Yale vs Stanford

Colleges & Universities A-Z Yale University
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Hi! I am a student who was blessed enough to have been accepted to both Stanford and Yale. And hopefully based on what I say you guys can help guide me in the best general direction.

I am wondering how either school stacks up against each other in Economics or Political Science.

How good is each school’s Humanities and Social Sciences departments compared to each other? I am definitely not interested in going into STEMs.

I currently live in South Carolina, but I don’t mind being away from my family and friends for college, so distance isn’t super important to me.

I do want to be at a school with a great social environment. I want my school to allow me to easily find my niche or even make my own niche. I want to go to a school with a strong community.

I don’t really know how I feel about living in a city. I’d like my college campus to feel like a campus as opposed to just being apart of the city.

I am most definitely not a cold-weather person. Personally, I LOVE warm weather and sunlight.

I am pretty terrible at math but excel in reading and writing. Which school offers a better ‘low-math’ option for Econ if its possible?

Are the Humanities well-respected at Stanford. I’ve heard many things about the underlying divide between the STEMs students and everyone else.

Brand isn’t a big issue with me. Both schools have a great reputation. Though I’ve heard Stanford may eclipse the Ivies in a decade or two. And does the brand name of each school hold up in different parts of the US equally?

How good is the alumni networking at either school?

Which school has a better focus on undergrad teaching?

After undergrad I was thinking of going into the Peace Corps or into Teachers for America, then after that maybe work for a few years for my foster dad then go to B-school to get an MBA and take over the business. Or after the Peace Corps go onto Law School. But that is WAAAAAAAAAAY down the line.

If you need more info, ask me.

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I’m not sure that there’s a “low math” Econ option anywhere, but my understanding is that it’s not to be found at Yale.

If you want warm weather and sunlight, Stanford is obviously better in that department than Yale.

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Yep. Four seasons vs. one. It’s almost always sunny at Stanford and there’s far more weather variety at Yale.

As for the focus on undergrad teaching, compare the percentage of undergrads at both schools (percentages of the total student population) – the higher the percentage of undergrads on campus, (likely) the greater the emphasis on them.

Look at the average gen-ed class sizes. Both schools’ classes are likely to shrink markedly as you get into your major, but see which one offers smaller 100- and 200-level classes.

Finally, compare social vibe (party scene), housing, ease of travel on and outside of campus, and cultural environment.

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@ASJU9511 For Economics Stanford has the clear edge and for political science Stanford has a prob a slight edge. In terms of brand I think Stanford has eclipsed all of the ivies other than Harvard, but again at this level brand differences are inconsequential. Alumni networks are both amazing as is recognition in all parts of the US and internationally. humanities are well-respected at Stanford since Stanford is ranked super highly for humanities too.

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Are there undergraduate rankings, or are we relying on the USNews grad school rankings?

Stanford has the upper hand in most grad programs (one notable exception being Law), but for undergrad I’m not sure there’s a reliable metric. Yale seems to emphasize humanities and social sciences more than STEM. The same cannot be said for Stanford.

(if we were looking for academic fit for a STEM major, Stanford has the distinct edge. But I’m not going to rely on grad school rankings to compare them in humanities and social sciences. I’d rather compare class size, prof interaction, and academic support – kind of how we look at LACs. Maybe also consider internship and research availability, as applicable by major.)

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OP: congrats. This same topic has arisen many times, for previous years. If you do a quick search both here and on the Stanford forum, you’ll find lots of discussion. Will you be able to attend Bulldog Days?

For me, I liked the compactness and closer feel of the Yale community. Stanford is bigger and feels it. Its not as cohesive and actively diverse as Yale’s residential college system allows. While at Yale, my long term GF was at Stanford so I was there often. Great times but I wouldn’t have traded the closer social bonds that people at Yale easily made as compared to Stanford. But I can’t imagine better weather than Palo Alto! My two cents.

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@T26E4 Is the residential college system all its cracked up to be? I hear that its Yale’s biggest draw after all.

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@prezbucky Yeah I’ve heard some things about Stanny’s undergrad focus. I’m really digging Yale’s efforts to reach out to undergrads though.

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Based on reading testimonials on this site for the past several years, when I consider Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Stanford overall, I feel like – relative to each other – Princeton and Yale emphasize the undergraduate experience a bit more while Harvard and Stanford emphasize graduate studies a bit more.

Think about it: H and S have more grad students and more great grad programs. P and Y have relatively fewer grad students and not as many top grad programs. P and Y have plenty of money to spend on expanding their grad offerings, but they seem content to concentrate ever-so-slightly more on undergrads.

So if I were a student lucky enough to be considering HYPS for my undergraduate years, and if I felt other areas of fit were even, I would give a slight edge to Princeton and Yale.

On the flip-side, if I were looking at grad schools – outside of some programs where P and Y are stellar – I would give the nod to Harvard and Stanford.

It’s not the easiest thing to quantify. It just seems P and Y – and certainly this applies to Dartmouth and probably Brown too-- try really hard to fashion a great experience for their undergrads.

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Obviously, this comes down to which one feels like the best fit for you as they are both excellent choices.

The housing systems are pretty different. Yale has a four year residential college system that seems to work extremely well in building social cohesion, but on the other hand there is a greater variety of housing types at Stanford e.g. co-ops. From what I hear from my daughter, the Yale residential college system is all it’s cracked up to be.

I’m not sure if the humanities and social sciences departments are necessarily better at Yale, but I do think those fields are more popular among Yale undergraduates. Right now computer science is the most popular major at Stanford and at Yale I believe it’s either political science or economics.

Both have excellent brands globally, but Yale is naturally a bit stronger on the east coast in terms of number of alumni and brand, and Stanford a bit stronger in California. I think any school is going to be strongest in its home area.

As noted earlier, in terms of warm weather and sunlight the answer is obvious.

Hopefully you’ll have the chance to visit both. Both are so strong that just picking the one you like best is probably the best approach.

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Informally, I’d say that 90% of Yale College alumni would point to the Residential College system as the most enjoyable aspect of Yale. Despite its great academics, faculty, resources, research opportunities – I clearly say the camaraderie engendered by my college affiliation define my time there. Indeed, alumni introduce themselves to one another not “Joan Smith, Biology, Class of '92”. She would say “Joan Smith, Pierson College, '92” and we’d reply in kind. The college affiliation becomes the lingua franca. “Oh yeah, I dated someone in PC back in '91. Did you know X?” or “You guys killed us in the coed football championship your senior year!”

I’m going to an event in about 2 weeks. Area admissions volunteers are gathering at one alumni couple’s home, along with our area admissions officer. Our name tags will all have our college affiliation on it. The branding is this strong and loyal. See my avatar – it’s the Jonathan Edwards crest!