<p>At least during Admit Weekend, I didn’t find Stanford students particularly intellectual or anti-intellectual or anything in between. I had no trouble flipping between gay rights, philosophy, Lady Gaga, grinding, and environmental science. I wouldn’t characterize Stanford students as outstandingly intellectual by any means, but I wouldn’t say the opposite, either. I met all types of people - the students didn’t easily fit into any category, not even “academic” or “pre-professional” or “intellectual.”</p>
<p>Is “intellectual” even something you want, all of the time? Personally I don’t think so. But it’s certainly there.</p>
<p>I am following this thread with some interest and amusement, partly because I am a Stanford alum and because I am always in awe of how head up people get over opinions that don’t jive with their own. If you are secure about your school and your choices or your child’s choice, you don’t care and you don’t come down hard on someone for a differing opinion. Period.</p>
<p>When I was at Stanford in two different disciplines - one in humanities, one in science - I did not experience my Stanford peers as particularly intellectual. Mostly, to decompress, people drank, hung outside on one of the many beautiful Spring days, and socialized in the dorm hallways. I didn’t hear discussions about philosophy or literature or politics much as I did in my driven and intellectual high school in NYC, and I remember being struck by that.</p>
<p>What I do remember was that when one of Stephen Sondheim’s musicals was being presented on campus, there were signs everywhere asking “Who is Stephen Sondheim?” Really, it felt like I was the only one who knew on campus, and I wondered at the time if it was because I was from NYC where musical theatre is part of the fabric of the cultural life.</p>
<p>I cannot speak to who is at Stanford, currently. I know a handful of students who have gone there in recent years and they are all hard-working and steady students. Are they intellectual? Not particularly but nice kids who are following a pre-professional track. One engineer, a medical student, and a few law students. </p>
<p>When I think of intellectual I think of Reed or Columbia - the way it used to be, at least - or University of Chicago or Smith.</p>
<p>^^Agree with you re: heated defensiveness showing some insecurity. (However: groundless assertions in either direction should be pointed out, for the sake of those who come to this site–heaven help them, really–in search of actual information.</p>
<p>I welcome your opinion, antidramaqueen, but wonder how long ago your experience was. It seems to me that adults sometimes come onto these college sites and give impressions based on sometime decades-old perspectives. They are of course welcome to do so, but putting the remarks in context would be useful, I think.</p>
<p>Re: Reed, Chicago, et al.–as a previous poster has observed, one will find students of all types at just about any college. I have recently been on each of those campuses, and I didn’t encounter very many students who struck me as especially interested in ideas, debate, theory or other indicia of “intellectualism”, though I was on the lookout for them. (I did, however, encounter a somewhat greater number of what I would consider pseudo-intellectual conversations designed to drop titles/names that sound erudite or impressive, but little actual discussion beyond that.) Here’s another thing to consider about “intellectuals”–they tend to listen more than they talk, as they are thinking most of the time. ; ) So I don’t know that anyone who doesn’t actually attend a given university will have the opportunity to get to know these students or be able to assess their numbers.</p>
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<p>Your daughter, (from your description) a future Nobel Laureate and Fields Medalist because she attended the Stanford “feeder program” that is HSSC, who (in a “shyly demurred” manner) rejected the overtures of no less than two Stanford professors, applied EARLY DECISION to TUFTS??? That is her “FIRST CHOICE” school?? Were HYPSM not “intellectual” enough for her? Since she found Palo Alto (the headquarters of Silicon Valley, mind you) “dreary” and “boring,” it’s only logical that she would want to attend school in MEDFORD, MA, the intellectual and cultural capital of the Eastern Seaboard. Cambridge/Boston and NYC (not to mention, Silicon Valley and the Bay Area) have nothing on MEDFORD?!?!</p>
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<p>WOW. You have SO many degrees. Therefore, you must be smart and your trollish “arguments” must have great credibility. Telling us your extensive educational background seems a little gratuituous to me, but I am sure you have your reasons to brag. Of most interest to me is your stint as a Stegner Fellow; you definitely have a knack for CREATIVE WRITING, as we can clearly see in this thread. Oh, by the way, I know you won’t take my “less than impeccable” opinion of Tufts to heart. After all, you profess that you take “ZERO umbrage or offense” to anyone who sees the “shortcomings” of any of your affiliated institutions. Hence, I do not expect a reply from you because that would betray and belie your undistorted and non-provincial “objectivity” and “high-mindedness.”</p>
