<p>I got into both Yale and Stanford but I have been unable to decide. I want to major in econ, but have an interest in entrepreneurship (I am planning to get an MBA later on). I'm also interested in design thinking (meche:product design) and computer science.
I will not have be able to visit yale, but when i visited stanford it felt big, and lacked the sense of community i felt at dartmouth. Also, it felt as if it would be more difficult to fit in, and a little too chill. In the future, I also want to be on the East Coast.
What do you think would be a better choice?</p>
<p>If you’re looking for a sense of community like the one you’d find at Dartmouth, Yale is a great choice because of the residential college system and incredible school spirit and enthusiasm that the students display. It definitely wouldn’t be hard to fit in at Yale since the students are extremely welcoming (this can be seen at its best during Bulldog Days).</p>
<p>I also found Stanford to be too relaxed when I went there. For me, Yale students strike a great balance between chill and passionate.</p>
<p>For your interests, I’d say Stanford is the better option: #1 in CS, top 5 in econ, and a strong design program as well (see the Hasso Plattner Institute, a graduate program at Stanford that many undergrads get involved in); it has probably the best product design program in the country, under mechanical engineering. Stanford also dominates in entrepreneurship–that whole “entrepreneurial spirit” of the West really does play out on campus, in the students, among the faculty, etc. There are tons of programs and opportunities geared at entrepreneurship for students, either in Silicon Valley or in nonprofits. In b-school rankings, you’ll see Stanford ranked #1 or 2 for both entrepreneurship and nonprofits; the b-school also offers classes for undergrads.</p>
<p>I don’t think you’d have to worry about fitting in at either school; both have such a huge diversity of students, everyone finds their niche. You’ll find that while Stanford may seem laid-back, it’s very intense–the quarter system, the rigor of your classes, and the passion of the students all contribute to a culture of intensity, but it’s very much a work-hard-play-hard mentality. There’s a reason that despite all the difficulty, Stanford is continually at the top in lists for “happiest students” and “best quality of life” and so on. And everyone forms small communities in their dorms (which are much smaller than residential colleges), in their classes, and in their activities (there are nearly 700 student groups).</p>
<p>That said, this should really come down to fit. Yale is an excellent choice as well and would also be able to offer you plenty of small communities, a work-hard-play-hard culture, etc. even if it isn’t as strong in econ/CS.</p>
<p>By the way, your intent to settle in the East Coast shouldn’t be a factor; Stanford grads do quite well in the East, and you’ll find from polls of prestige that Stanford and Yale are comparable in prestige all over the country. By the same token, someone interested in settling on the West Coast should not be deterred from Yale simply because it’s far away. Basically, both schools have such strong national names that they’re wise choices no matter where you plan to settle.</p>
<p>Stanford definitely has a better entrepreneurship tradition, and its proximity to sillicon valley gives it a huge advantage.</p>
<p>That said, I’m doing CS at Yale, and I’m very involved in entrepreneurship, so I feel compelled to tell you all about why I like it. Yale’s entrepreneurship community is a lot newer; for example, the Yale Entrepreneurship Society was founded in 2003, and last year was the first year that Technology Entrepreneurship was offered as a class. A lot of this was copied from Stanford’s model. However, right now we’re seeing the critical point where the students who started doing entrepreneurship in the early 2000’s have finally made it big and decided that they want to give back. This gives Yale a good connection to the communities in DC, NYC and Boston. </p>
<p>Basically, Yale’s entrepreneurship is starting to approach the level of Stanford’s. That said, why should you prefer Yale’s to Stanford’s if Yale is basically just catching up? Well, because the community isn’t as large, if you want to do entrepreneurship at Yale, you’ll get a lot more personalized attention. The ratio of resources to students wanting to do entrepreneurship is a lot better. In fact, case-in-point, you can feel free to PM me, and we can set up a phone conversation :)</p>
<p>As far as CS goes, the Yale CS department is a lot smaller, so it doesn’t get much attention. However, the classes are still amazingly good, and the students all end up with whatever job they want. I’ll be heading to Microsoft as a Program Manager (a role that you might find interesting if you want to learn more about product design), and I’ll also be working on my own startup on the side. </p>
<p>Anyways, the upshot is that Stanford has better-“established” programs in both entrepreneurship and CS, but the fact that it’s better-established doesn’t really mean anything in terms of what it can offer its students. Now, I don’t want to mislead you: Stanford is probably still a good bet for most students, but since you think you might fit in better at Yale, it’s worth exploring whether Yale’s resources work better for your own personal needs in terms of developing your interests.</p>
