<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>Just looking for some advice as to whether I should go to Yale or Stanford. I'm planning to major in political science and go to law school, and I love both Y/S. I know a lot about both of them, went to the full Bulldog Days and Stanford Admit Weekend program, and I still haven't been able to make up my mind. Anybody have any insights that could help a wavering profro?</p>
<p>Hah, I was exactly the same way… yesterday. I went to both admit weekends and was equally impressed by them both. I was actually pretty much deadset on Yale until the final day at Stanford, until I realized that the seemingly average people I was hanging out with were actually geniuses. </p>
<p>After one day of reflection though, I chose Stanford. Not sure exactly what it was… probably a combination of the raw beauty and weather of the Bay Area and the sheer amount of fun 4 years at the Farm would be. I kept thinking about the November-February months. Would I rather be hunkered in my residential college or outside cooking smores and fountain hopping?</p>
<p>Academically, Yale is probably a tad bit stronger for what you want; especially since you’re going to find better better political connections on the east coast. You never know though; it’s pretty clear Stanford is the university of the future and you will be presented with boundless “connection” opportunities from a Stanford degree in the coming years.</p>
<p>bluescreen, since you’re from NYC, come live on the West Coast for the next four years. It will broaden your perspective and horizons in innumerable ways. And I think you’ve got the vibe of Stanford right–people don’t flaunt their own accomplishments so much, but they are very, very accomplished. Students there are secure and content but not smug.</p>
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<p>I agree. If you grew up on one coast go to the other coast for college if you have a choice between two more or less equal schools. Go to Stanford.</p>
<p>If you honestly have no other determining factors, zenkoan has a good point. You will grow a lot as a person and learn so much by moving to the other coast.
It is a totally different lifestyle that is good to be exposed to.</p>
<p>Personally, I have talked to several people at Stanford whose friends at Yale are trying to transfer to Stanford because they just like the overall atmosphere better at Stanford. I have never heard of someone from Stanford wanting to transfer out (im sure there are some somewhere, but I guess they are less common) :)</p>
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<p>I have. And she did transfer out - to Santa Clara of all schools, where she was much happier. Also, gold medalist swimmer Janet Evans transferred out of Stanford to Texas, but that was more for athletic reasons. I think these are rare exceptions.</p>
<p>My friend here at S transferred from Y and said these were her main reasons:</p>
<p>The consistency of Y’s housing versus the fluidity of S’s: she hated the people in her res college and wanted to live with her friends in different places. I felt the same way about my freshman dorm at S, and now I live in a co-op on the row. I still have community there, but with fewer people and with less solidity than a res college. If you want that kind of option, S is better. If you prefer a consistent res college community regardless of who’s in it, Y is better. </p>
<p>The immersed city life of Y versus the utopian isolation of S. I want my college experience to be a kind of academic incubator, i.e. a place where I can go away from everything for four years to just contemplate the world. S is perfect for this. I think this helps makes college a time of change, a change I’ve definitely felt when I talk to my friends back home. However, sometimes I wish I had access to the resources of a big city (SF is a good hour and a half trek from campus). If you relish living in a city, while New Haven certainly falls short of Boston (read: MIT (read: **** Harvard)), its far from the yuppie vacuity of Palo Alto.</p>
<p>The tradition of Y versus the openness of S. Y wreaks of tradition, from its res colleges, to its students, to its departmental philosophies. No, not everyone at Y is super-traditional, but generally more so than at other colleges, a fact corroborated by friends I have at Y, both in praise and in criticism. At S, most people I know don’t lock their doors. My friend, with her radical political beliefs, was able to find professors at S open to discussing nontraditional ideas with her, something she was unable to do at Y. This dichotomy is, I think, the most profound difference in the cultures of the two schools.</p>
<p>S and Y are very very different schools, despite the parity of their academics (outside of engineering and the arts, where S and Y, respectively, dominate the other). I hope the distinctions above help you make the right choice for you, but rest assured that there is no wrong choice between such excellent schools.</p>
