@sbballer not everyone wants to be a computer programmer. Lots of kids want to study English and philosophy and biology and government. NO not all universities are striving to look like Stanford. There is no one perfect University for everyone
@sbballer I agree that many top schools are emulating Stanford, including Harvard and Cornell as you mentioned and also Penn, whose Pennovation Center was inspired by the industrial park at Stanford.
I agree that Stanford is the future in many ways and it is probably an overall stronger university than Harvard. But it will still take another decade or so until the Stanford name has the same cachet as the Harvard name around the world amongst the lay public. These things take time. But yeah at this point pretty much anyone recognizes that Harvard and Stanford are the top 2 schools in the world.
@collegedad13 But the thing is that on top of STEM, Stanford has tippy top English, philosophy, biology, politics etc departments. As a result it also attracts very top students interested in any field not just STEM. For this reason it is rather unique. No other university is that strong in everything.
My son chose stanford over yale for its stronger stem. He did not major cs at undergraduate ( actually he was discouraged to major in cs in order to focus on the fundamentals.) He works at google for the past 5 years and will receive a mba and a ms in cs from stanford this summer.
Mine did too for the same reason and, after some unanticipated wavering, is now majoring in CS. He is happy with his choice—despite the negatives (super-fast pace, too much work, etc.), Stanford is a great place, and we’ve been impressed by how hard the university works to make it a healthy environment despite the stress. We’ve also appreciated how much degree credit is granted for AP courses—some students can graduate a quarter early or have relatively light course loads throughout their four years because of this. The weather is also a huge plus and helps with the stress.
I chose Stanford over MIT and Harvard and I don’t regret it at all! I love the campus, the whole west coast atmosphere, the people and I love Stanford athletics! We’re NCAA champs in a whole variety of sports, and our athletes (like some soccer players) get called to represent their country in their sport. I can’t say the same thing for the other 2 options I had 
I feel like instead of our choosing Stanford, Stanford chose us. Basically, Stanford was the only college our kid would have been ecstatic to attend (that’s why he applied REA), and Stanford was happy to accept him for its class fit. Weather, the fact that it’s located in the same state where we live, the fact that it seems to have collaborative atmosphere, the fact you can major in anything you want. Only not so great things appear to be food and the dorm room size.
Oh, also, Stanford seems like a decent place to study and learn, and sort of well-respected.
Stanford is a very special university and something I only came to truly realize when I left the bay area. Stanford is the birthplace of Silicon Valley and the leading center for innovation, tech, entrepreneurship in the world unrivaled by any university.
You have opportunities at Stanford you will not have at any other university… students change the world in their dorm room… don’t miss your opportunity to swing for the fences.
this is the time to take bold chances and Stanford is the place to take them.
sure you’ll get better dorms elsewhere…and perhaps better food too… . you’ll see the tree but miss the forest.
“stay hungry, stay foolish”