Urgent. Stanford or Claremont McKenna? I have to decide by Friday!

College Search & Selection
21

<p>Both of the students who were admitted to CMC from my school this year visited it before making their final choice (neither chose it; as a note, one ended up at Stanford), and confirmed that the party reputation was well deserved. I think Stanford may be a better choice than CMC.</p>

<p>Beyond that, both are laid back (reflecting California in general, I would presume). Stanford will definitely not be as personalized, but it should prepare you for the rigors of law school similarly to CMC.</p>

<p>Really, you ought to wait until you see Stanford’s financial aid offer. CMC has an endowment of 480 million; Stanford, 12 billion. Their offer should be better than anything CMC has given you. If CMC doesn’t match Stanford’s offer, or isn’t close (to the point where going to CMC is not worth the extra cost), you should choose the cheaper option and go with Stanford.</p>

22

<p>You should ask Xiggi. I cannot think of anybody more qualified to compare those two schools. Personally, I would chose Stanford, but I admittedly know very little about CMC.</p>

23

<p>Is that even a serious question?
If I were you, I’d do anything possible to go to Stanford. A Stanford degree, no matter the major, basically means you’re set for life.</p>

24

<p>have you visited? can you visit? i would say take an emergency visit. if not look through viewbooks and try to get a vibe. i would say just go on to stanford and if it really isn’t for you transfer into CMC. btw people from CMC do have good job options. the cousin of a friend of mine went to CMC and got recruited to a 90k job</p>

25

<p>I say Stanford is the clear decision although CMC is also a good school. If the FA at Stanford isn’t as good as CMC’s (Which is highly unlikely), just call them. I bet u they’ll match it due to their huge endowment as someone else already mentioned.</p>

26

<p>Sometimes the people on this forum amaze me: </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Anyway, first off, you can’t go too wrong with either school. However, don’t overestimate the advantage that the Stanford name will give you, especially if you want to go to law school. CMC has very good career services and from what I’ve heard an amazing alumni network, and would prepare you for admission to a top law school just as Stanford would. Once/if you get into said top law school, the prestige of your undergraduate alma mater wouldn’t matter as much as your law degree. </p>

<p>So what am I trying to say? That CMC is better? Not at all. Both Stanford and CMC are excellent schools, and you have the capability to achieve your goals equally well at either one. Because of that, I think you need to choose the school that “feels right” to you (unless FA is a big consideration). Do you see yourself waking up in a Stanford dorm and attending lectures there? Or is it easier to imagine yourself at the Athenaeum?</p>

<p>In essence, I completely agree with IBclass06:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Here’s an article for thought:</p>

<p>[The</a> Practical Education - CMC or Stanford?](<a href=“http://www.cmcnation.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=284%3Athe-practical-education&catid=55%3Ageneral&Itemid=115]The”>http://www.cmcnation.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=284%3Athe-practical-education&catid=55%3Ageneral&Itemid=115)</p>

<p>Good luck, and let us know when you decide :)</p>

27

<p>^That article is from a student that graduated in 1973! </p>

<p>I really don’t know how that will help the OP making the decision.</p>

28

<p>The south has grown for years in population and industry-business based, among other things, on it’s so called lower tax rates/spending. Either the south spends a lot on public education or it doesn’t. You can’t have it both ways.</p>

29

<p>

</p>

<p>You’re missing the point, which is best summed up by a sentence in the article:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>There are many reasons, both good and bad, to go to Stanford. I just want to make sure the topic creator, if he/she decides on Stanford, is choosing so for a good reason.</p>

30

<p>Did you really have to ask this question? how many people not on the west coast have even heard of the claremont schools?</p>

31

<p>^ The OP should NOT base her decision on name recognition by regular people. That is the wrong reason. Law schools admissions (which is what matters for the OP) know that Claremont McKenna is a top, top LAC. I don’t think she will be at a disadvantage at all if she picks CMC. So, OP please pick the school that you like best. If Stanford was on the same level as prestige as CMC, what school would you pick?</p>

32

<p>I’ve visited Stanford before (tho albeit only for a couple of hours) and I loved it. It was really a bit big for my liking but it was absolutely gorgeous. I was there during the summer so I didn’t get to see the students, but I could imagine myself walking through the halls. CMC’s campus is … not that pretty to be frank,but is more intimate. The first prospect is more promising… but I can’t really base my decision just off architecture XD.
The thing with me is, that depending on the issue I’m thinking of, I change my decision as to which school to pick - -" which is horrible i kno. and i’m not sure which i like best for sure at the moment. I am taking everybody’s comments into consideration, and i’m making a humongeous pro and con chart soon.<br>
The idea of going far away from home (NorCal is far for me haha cuz CMC is 2 hrs away by car) is daunting for Stanford, but then again, I remember before I was wanting to go farther away to get a feel for somewhere other than SoCal. And I do love SF. Hmm…</p>

33

<p>If all else fails, try this:</p>

<p>You have two seconds to decide where you’re going. </p>

<p>What school first popped into your mind? :P</p>

34

<p>Stanford TAs will be a wide variety, just like any other TAs anywhere else, but you have to remember that TAs are full-time graduate students who are in the doctoral programs of the department in which you are taking the class. They generally have bachelor’s degrees in the field that they’re teaching, sometimes master’s degrees, and a couple of years of research experience. And at a place like Stanford, they are the top applicants of a very competitive pool of people. They generally know the introductory material like the back of their hand, and since they are currently immersed in research, they are pretty close to the newer material as well.</p>

