Stanford vs. Princeton - Page 2

BedHead · 04-28-2008, 08:14 PM

Imannuell: Where are you from? Go to Stanford if you're from the East Coast or to Princeton if you're from the West Coast. If you're from somewhere else, revert to all other lesser advice on this board.

vossron · 04-28-2008, 11:17 PM

We're cautioned not to believe everything we read, but

Stanford University: Common Data Set 2007-2008 says:

Total all undergraduates: 6,584
Total all graduate and professional students: 13,198

I was actually on campus today (and spoke with a graduate student!), but I didn't count them nor stop to ask.

mercruz · 04-29-2008, 01:14 AM

Let's take this one point at a time:

Quote:

-- Ritzy suburban Northern California vs. ritzy suburban New Jersey?

While Palo Alto might be a "ritzy" area, neither East Palo Alto nor much of the surrounding area is. Furthermore, Palo Alto has many more working professionals comparatively and California has a egalitarian feel to it.

Quote:

-- Weekends in San Francisco/San Jose vs. New York City/Philadelphia? (The distances and times are virtually the same, the public transportation situation better at Princeton.)

Again, transportation? idk, but most time is spent on campus at Stanford, idk for Princeton.

Quote:

-- Does it matter to you if there are a bunch of professional students around? (Probably not . . . unless you want to date them.)

Couldn't agree more-more grad students does not = more research opportunities available.

Quote:

-- Stanford is a lot more engineering-centric than Princeton. While Princeton does have an engineering program, Stanford's is much, much bigger, and involves a much higher proportion of undergraduates and grad students, too. Princeton seems to have somewhat more student music, drama, art.

Unsure, while both schools are holistic, I wouldn't go so far to say that Stanford is more science-based-just look at the required IHUM and PWR courses

Quote:

-- Stanford is diverse in the sense that people from all sorts of different cultures who live in California go there, along with some people actually from other countries and other states, too. Princeton is probably somewhat less diverse in terms of students' cultural backgrounds, and somewhat more diverse in terms of where they went to high school. Stanford has more Asian, more Hispanic, and more Native American students than Princeton, somewhat fewer African-American students. Foreign students at Princeton are more likely to be European than Asian, and vice versa for Stanford.

yup, yup. Stanford doesn't have as great Cross-Pond appeal I suppose-it's too far?

Quote:

-- The two colleges have very different housing systems. Princeton has the two- or four-year residential colleges, and the eating clubs. Stanford is sort of a free-for-all for four years, with people moving around a lot and living/eating in different environments with different people. Both systems have their fans, but any particular person is probably going to like one a lot more than the other.

Once again, the whole egalitarianism thing in California...

but, on a whole, either school is a good choice.

mia305 · 04-29-2008, 08:20 AM

The positives on these two are obvious. Both are great academically. So here are the cons as I see them:
Princeton: The lack of professional schools at princeton (and many other grad programs) is an underestimated problem,when Princeton undergrads apply elsewhere to law, business and medical school etc, particularly for those who are not at the absolute top of the class. At HYS, a good percentage of the grad programs is made up of their own undergrads. At Princeton you dont have that advantage and everyone is competing with everyone else for spots at the other top schools.
The eating clubs are archaic, expensive and discriminatory.
There is an element of east coast affectation.
The winter weather is terrible.

Stanford: The bottom 25% does not have the same objective academic qualifications as the rest of the class due in part to the need to keep feeding a massive sports program at a relatively small school.
It is somewhat west coast centric and that is the primary market that it seeks to serve. Like Duke in the South.
Although the weather is far better than central NJ, there is a rainy season (which takes up alot of the school year) and the "travel" time from one part of campus to another is extreme.
Also, you better like, or at least be able to tolerate, mission architecture.