<p>I’m generally a rational person who doesn’t generalize incidents like this, but I must say I’ve been impacted by the gruesome murders at Yale and in New Haven connected with people associated with Yale. New Haven has had quite a few homicides lately for a small city.</p>
<p>Annual rainfall at Palo Alto: 15.71"
[Palo</a> Alto Weather | Palo Alto CA | Conditions, Forecast, Average](<a href=“http://www.idcide.com/weather/ca/palo-alto.htm]Palo”>Palo Alto Weather | Palo Alto CA | Conditions, Forecast, Average)</p>
<p>Annual rainfall at New haven: 52.73"
[New</a> Haven Weather | New Haven CT | Conditions, Forecast, Average](<a href=“http://www.idcide.com/weather/ct/new-haven.htm]New”>New Haven Weather | New Haven CT | Conditions, Forecast, Average)</p>
<p>Violent crimes per 100K people at Palo Alto (2001): 137
[Palo</a> Alto Profile | Palo Alto CA | Population, Crime, Map](<a href=“http://www.idcide.com/citydata/ca/palo-alto.htm]Palo”>Palo Alto Profile | Palo Alto CA | Population, Crime, Map)</p>
<p>Violent crimes per 100K people at New haven (2001): 1540
[New</a> Haven Profile | New Haven CT | Population, Crime, Map](<a href=“http://www.idcide.com/citydata/ct/new-haven.htm]New”>New Haven Profile | New Haven CT | Population, Crime, Map)</p>
<p>Stanford’s polisci department is also fantastic. As an undergrad you get both the academic side of polisci in the department, and the policy side in research institutions. The core department of researchers has a lot of talent and resources for research, as do the think tanks/policy oriented centers. Check out [Freeman</a> Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI Stanford)](<a href=“http://fsi.stanford.edu/]Freeman”>http://fsi.stanford.edu/) to get a taste for all the research institutions related to polisci/IR issues.</p>
<p>Don’t think that because you’re at Stanford you’re away from policy.</p>
<p>I took into account zenkoan’s point as well. I will probably live on the East Coast for the rest of my life - either in DC or NYC. Spending at least four years someplace very far away from my current and possibly future home was a part of my decision (although I decided that when I applied, not in choosing, but alas). Weather was also a huge part of my decision. Although the weather at Stanford isn’t perfect - there are rainy days (weeks) of course - it’s a hell of a lot better than the weather at Yale. I was extremely bummed that Stanford isn’t urban, but I’m not sure I’d call New Haven urban either… Palo Alto and New Haven are both lacking as “cities,” although in very different ways.</p>
<p>Yale strikes me as stuffy. It’s very traditional - both in the college experience and in the academic experience. Depending on who you are, this can be a pro or a con. Stanford seems much more open to new things: it seems like it is more flexible and changing with the tides. Yale is also a place of more obvious affluence and snobbiness - in my opinion - whereas at Stanford, the students seem more low key.</p>
<p>applicannot, I think it’s wise to take the superior weather into account–far from a superficial consideration, it creates a situation most conducive to an active, healthy lifestyle, which in turn supports a successful transition to college life. </p>
<p>If you’re craving some urban time, I’m sure you discovered during Admit Weekend that the Cal train station into San Fran is only about a block north of campus, making city excursions easily accessible. Speaking of Admit Weekend, I enjoyed your account of your recent visit to Stanford that you posted at the “Campus Vibe”/“Visit Reports” section of CC. You’re going to be having the time of your life in just a few months now!</p>
<p>bluescreen, I encourage you to read my post in your other thread!</p>
<p>To respond to several of these Yale critiques:
<p>You have two excellent schools to choose from. I would seriously consider what you want to study, the extracurriculars you want to participate in, and culture you want to be in. You may feel a bit more at “home” at Yale as a NYC poli sci major interested in law school. You may also like that you’ll be a little bit more “different” at Stanford. Etc.</p>
<p>Yale has a slitely better law school. But Stanford has a better politics department. Stanford has 6 faculty in social and political science selected into national academy of science, while Yale has only 1.</p>
<p>US News graduate school ranking has Stanford as #1 (tied with Harvard and Princeton), and Yale as #5. Yale creates more US presidents, while Stanford has Hoover Institute.</p>
<p>=====================================================================
Stanford’s 6 super star professors selected into NAS:</p>
<p>Name Primary Institution NAS Section Election Year Research/Expertise<br>
Karen Cook<br>
Stanford University
Social and Political Sciences
2007 </p>
<p>John Ferejohn<br>
Stanford University
Social and Political Sciences
1988 </p>
<p>Morris Fiorina<br>
Stanford University
Social and Political Sciences
1998 </p>
<p>Alex Inkeles<br>
Stanford University
Social and Political Sciences
1981
social aspects of economic development, national character studies, political sociology, personality and social structure </p>