<p>But what do I know? I am nothing but an inexperienced and immature pre-frosh who is merely expressing (and not too eloquently) “unimaginative” and undue love and loyalty to the FIRST CHOICE school of my dreams. So I do not suffer parental ■■■■■■ lightly.</p>
<p>Wow. I haven’t been reading this thread, but the post above is wildly excessive. The poster says “what do I know? I am nothing but an inexperienced and immature pre-frosh”, and I think he means that ironically, but it is right on.</p>
<p>Among the many things he doesn’t know is that Tufts is all of one subway stop from Harvard – easy walking distance, less than walking from a Stanford dorm to downtown Palo Alto – and two from MIT, with BU and Northeastern close by. So, yes, Medford MA is perfectly part of one of the most impressive intellectual concentrations in the world. Also, that Tufts is a place that plenty of good students like enthusiastically, and that is much more similar to Stanford (adjusting for geography and climate) than it is different.</p>
<p>Stanford is a great, great university, no question, but it’s not on some vastly different planet compared to Tufts, which is less great than Stanford but not, perhaps, in a way that 95% of undergraduates will ever actually understand. And Stanford IS suburban, and Palo Alto IS a suburb (albeit a cool one), and it’s not so easy to get into San Francisco from there, especially if you don’t have a car (and not so easy to park cheaply in San Francisco if you do). It’s not necessarily nuts for someone to prefer a college that’s right in the middle of the excellent MBTA public transit system.</p>
<p>I went to graduate school at Stanford, and I can promise you that I never, ever would have gone there if I had visited first. I grew to love it, of course, but that took a few months. During those months, I thought it was one of the most boring places I had ever been.</p>
<p>I agree that the post in question was pretty excessive, but not mainly for the reasons JHS enumerates. The main reason is that it is counterproductive and a waste of time to feed ■■■■■■ like the parent in question. A simple statement of the facts seems preferable, IMO.</p>
<p>And while we’re giving opinions, I loved Stanford at first sight and can’t imagine how anyone could consider anything about it “boring”. (Palo Alto, maybe, but not the university!) Also, to get to SF all you have to do is cross the street from the northern end of campus and get on the Cal Train. I found it pretty easy when I tried it. : )</p>
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<p>If you haven’t been reading this thread, you have absolutely no way of knowing if “the post above is wildly excessive.” So ironically, it’s your post itself that could be called “excessive” in its own right.</p>
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<p>I am not being ironic. Chronologically speaking, I AM “inexperienced” and “immature.” But at least, unlike some much more experienced and mature CC posters who claim to be “parents,” I have the good graces to know not to ■■■■■ the forums of other schools.</p>
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<p>If only every poster responded with this grace…I refer to zenkoan, these school-critical threads would not be a disaster. </p>
<p>SWHarbor makes the mistake of saying the daughter was unimpressed by a school because a certain group of students at it is unintellectual, when other groups of students will be extremely intellectual. </p>
<p>Others made the mistake of getting riled up by a simple remark that several Stanford students a daughter met were unintellectual, when this is hardly impossible. </p>
<p>We have to remember what the school stands for. I don’t know too much, but I do know Stanford likes diversity in its student body. Some students are intellectual, but others have a place because the university liked something else about them. </p>
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<p>Way blown out of proportion, beyond the scope of what was stated</p>
<p>While cardinalsinner’s post was a little crazy, I don’t think the point was to disrespect Tufts, and funnily made sense in an odd way.</p>
<p>The point seems to be that citing one school’s students as unintellectual to be a reason not to be impressed by the school is a tall claim, if attending another school which need not be filled with much more intellectual students. I don’t think anyone with a good head denies that there are plenty of unintellectual and plenty of intellectual students at Stanford, Tufts, and many other great schools.</p>