<p>It really depends on your priorities. Socially Yale would be a better fit for you. But academically Stanford would fit you MUCH better. I would recommend you go to Stanford- unless you are certain that you would be miserable there socially.</p>
<p>Agreed that Yale CS is great. I’m starting a CS PhD soon and can’t even count how many professors I’ve come across who did their undergrad in CS at Yale. Turns out that Yale has a very long tradition of CS: its department is one of the oldest ones and was co-founded by Alan Perlis (Turing Award winner). Somewhere along the way, the department either took a nosedive, or a bunch of other schools just rose in the ranks; either way, I don’t think a lot of the rankings do Yale CS justice. At the very least, the undergrad part of the department is great.</p>
<p>I don’t think Yale is anywhere close to Stanford in entrepreneurship, though. That’s not a slight to Yale, but rather a testament to the absurd dominance that Stanford has over every school in entrepreneurship: it’s very much the cornerstone of the university and its mission. It makes sense given that Stanford rose to prominence because of Silicon Valley–it created the Valley. Over 3,000 companies in SV today were founded by Stanford people (and roughly 5,000 in all). Among these companies, there’s a strong tradition of giving back to the university, in whatever form: recruiting students from campus, donating, etc. (probably why Stanford has such a large endowment). And while it’s true that you might get more personalized attention in CS (given how small it is), that definitely doesn’t hold for entrepreneurship. There’s just an unbelievable number of opportunities; you’ll be constantly spammed with such opportunities from students and faculty, etc. whether you want it or not, and the programs in place make it extremely easy to get involved in entrepreneurship. You might look into the Mayfield Fellows Program, if you’re interested in tech companies.</p>
<p>[STVP</a> : Teaching : Mayfield Fellows Program (MFP)](<a href=“http://stvp.stanford.edu/teaching/mfp/]STVP”>Stanford Technology Ventures Program : Winter 2020: MFP Info Sessions + Application Open)</p>
<p>I agree that the entrepreneurship resources at Stanford are great, but I do think the experience would be much more personalized at Yale. </p>
<p>I’ve actually worked with a student at Stanford in a startup before, and it’s clear to me just how many events and programs they have available to students. However, I think everything is available at Yale on a smaller scale. There are less programs, but also less students to take advantage of them. The result is that you’ll probably have the same opportunities, but on top of that, you’ll get to know everyone else at Yale who’s also involved in entrepreneurship. You’ll get personal attention from everyone, and it almost feels as if they have a stake in your success as well. You’d probably get to meet a lot more experienced entrepreneurs at Stanford, but because they’re also meeting a lot of students, it’s hard to hold their attention. </p>
<p>As for getting spammed with opportunities, that happens here at Yale too. The difference is that I get a lot of personal spam here (to grab coffee with people from other startups), whereas I suspect the spam at Stanford is about large events sent to long lists of people.</p>
<p>Basically, Stanford will have a lot more large-scale events and programs, but you’ll be able to access the same opportunities at Yale on a personal level. This does mean that you’ll have to take the initiative to get involved and plugged in; however, I feel like if you’re interested in entrepreneurship, taking the initiative should be the one thing you’re good at. </p>
<p>Anyways, I don’t mean to make this conversation abstract, though. Here are some of the programs at Yale:</p>
<p>YES: Yale Entrepreneurial Society, a student organization that basically tries to connect entrepreneurs; holds an annual business plan competition</p>
<p>YEI: Yale Entrepreneurial Institute, a Yale-specific incubator that offers summer fellowships; I’ve never done this, but I’ve heard really good things about it</p>
<p>Connecticut Innovations, Angel Investor Forum: some outside organizations that hold lots of mixers at Yale</p>
<p>And then there are lots of speaker events and classes geared towards the stuff.</p>
<p>I know that this stuff is all available at Stanford on a much larger scale, but I guess it all comes down to whether or not you’d prefer the large-scale experience.</p>
<p>Edit: Also, I did want to say something about the East Coast vs. West Coast thing. It’s absolutely true that both schools will have stellar reputations on both coasts, but I think going to Yale vs Stanford will make a difference. If you’re looking to get hired into a job, there are two factors to consider:
- Companies on the East Coast will be more likely to recruit at Yale than Stanford (and vice versa for West Coast). For example, Five Rings targets HYPM, but pretty much ignored Stanford this recruiting season.
