Engineering students work harder than most, and Stanford has a top-notch and large engineering program. Otherwise, Stanford students probably have a similar workload (volume and difficulty) to most ivies, but less than the top tier LAC's (predominately East coast), which are considered in most quarters to be the most "intense" schools.
What people may try to hide is how they're feeling- about school, about life, about everything. It's one thing to complain about a workload. That's the norm at Stanford. It's another thing to complain about, say, being depressed. People are a lot less open about that kind of stuff. First it's a touchier subject. And second many students get the (misguided) impression that everyone else is having a blast here.
I can see that. In the land of sunshine and palm trees it could be a real buzz-kill to admit you're struggling.
Actually, related to this, is grading on a curve? I guess the question is - is it harder to maintain a decent GPA (like Princeton or Berkeley known for their grade deflations).
Science/Math/Engineering = curved or scaled (average top scores = the new 100%, bio core comes to mind) grading policy more strictly enforced. For curved classes, be 1 SD above the mean to get your A-range grade (I believe). Our course-search utilities show class averages ranging from B-/B for these kind of classes. This is more lenient I've heard than your typical straight C for the average. Just know that despite that, you're still competing in classes with high-caliber students (and harder tests I would think) so I'd be careful.
Humanities - most don't seem to be getting lower than B's in these as it's not necessarily competition-based here.
D is an econ major, but only a soph. My sense is it's a mixed bag. The intro. econ. classes have problem sets, so in that way they are like techie classes. I think some of the upper level classes are very quantitative, while others are more behavioral and sociological in nature and thus fuzzier.
wow, dad2, really? "Otherwise, Stanford students probably have a similar workload (volume and difficulty) to most ivies, but less than the top tier LAC's (predominately East coast), which are considered in most quarters to be the most "intense" schools."
"...probably have similar workload..."??? "...less than the top tier LAC's...???"
which top tier LAC's/most "intense" schools?
i think you dont know what you're talking about. why, what's your experience with Stanford? how did you know? where did you get those information?
by all means, those are incorrect statements.
do you have a child/children that attends/attended stanford. or if i may ask, do you have a child/children who was/were not accepted at Stanford???
^ I believe his kid got rejected from Stanford and went to a LAC instead. Since then, Dad2 has been railing against Stanford as much as possible on these boards and promoting Swarthmore and Williams. If you look at his posting history, you'll see many of his posts related to Stanford. (By this point, Dad2 isn't even annoying - he just makes me yawn.)
I think it's pretty hard to compare workload across schools unless you've attended more than one. A lot of work to one student may be manageable to another. Personally, I've definitely been challenged at times here at Stanford, but never overworked or constantly buried under work for a lengthy period of time (granted I'm only a frosh.) My friends often talk about how much work they have, but people usually get it done and do pretty well.
One big difference for me though, is that even when I have a decent amount of work to do, (like the work I'm procrastinating right now; two essays and a problem set all due within the week, haha) I may complain about it, but so far I've never been actually stressed out about it. I may not like sitting down and doing it, but after a few complaints it gets done and I move on.
As far as grading, I've gotten settled into the feeling that if I simply do the work, I'll get a B. If I try REALLY hard and do my absolute best, I have a good chance of getting an A. If I really don't understand what I'm doing at all, I'll get a C. And so far that's been across both my intro fuzzy and techie classes. Again, this may change as I get deeper into a major, but specifically for freshman year that's the mentality I've gathered.
For me specifically, stress has never really come from academic classes alone. What sometimes stresses me is the homework, compounded by various extracurriculars, days spent almost entirely in class/lab, and wanting to enjoy meals and not rush them.
Like if I'm in class until 6, then have rehearsal from 7 to 10, have dorm staff duties from 10 to 11, have to write a Daily column before morning, and have a pset and 100 pages of reading due the next day. That can get pretty stressful. But if it weren't for the extracurriculars, it would be a breeze.
^^^ wow, i see it now. Dad2 is just everywhere, all kinds of threads. Taking every chance he can get to put down Stanford, sometimes even subtly. Such bitterness!
^ should've seen his posts before, when the majority had something to do with Stanford. But since people have been calling him out on that, he's posting more without mentioning Stanford. His other annoying tendency is to offhandedly lump Swarthmore and Williams (where his children attend) in with top private universities, e.g. "Harvard, Swarthmore, Williams, Yale, MIT, etc. are so selective because..." and thinks nobody notices it. We periodically see bitter parents who blast Stanford for being "unfair" when their child doesn't get in and who never post again, but Dad2 seems to be the most persistent in his main mission to let the world know just how evil Stanford is, one CC post at a time.
Stanford was ranked #2 in the world in the 2011 ARWU ranking. It wouldn't be there, right behind Harvard, if the students were not hardworking, bright, and motivated. It's a dumb discussion.
Stanford was ranked #2 in the world in the 2011 ARWU ranking. It wouldn't be there, right behind Harvard, if the students were not hardworking, bright, and motivated.
It seems like you have not read the methodology ARWU uses in ranking schools. The current students play almost no role in giving Stanford a high ranking.
You should rephrase the statement and say: "It wouldn't be there, right behind Harvard, if the professors and faculty were not hardworking, bright, and motivated. This doesn't mean students aren't any of the aforementioned. In fact, because the students are around such great people, they probably are motivated to do well.
@Falcon16, that doesn't make much sense. Only 800 of Stanford's students are varsity athletes, an even smaller number were recruited, and an even smaller number were in a sport where that matters in admissions (not by much, either). More importantly, all the Ivies recruit for sports, and the "one standard deviation" rule does not mean that it's harder to get in as athlete at an Ivy (admissions are based on much more than just numbers).
