humanities | Times Higher Education (THE))
[Top</a> Universities for Social Sciences 2010-2011](<a href=“http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2010-2011/social-sciences.html]Top”>Subject Ranking 2010-11: Social Sciences | Times Higher Education (THE))
[ARWU</a> FIELD 2010 Social Sciences](<a href=“http://www.arwu.org/FieldSOC2010.jsp]ARWU”>http://www.arwu.org/FieldSOC2010.jsp)</p>
<p>And this isn’t unknown. Stanford is as well-known for its dominance in social sciences as for its engineering (in academia, not necessarily in the public). This has been the case for many decades. It’s probably compared to MIT because its STEM departments are always considered to be equal to MIT’s.</p>
<p>Stanford’s weakest major is art. I’d say Stanford’s still decent in the arts (US News puts it in the top 50; for comparison, Harvard and Princeton don’t make the top 50, though Yale is top 5), but given how strong it is in everything else, its arts are comparatively weak.</p>
<p>As for the disciplines you mentioned, Stanford’s normally ranked #1 in political science, top 5 in physics (ranked #1 in US News), and top 5 or 10 in chemistry (#4 in US news). Chicago is comparable in physics. (I assume that by “categories,” you meant the disciplines you listed.)</p>
<p>WOW! Thanks for that input. Although I always saw Stanford as the dream school, I didn’t really know the numbers and stats behind it. Thanks so much, that makes things much more clear =)</p>
<p>Yeah definitely the arts. Stanford could easily change that, seeing how much raw artistic talent is here, but I think a lot of Stanford students just view the arts as a hobby and accordingly major in something else. And I’m not sure Stanford is willing at the moment to stoop its all-around academic standards low enough to attract enough artists singularly devoted to their craft.</p>
<p>I don’t know if it’s that they don’t want to attract artists, but rather that they can’t. If Stanford had the facilities that Yale does, it’d be able to bring in artists easily. Unfortunately, Stanford’s rich alumni are overwhelmingly *not *artists, so the funds to build these facilities are going to have to come out of Stanford’s pocket. Hopefully Stanford gives the old b-school buildings to the arts, and with the concert hall being built, Stanford can finally start to catch up in the arts.</p>
<p>art and music suck here. the art culture is present (there’s tons of student exhibits and you won’t be hard-pressed to find artists), but you can tell it lacks compared to other schools. Music especially.</p>
<p>i’d agree that the arts are not as strong here.
i think its a fundamental difference in the mission of Stanford (the physical mission statement)</p>
<p>Stanford can be quite utilitarian, with a focus on creative innovation in the sciences rather than creativity for its own sake.</p>
<p>There’s been some truth to that, but Stanford is in the process of a big push toward more emphasis and allocation of resources to the fine arts. Also, I have to say I disagree about the current state of the music offerings–I think they’re already pretty good. I’ve taken music classes each quarter here so far and they’ve been well-taught and well-attended, as have the performances at the end. Check out the breadth and depth of music offerings at explore courses. In addition to the usual kinds of orchestral, voice, chamber, private instrumental and other offerings, there are some fun classes unique to Stanford, such as laptop orchestra and iPhone orchestra, and there’s a great experimental/improvisational class as well. Stanford also has countless a capella groups running around campus, like most colleges these days.</p>
<p>Yeah, I don’t think that music sucks here, or art in general. Rather, in comparison to Stanford’s other majors (which are generally top 5 or top 10), they’re the weakest. But they’re still pretty decent, and as zenkoan suggests, Stanford’s in the process of a big push toward becoming much stronger in the arts. The Bing Concert Hall is being constructed, there’s talk of another performing arts building near there, the old business school buildings are supposed to go to drama/music/art, the Stanford Challenge sets aside a lot of funding for the arts initiative, Stanford has plans over the next 10 years or so to make “distributed” arts spaces in student residences (akin to Yale’s), etc. </p>
<p>In a few years, the area north of the Oval is supposed to be an ‘arts district.’ Stanford’s general use permit from 2000, which would normally stop it from constructing all these arts facilities, has just about expired, and I assume that when Stanford negotiates its next GUP, it’ll make sure to include development north of the Oval. Prime time for the arts at Stanford.</p>
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I think the bolded addition makes it a more accurate statement. From all I can tell, the administration and most of the faculty are trying to counteract this movement.</p>