What are Stanford's Peer Schools?

College Search & Selection
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Stanford, like Duke, is simply more loyal to its roots as a Californian school than the other elites (HYP) are.

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<p>well that could be an argument; you would have to discover whether it was school-side or student-side.</p>

<p>But i would say it is more student-side: no private school would willingly injure its academic potential by admitting lower-quality students from in-state, this is the forced practice that keeps public schools such as michigan, berkeley, or uva down in the rankings.</p>

<p>It then follows that the higest quality students outside of california simply do not want to attend stanford, but rather HYP, but california has enough quality students, even after subtracting those who go to the amazing public schools in the state, to keep stanford in very high regard.</p>

<p>I just wouldn't put it on a national pull level with HYP, but i have no evidence that Stanford doesn't "choose" to not have national pull, except my own applied logic.</p>

<p>like i said, distinctions at this level are highly arbitrary, with any number of reasons for choosing one side or the other. I point to the low test scores and high in-state population to contend that stanford is not a national university of the same caliber as HYP.</p>

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<p>My point is that the northeast is smaller than California and they have lots of options for top schools (HYPM and others). In California, there is a big drop off between Stanford and the rest. If every high school in California has 1/4 (made up number but I'm sure the average isn't that far off) of the senior class apply to Stanford, the applications add up.</p>

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<p>^^ 1/4 is very, very far off. Think about it: there aren't a whole lot going off to four-year colleges in most schools, and those that are don't usually aim as high as Stanford. On CC, that's the impression, but it's far from what actually happens in the general population.</p>

<p>At any rate, I don't see why there are any qualms over the geographic composition of Stanford; obviously it's going to have more students from California, just as Yale is probably going to have more east-coast students than west-coast students. California's a huge state, as you know. And why would Stanford turn down awesome applicants just for geographic diversity? Yeah, it matters a bit, but really, it'd be stupid to sacrifice attracting possible geniuses in order to maintain geographic diversity.</p>

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<p>I hate to break it to you kyledavid80, but colleges' attempt to maintain all sorts of diversity is more or less "stupid"</p>

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<p>To an extent. Trying to have some sort of balanced campus is a good idea in some ways, because universities want to have students in a variety of majors and programs.</p>

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<p>That is true ACLAri, but an interest in majors and programs is usually not impacted by your geographic or racial background. Trying to group everyone from one part of the country as the same is simply wrong. (especially in the case of Stanford where California is already diverse enough).</p>

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<p>Huh...ACLAri's a new one. I've gotten ULCAri a lot, but never ACLAri...interesting. :p</p>

<p>Well, I think that a lot of people who aren't from California don't realize just how large of a state California is. If you transplanted it onto the Eastern seaboard, it would take up an area the size of pretty much all of New England.</p>

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<p>Stanford has only several peer schools: Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT and Caltech.</p>

<p>I was admitted to Stanford, Harvard, and Yale this year. Those were the only three schools I applied to, since Harvard and Yale were the only schools I even considered attending over Stanford.</p>

<p>Stanford is truly on the caliber of the best schools in the world. I have no idea why anybody would say that Duke is a peer school of Stanford!!! Duke is a great school, but Stanford caliber? Definitely not. Despite the fact that both are good schools that have big athletic programs, I do not know a single person who would rather attend Duke than Stanford, aside from the distance factor for East Coast students.</p>

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<p>Am I the only one who thinks that Stanford's peer schools span all the way to the mid-twenties of US News rankings?</p>

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<p>Uhhh ..... yes. That is very wrong.</p>

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<p>How about you look at measures of endowment? Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton are top.</p>

<p>How about you look at measures of yield? Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, MIT are top (for the pool of big private schools we're discussing).</p>

<p>How about you look at measures of acceptance rates? Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford are the lowest (for the big private schools in the country).</p>

<p>Concerning the "in-state" issue, California is BY far the biggest state in the country. To compare it's in-state percentage to schools like Yale in Connecticut or Princeton in New Jersey is simply asinine. I will say this: Stanford has a percentage of west-coast students roughly equal to the percentage of east-coast students at East Coast schools (like Harvard, Yale, Princeton).</p>

<p>I contend that Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford are peer schools. Could you explain how Yale could lose the cross-admit battle between Stanford if Stanford was way below Yale's league?</p>

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like i said though, stanford is almost 50% in-state, therefore i contended that the acceptance rate is only so low because everyone in the state of california is in competition to go there, while from out of state it would be put on the same level as duke, or upenn.