<p>There are so many adult ■■■■■■ with an agenda posting under multiple screen names it is getting discouraging. The moderators should control adults who continually take out many screen names with phony personas. It is not fair to young people trying to obtain honest information.</p>
<p>I think the OP is perfectly justified in voicing his criticism of Stanford, regardless of whether his criticisms themselves are justified. Though I am transferring out of Stanford for different slightly more urgent reasons, I find a lot of what he said to be true (except the claim of hyperliberalism - I found Stanford to be a bizarre bastion of conservatism in the extremely liberal Bay Area). I think Stanford is still a great school. It just isn’t a great school for everybody. I think that is the central point. And I think the OP has the right to voice his displeasure because at a place like Stanford, it’s hard to openly criticize the university without facing a certain degree of marginalization. The Stanford way is to be a duck on a pond, floating serenely but hiding the fact that you are paddling like crazy. Anyone who calls attention to that fact will face a lot of social difficulty. </p>
<p>Stanford was an excellent academic experience in most regards, but great academics alone does not a great college experience make. I think berating him for being honest about his issues with Stanford is counterproductive at best and dangerously isolating at worst. And despite what an earlier poster said, Stanford’s mental health services are not equipped to handle the burgeoning population of students seeking counseling or treatment for mental distress and illness. Trust me on that one.</p>
<p>Just my 2 cents.</p>
<p>Criticize away. Just don’t try to say that the HSSC is a “feeder program” for Stanford University undergrad.</p>
<p>^ or claim that a Facebook group is evidence of it being a feeder program.</p>
<p>For someone who supposedly holds so many degrees, you would think that would be something he/she would know.</p>
<p>Cardfan, you are correct, SWHarbor made some unbelievable unverified claims, and I understand they were frustrating. Young students do deserve clearer discussions to consider.</p>
<p>Hence, I feel compelled to mention one particular point - Stanford offers many educational opportunities for young students who are not current students. For instance, I seem to recall someone who may have taken the course Chem 31X over summer in the summer before college applications (this is an actual accelerated Stanford course), and might I add, found it very tough. But this individual hardly ended up at Stanford. Numerous benefit from programs like EPGY, but end up at various states in the U.S. for education. </p>
<p>For young students reading this thread, I think even asking around for anecdotal points will convince you that engaging in Stanford’s programs does not yield a ticket to admission to its undergraduate college. Few things can, logically, given the selectivity rate. One should engage in the opportunities for the sake of it, not for admission, and presumably those taking advantage of opportunities to engage in challenging work will ultimately attend great schools, whatever they are.</p>
<p>sorry to revive an old-ish thread but I thought I’d weigh in the OP’s first claim. I live about 15-20 minutes away from Stanford and I don’t think the weather’s too different here 
. If the claim is based on only this year, this year alone has been unusually rainy. I’ve lived here almost my entire life (until 3rd grade I lived in San Jose) and it’s always been really sunny and mild, not cold and rainy like it has been this year. That’s all I wanted to say :)</p>
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<p>If Stanford were a country, it would have had the 7th highes medals at the last Olympics. More than any other college in the country.</p>
<p>I like Stanford too, and already have mentioned that I would like to check it out for grad, school, but WOW, these criticisms really hit the spot for the reasons why I didn’t pick Stanford.</p>
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It is not you like it or not, make sure that you will get high enough GPA at Princeton, and also check backgrounds of current graduate students to see how many are from Princeton. For Stanford students, they can apply for co-term after 3rd year and get BS and MS at the end of the 5th year.</p>
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I don’t blame your judgment, after all you may not be legally to drink, and there is a reason for that. Poor choice for school is only your problem, but drunk driving may cause live of other people.</p>
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<p>When it’s difficult to discern exactly what is being said due to poor grammatical structure and word choice, attempts to be witty and biting tend to fall flat on its face. Can you repeat or rephrase that? I’m kind of curious as to what you meant by comparing drunk driving and selection of colleges.</p>