<p>David Laitin<br>
Stanford University
Social and Political Sciences
2007 </p>
<p>James March<br>
Stanford University
Social and Political Sciences
1973
organizations, decision making </p>
<p>==================================================================</p>
<p>Yale’s 1 super star professor at NAS:</p>
<p>Name Primary Institution NAS Section Election Year Research/Expertise<br>
Robert Dahl<br>
Yale University
Social and Political Sciences
1972 </p>
<p>link: <a href=“National Academy of Sciences”>National Academy of Sciences;
<p>To the OP:</p>
<p>My son sang to you during the admit weekend as he was part of Testimony. Too bad he could not improve his music skill very much at Stanford after giving up Yale. He won the state music composition contest when he was in high school. But he has further improved his other top skills at Stanford, which I think are invaluable.</p>
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<p>This is accurate. Yale’s image in the movies and the mass media may be ‘stuffy and pretentious’ but the reality is quite different. Yes there’s magnificent old architecture (along with many modern landmarks) but people at Yale in every department I know go out of their way to emphasize the new, the innovative, the non-traditional. In fact, in my view they do this to a fault. Too much focus on being ‘cutting edge’ --but maybe that’s just me and my own bias responding. And the student body is completely free of anything remotely like snobbery or elitism. That’s about the only thing that *could *ostracize you there.</p>
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<p>Really?? This is what you said in the corresponding thread in the Yale forum:</p>
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<p>Older (East Coast) universities have greater inertia due to their restrictive reverence for history and tradition. Being by far the youngest of HYPS, Stanford is much more willing to take risks and try new ideas. Silicon Valley is the perfect example. The “New Economy” is the wave of the future.</p>
<p>So is China, the next global superpower. Stanford’s position on the Pacific Rim will be greatly advantageous.</p>
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<p>Not “completely”: [Skull</a> and Bones - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_and_Bones]Skull”>Skull and Bones - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>iamtbh, your arguments are all wrong.</p>
<p>Let’s take them in reverse order:
-Secret societies are for SENIORS ONLY and they are SECRET–to claim that they are a big part of campus life is just downright false. Also, fyi, they now practice aff. action and are really diverse.
-Yale has some of the greatest if not the greatest Chinese partnerships of any American university. I encourage you to look not only at Yale’s many many programs in China but President Levin’s own bio:</p>
<p>“President Levin has focused considerable attention on China as the University’s internationalization efforts have developed. He has traveled to China 12 times in the last eight years, including a trip in May 2007, where, at the invitation of China’s President Hu Jintao, he led a group of 100 Yale students and faculty members on an historic visit. President Levin met in 2008 with several key members of the latest generation of senior Chinese leaders. In 2001, he chose to give his Tercentennial Address on “The Global University” on the campus of Peking University, and he met with China’s then-President Jiang Zemin in Beijing. In subsequent conversations with senior governmental officials, Yale was selected to sponsor an Advanced University Leadership Program for the presidents and vice presidents of China’s leading universities. That program has been held each summer since 2004. In addition, Yale was chosen to sponsor an executive education program for the most senior cohort of Chinese governmental officials to study outside the country; that program was devoted to exploring how the Rule of Law could be further extended in China and was held on Yale’s campus in June 2005, 2006 and 2007.”</p>
<p>The “pacific rim” thing is not just silly; it sounds like something from WWII LOLLLL.</p>
<p>-“Being by far the youngest of HYPS, Stanford is much more willing to take risks and try new ideas.” Age does not have much to do with willingness to try new ideas–really!!! Stanford was nicely positioned for the “tech boom” since it was in Silicon Valley – but it is NOT the CAUSE of the tech boom. Merely because it did well in the Dot-Com era has nothing to do with whether it will do well in the next boom. Yale has been pretty active too in looking forward. (E.g. the west campus: [Yale</a> University | West Campus | History](<a href=“Welcome | Yale West Campus”>Welcome | Yale West Campus).)
-As for my athlete comment being elitist, all I have to say to that is “touche.”</p>
<p>Your arguments are perpetuating myths. When I try to distinguish b/w schools, I try to do so in a fair manner. You ought to do the same.</p>