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<p>As someone who actually has experience *speaking<a href="you%20know...in%20person?">/i</a> to the students that both got accepted to and got denied from Stanford from the east coast, I can safely say this: you are wrong</p>

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<p>I don't know if I would say agree with you, kyledavid80, but I chose Columbia over Stanford, because I feel that in the areas I am interested in (humanities) Columbia was every bit Stanford's peer institution, if not even better. </p>

<p>Perhaps we should clarify what is meant by peer school. In terms of campus atmosphere, the athleticism, relative political apathy, science/engineering focus, and the laid-back spirit make Stanford quite different from Harvard or Yale. I don't claim to be an expert in UPenn, although I would imagine campus life there to be more similiar to Stanford than either Harvard or Yale. Duke also bears more similarities to Stanford, campus-life wise, than Harvard or Yale. </p>

<p>Students at the Ivy League try to engage in intellectual discussions. Oftentimes, this comes off as mere pretentiousness, but it cultivates a very different atmosphere than one finds at Stanford. I would say MIT + Duke = Stanford. </p>

<p>That said, prestige-wise, where I come from (L.A.) Stanford's prestige vastly outstrips Duke and UPenn, which many confuse with Penn State. If I were to rank the top five schools in the country in order of perceived prestige, I would say:
1. Harvard; 2. Yale; 3. Stanford; 4. MIT; 5. Princeton.</p>

<p>Perceived prestige, I am sure, would vary based on location and is essentially a valueless concept, open to endless arguments. The point I am trying to make, basically, is that if you mean peer schools in terms of prestige, HYP and the like, but if you mean peer schools in terms of atmosphere, probably Duke, UPenn and MIT come closest. Do not underestimate the power of the scienes at Stanford.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Yale:
SAT 25th-75th percentile: 1390-1580
% out of state: 93</p>

<p>Harvard:
SAT 25th-75th percentile: 1390-1590
% out of state: 86</p>

<p>Princeton:
SAT 25th-75th percentile: 1370-1590
% out of state: 84</p>

<p>Stanford:
SAT 25th-75th percentile: 1340-1540
% out of state: 56</p>

<p>which is the odd man out?

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<p>You realize Stanford could very well accept students with SAT scores in the range of their peer institutions. But they choose not to. You know why? Because Stanford places more emphasis on the factors of essays and teacher recommendations than other peer schools. And you know what? It's been working pretty well.</p>

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<p>Sorry UCLAri- I guess I was thinking about the ACLU at the time. </p>

<p>RCMAN13 "I have no idea why anybody would say that Duke is a peer school of Stanford!!!"</p>

<p>In 2003, U.S. News & World Report ranked Duke the same as Stanford (#4 in U.S.)
In 2004, U.S. News & World Report ranked Duke the same as Stanford (#5 in U.S.)
In 2005, U.S. News & World Report ranked Duke the same as Stanford (#5 in U.S.)
In 2006, U.S. News & World Report ranked Duke the same as Stanford (#5 in U.S.)</p>

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<p>
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Perhaps we should clarify what is meant by peer school. In terms of campus atmosphere, the athleticism, relative political apathy, science/engineering focus, and the laid-back spirit make Stanford quite different from Harvard or Yale.

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<p>Political apathy? Stanford? I've heard far more in the news recently regarding Stanford student activism than any of the other schools we're talking about combined.</p>

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As someone who actually has experience speaking (you know...in person?) to the students that both got accepted to and got denied from Stanford from the east coast, I can safely say this: you are full of crap.

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<p>what does that have to do with anything, as if hearing it from a firsthand source makes it not anecdotal? oh wait.. that actually is exactly what MAKES it anecdotal...</p>

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<p>@Hrteeexz: You may have read some things in the news, and for all I know it may be changing since I visited for admit weekend half a month ago. That said, many college guide books mention the apathy there. I am thinking in particular of the College Pr0wler, which I quote here: "Most students identify as left/liberal or apathetic" (p. 65). The head of the College Democrats also shared this view when I spoke with him at the activities fair.</p>

<p>Contrast this with Yale, which makes Mother Jones', a leftist political magazine, list of the ten most activist campuses in the world (<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2003/09/ma_508_01.html)%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2003/09/ma_508_01.html)&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

<p>Stanford students are not very politically involved, by and large, although the opportunity exists for them to be, and some are.</p>

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<p>I don't think the notion that top-25 schools are all Stanford's peers is far off. I consider all of them to be tier 1. And as such, they'd easily be comparable to Stanford, as much as people like to disagree. It seems only here at CC will a school like Georgetown be viewed as "inferior" to Stanford, or will a difference between #4 and #9 be seen. Sure, Stanford has more "top programs" and the like, but really, it's like saying someone who gets a 2250 and someone who gets a 2300 on the SAT aren't comparable.</p>

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<p>Duke is NOWHERE near the same league as Stanford. The only schools at the same level (i.e., world class academics across every department from the liberal arts to the sciences to professional schools) are Harvard and Berkeley.</p>