<p>Some of them will not be good teachers, some of them will be “ok,” and some of them will be awesome. Just depends on their personality, their background experience teaching (some of them will be TAing for the first time, and others will have TAed a lot, especially in your higher-up classes) and their interest in undergraduate education.</p>

<p>As for the school focused more on one or the other, that’s sort of ridiculous. Stanford is strong in more than just science and math, and you can learn great writing skills at either school. If you are a history major you will be required to read and write a lot regardless of where you go.</p>

<p>You don’t have to do a summer internship through your college; there are many many many companies, institutes, universities, and other institutions that offer summer internships.</p>

<p>AS for the name…well, don’t rely on that too much. A lot of people here will tell you to go for Stanford simply because the name recognition will get you a job. That can happen and then again it might. If you want to go into political science the Stanford name might impress people, but CMC is well-known for its involvement in government and for sending people to Washington. Like chocobok said, don’t base your decision on name recognition by people here or people that you talk to regularly. The people who really matter (employers and law schools) know and admire CMC.</p>

<p>Not gonna lie, though, sometimes I wish I had gone to a more prestigious college than my small southern LAC not because of the post-graduate opportunities (I share those with my elite graduate friends) but because of the on-campus resources while you are THERE. I now go to an Ivy League university for grad school and the money they have here is staggering – beautiful libraries (plural), my department has almost an entire building to itself, wonderful student center, access to millions of electronic resources, better equipment for research. These are things I didn’t have at my undergrad. But I don’t think that will be a problem at CMC, since it’s an elite college with pretty good resources.</p>

<p>If you are planning law school, it may also be wise to select the least expensive option to minimize your debt. Honestly, though, you should just pick the school that you like the best and that you really want to attend.</p>

35

<p>How many TA’s is a pre-law student at Stanford likely to get, anyway?
I would not think there’d be too many in the Humanities and Social Sciences.</p>

36

<p>You’d be surprised, actually. At very large universities, advanced graduate students may be the sole teachers of introductory English classes or of survey history classes in their field (think “U.S. History Since 1877” or “World History From 1500”); supposedly Stanford has no TAs teaching classes, but it’s likely that they have a lecture once or twice a week with an English professor and then breakout sessions with a graduate student. This is pretty common in the humanities (especially English, history, and modern foreign languages) and very common the social sciences.</p>

<p>Being a teaching assistant is often a graduate student’s bread and butter. In the sciences and “harder” social sciences like psychology and sociology, we often get paid to do research OR teach, sometimes both, but it’s possible for a science student not to teach ever. In the humanities and “softer” social sciences, you have to be able to teach if you want to get a job. No one hires a new humanities professor solely for research; so most of them need teaching experience, and that’s how they get paid usually, too – it’s unlikely for a humanities student to be accepted solely on a research assistantship. Unless they’re on fellowship, teaching is how they pay the bills.</p>

37

<p>

</p>

<p>Yes, and don’t forget that CMC is in a consortium that offers many many more resources as well (I’m guessing your school was not in one).</p>

38

<p>Normally, McKenna is not considered a premiere liberal arts college on par with Amherst, Williams, Swarthmore, Wellesley, and Pomona.</p>

<p>Stanford’s financial aid offer will indubitably be better than that of CMCs, and if it isn’t, you can easily request that they match CMC’s package.</p>

<p>Stanford, speaking in a general sense, is better than CMC, and the benefits of enrolling at CMC do not outweigh the costs.</p>

39

<p>Thank you for all of your comments. :slight_smile: I think at this point though I’m still waiting on FA, I think I’m leaning more towards Stanford. CMC is so hard to give up, but I think that if I don’t take this opportunity I will probably regret this for a long time, though I am a little intimidated by all the geniuses at Stanford XD my main issue really was the quality of TAs and teaching, and it seems like Stanford profs really do care about UG teaching and that I won’t have TAs past the large intro classes for the most part. Plus the size. But I can get past the size ;). </p>

<p>I think this is true, but can anybody clarify for me that S’s FA transfers to study abroad and the Stanford-in-Washington program as well?</p>

40

<p>^^ For pre-law/gov, CMC is indeed on the same level as AWSWP. The choice between LAC and university is distinct–at Stanford, you WILL have lots of “discussion” sections with TAs. That’s the tradeoff for greater prestige. I have heard the opposite about Stanford profs and UG teaching (i.e. that among peer Us, Stanford is MORE graduate-focused than say Princeton).</p>

<p>The FA question can be answered with some careful searches on Stanford’s website. I would presume that it’s true, though, as a given at this level of school. If Stanford is significantly cheaper than CMC–and it very well may be, given the new initiatives–then even I, a staunch LAC advocate, would vote for S.</p>

<p>However, here’s a thought–S is need-sensitive for internationals, which you were classed as. Given the economy, S may have admitted you off the waitlist precisely because you don’t demonstrate a lot of need. Wait for the package and see.</p>