<p>Does it make any sense to be applying to both these schools? They don't seem to have much in common, only strong academics. In fact they seem like opposites, Stanford has tons of race/class interaction supposedly while Princeton has eating clubs....</p>
<p>well when you ask it like that, who could possibly want to apply to princeton?</p>
<p>nothing</p>
<p>stanford rules princeton sucks</p>
<p>i don’t think responses can get any more unhelpful</p>
<p>If you want a helpful response, try asking your question in a less inflammatory way. Princeton has an extremely diverse student body, and the days when eating clubs discriminated based on race are over. If you have specific questions about the clubs ask away, but let’s avoid the “OMG eating clubz = racistt right!!!111” stereotype.</p>
<p>Both are excellent, world-class universities where you can get a great education. Both are located in upper-middle class suburban towns. The main difference is palm trees. Stanford has them. Princeton doesn’t. If you can get by without palm trees you’ll probably think that Princeton is a terrific school. If, on the other hand, palm trees are a must for you, Stanford is the way to go.</p>
<p>I live near Stanford, my father taught there for decades. I went to Princeton and so did my two children. The two universities are quite similar in that the suburban atmosphere makes everyone fairly smiley. They differ primarily in size, both space and number of students, and in the caliber of their athletics.</p>
<p>Yeah. Stanford and Princeton could be East/West twins, except for Stanford having more professional schools, a much bigger graduate engineering program, and slightly larger undergraduate student body, and Princeton having eating clubs (which Stanford also has, but to a much reduced extent, and also frats). The two universities are even strong in many of the same areas (not surprising, since they are both strong in MOST areas, but they are both known for engineering to a much greater extent than Harvard or Yale). </p>
<p>It totally makes sense for someone to be interested in both.</p>
<p>If the eating clubs scare you, I assure you that Stanford frats are to be feared more – the eating clubs at least provide dining service (this coming from someone who minds neither frats nor the eating clubs).</p>
<p>I applied Stanford EA and Princeton RD. Please PM me if you have specific questions – I chose Princeton two days before the deadline, so I had to think about the schools a lot.</p>
<p>Standford may have palm trees, but Princeton has gothic architecture and lots of flowers =) And even the occasional snow day!</p>
<p>^^Hey, don’t knock the architectural wonders of Stanford. It’s toss-up whether the faux-gothic of Princeton is superior to the Taco Bell Modern of Stanford.</p>
<p>Coureur, are you for real? The only thing impressive about Stanford’s architecture in the Memorial Church. Princeton’s “faux-Gothic” is collegiate Gothic, although Whitman College probably counts as faux. Beyond that, most of the buildings are nice to look at – a claim I in no way can make for Stanford.</p>
<p>^ Hey, I vastly prefer Princeton’s campus to Stanford’s, too, but “collegiate Gothic” and “faux Gothic” are the same thing, whether from the '30s or the '90s (presuming that there isn’t a 13- or 14- in front of them). Lots and lots of people think Stanford is stunningly beautiful, and while the architecture itself is not as imposing as Princeton’s, the landscape can be breathtaking, and that counts for something.</p>
<p>You don’t need to oversell Princeton. It is a great university on a beautiful, beautiful campus. Denigrating Stanford doesn’t glorify Princeton more.</p>
<p>I’m not denigrating anything, nor am I overselling anything. I do not find Stanford’s architecture attractive in any way, except for the Memorial Church, which is gorgeous. If statements like this count as denigration, or if stating that I appreciate Princeton’s architecture counts as “overselling,” it is not my perspective that needs reexamining.</p>
<p>The landscape, on the other hand, is vastly superior in almost every way to Princeton’s.</p>
<p>And there is a distinct difference between Whitman College and Mathey College – to say that the architectural merits are identical is, in my worthless by existent opinion, ridiculous.</p>