- In the current distribution of alumni, there are probably more Yalies on the East Coast than Stanford graduates. This does make a difference when it comes down to networking. </p>
<p>If you’re looking to do a startup on the East Coast, I think the difference is even larger. Stanford feeds into Sillicon Valley while Yale feeds into DC, NYC and Boston. Knowing past alumni who are involved in the entrepreneurship scene in those places can be an easy way of breaking into the network.</p>
<p>At Stanford, there are lots of large-scale events for entrepreneurship, and also tons of smaller ones as well; any amount of personalized attention you can get at Yale, you can get it and more at Stanford. I don’t buy the whole “more personalized because there’s less of it” argument (not just because it’s not applicable here, but because even if it were applicable, it wouldn’t have any real consequences on quality). It applies in other instances, but doesn’t make much sense here (hence the “abstractness” you point out).</p>
<p>Again, this is not a slight to Yale. I just don’t see how it can have a concrete advantage over Stanford here–more because Stanford devotes so much of itself to entrepreneurship, perhaps to the detriment of other endeavors. Definitely more commitment to it than any university I can think of.</p>
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<p>There’s a lot of recruitment from East Coast companies on campus (all the big IB firms, venture capitalists, etc.). Either way, just because they don’t explicitly recruit doesn’t mean that a student can’t apply for a job anywhere they want. And it’s not like they’re going to discriminate against Stanford students just because they’re from the other side of the country. ;)</p>
<p>I don’t mean to imply that it’s more personal just because it’s smaller, and I guess it’s hard to even understand what I mean by personal. Let me try to explain, and hopefully it’ll strike a chord. </p>
<p>Think about entering a large roomful of students. There’s a lot of people and a lot of excitement. Everyone has similar interests, and that’s really cool. Some people will love this kind of environment. For me, though, I would find it kind of overwhelming, and I would feel like an anonymous face among the crowd. Compare this to interacting with a small group of people, where you’re forced to know everyone else. You could probably get to build bonds with the same number of people in the large room, but I think it lacks a certain sense of camaraderie. </p>
<p>I don’t know if Stanford feels like a large room of people, but I certainly get that sense, and it sounds like nicky93 feels that way too. At Yale, you’ll probably be involved in one of 10 different startups going on. You’ll know everyone else who is interested in entrepreneurship. The YEI director will know your name and can pick you out of a crowd. Alumni will take an active interest in you, and in fact, I’m working on a startup right now with an alumnus who did a successful startup in the past. </p>
<p>Now, you won’t have direct access to Sillicon Valley in your backyard or an entire campus culture of entrepreneurship, so if that’s what you want, Stanford is the place to go. However, if you come to Yale, you’ll already have someone to introduce you to the rest of the entrepreneurship community (that’s me!).</p>
<p>As for the recruitment, it’s true that the biggest companies will also be at the career fairs at Stanford, but they will hire a lot more students from Yale. It’s just like how Google also recruits at HYPM, but there will inevitably be more students hired from Stanford. Also, for the firms that don’t recruit at Stanford, I’m almost certain that students at HYPM will have the advantage. It’s not about discriminating against stanford so much as giving preference to HYPM, maybe because of alumni connections or whatnot. I had a friend from stanford apply to an east coast firm, and even though he was very qualified, he never got a response. Two of my friends at Yale and MIT got hired, and I don’t think they were any more qualified (I mean, they are both very smart, but so was my friend at Stanford).</p>
<p>Hey - here’s a pretty in-depth feature piece from the Yale Daily News about Yale’s entrepreneurial culture, focusing on a pair of students who dropped out as seniors to start a company. It also talks about Yale in comparison to other elite schools - in particular, Stanford.</p>
<p>[Yale</a> Entrepreneurs: Start Up, Drop Out? | Yale Daily News](<a href=“http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/dec/17/yale-entrepreneurs-start-drop-out/]Yale”>http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/2010/dec/17/yale-entrepreneurs-start-drop-out/)</p>
<p>It also talks about the Thiel Fellowship, which pays college students $100,000 each to drop out and start a business. The winners were announced today. Four of them were Yale students and at least two were from Stanford, although not everyone lists their college experience.</p>
<p>[Thiel</a> Fellowship](<a href=“http://thielfoundation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15&Itemid=19]Thiel”>http://thielfoundation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15&Itemid=19).</p>