<p>So a friend of mine was admitted into MIT under Early Action, and has just recently been admitted into Stanford and Dartmouth under Regular Decision. He's asked for my opinion, because he doesn't know much about Stanford, but I can only offer him personal experiences being on the campus during a summer program, some generic information about the school, and a few facts here and there.</p>
<p>So the question is, where do you think he should attend? But being in this Stanford forum, what would you tell him about Stanford to convince him to attend versus the other two schools? </p>
<p>A few things about him: he wants to play football (not the top priority, and knows that he's not good enough for Stanford, but can definitely play at MIT or Dartmouth), he's either considering engineering or economics, and we live in a small-time city on the coast of GA and go to a small school that doesn't so often have these kinds of acceptances. Also, originally, he was considering Dartmouth over MIT for the following reasons: they have a better football team, a better campus (to him at least), and it's an Ivy. If he attends Stanford, he'll probably go into economics.</p>
<p>Feel free to ask questions if need to for a better response. But any kind of opinion is welcomed. </p>
<p>He may not get to play at Stanford but Stanford will be competing for PAC12 championship every year he is there and they may even contend for national championship. Students go to the games for free.</p>
<p>Engineering and Economics are top notch at both Stanford and MIT. However, it will be nice weather all year round only at Stanford.</p>
<p>He should probably go to admitted days at his top choices to see which schools feel better for him.</p>
<p>For the record, I’m actually not trying to convince him to go anywhere. I actually posted this same question in the MIT and Dartmouth forums (but swapped out “Stanford” with “MIT” and “Dartmouth”), because I know those in the Dartmouth forum have a tendency to be biased towards Dartmouth, and Stanford in the Stanford forums, and MIT in MIT’s. You all, in each respective forums, are the ones that know the schools best, since it’s where you plan on attending or apply to or dream of; it only makes sense that you want to go to Dartmouth, MIT, or Stanford for a reason. What exactly is that reason? For example, I’m going to Cal, and I lurk around in Berkeley’s forum often and know more about Berkeley, because that’s where I want to go; it’s only sensible that I know plenty about it.</p>
<p>So again, I 100% understand that it’s not my right to make any kind of decision for my friend or should even try to convince him to go anywhere, because I don’t know him as well as he knows himself. But he’s simply asking for my opinion, and as a good friend, I want to give him a good opinion that’s been made after knowing several facts and pros and cons of each school. An opinion that’s grounded with a strong base of facts and reasoning.</p>
<p>Maybe I phrased the question wrong, and that’s my fault, so I guess I’m pretty much asking all of you, people with some knowledge of Stanford (I’m assuming), what makes Stanford better than Dartmouth and MIT in your eyes? </p>
<p>You are asking the wrong question if you are trying to help your friend.</p>
<p>The relevant question is what is the best fit for your friend. Each of the colleges listed are great, but some may be a better fit than others based on who your friend is, what type of interaction he wants with his environment, what is important to him, and so on.</p>
<p>Is pizza or tofu better? Depends. Better for what? Gaining weight? Losing weight? Eating while watching the superbowl with friends? Eating while in a 3 star restaurant as a complement to truffles? Breakfast meal? 2AM meal?</p>
<p>So the question isn’t “Why Stanford University?” It is something like “Why Stanford U for a person who likes…and…and…?”</p>
<p>Okay, you make a fair statement. I understand that, it’s just that I’m pretty much wondering why people chose/apply to go to Stanford versus all of these other schools. What made them want to go? I know everyone has different preferences, but I simply just want others perspectives on these schools. I’m sorry if I’m being difficult. I’m just trying to help. But in general, I think he’s very indifferent to those things. He’s the type to adapt if it means getting a better education or successful.</p>
<p>Again, I apologize if I’m making things difficult or being too stubborn, badgering folks for an answer. But one thing I can say, is that he prioritizes what these schools can do for him in the future once he graduates with an engineering or economics degree. So if you can speak on part of that…? That would be helpful.</p>
Stanford is located in the heart of Silicon Valley, which leads to a large number of internship and career opportunities for engineering students. Stanford also has a notable tech entrepreneurship emphasis, which largely relates to why Silicon Valley formed around Stanford (read about Frederick Terman for more detail). While at Stanford, I was in a program that fostered this entrepreneurship by combining grad degrees in engineering and business related fields as part of a double coterm. It’s common to simultaneously pursue an undergrad and grad degree at Stanford, as part of a coterminal masters. This background and hearing about so many other successful tech entrepreneurs while in college led to me later starting a successful Internet company. I doubt it would have happened had I chosen MIT or ivies instead of Stanford. Some of my classmates started a company that now has a profit of billions per year, which I had a chance to join as one of the first employees. Unfortunately I did not pursue this and instead chose to work at well established company. A guy in my freshman dorm who was an economics major joined a startup with some friends, which did extremely well, then later started some successful companies of his own. He was interviewed on the Daily Show earlier to discuss a well-reviewed book he wrote about his experiences at the first startup. Stanford has a career fair for engineering students. The big name tech companies in the area all usually attend, as well as some small companies, some out of the area, and even some government positions. My job search only involved handing out my resume at the engineering career fair, then interviewing during spring break of my final year.</p>
<p>Of course different students like and dislike very different things about the school. I have a relative whose primary reason for choosing Stanford over an ivy was she thought the student body seemed more friendly while visiting, with more people stopping to talk to her or being interested in hanging out (I have no idea if this is a common experience or not). As I mentioned in the other thread, I’d suggest attending admit weekend. The Parent FAQ about admit weekend at <a href=“Frequently Asked Questions - Stanford Admitted Students”>https://admit.stanford.edu/parents/faq</a> goes into more detail about some areas that make Stanford unique from other highly selective colleges (scroll towards bottom). </p>
<p>My DS is there as a STEM guy.
He chose it over other options for many of the reasons that @data10 talked about it.</p>
<p>But the one thing that really struck him was the level of flexibility the college provided.</p>
<p>Examples:
The quarter system is not for everyone, but my DS liked the idea of essentially taking 12-14 courses a year. Allowed for more exploration.
The AP and previous college course credit. It seemed that Stanford was more liberal with these credits (especially AP) and so my DS was able to skip through more requirements.
The “pre-req” for classes. Essentially there are none. They are more guidelines. Want to take a more advanced class and think you can handle it without a pre-req? Go for it. No approval is needed.
The major. I think most colleges are getting to be like this, but it seemed that there was a lot of flexibility in designing your major or you double major or your major and minor or…or…or…
The required “core” curriculum. It seems relatively light, there is a lot of flexibility and the courses are really interesting. </p>
<p>The second thing is that there is very interesting culture developing at Stanford: there is a techy culture there, but also a sports culture, and a social entrepreneurship, and an international relations, and a humanities culture. But there seems to be a fusion culture emerging that is fun to watch:</p>
<p>Oh, and want to know what the woman who is likely to be topic draft pick for the WNBA does, besides getting an IR degree and developing a relationship with former Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice? </p>