KQI

I know this topic has already been discussed but I can't seem to find it so, here it goes.

Which one is essentially better? I know Stanford has a lot of name recognition but so does Penn and they are very different schools.

Curriculum: Stanford has this, and my knowledge of this is rather vague, system where there are certain required courses. On the other hand, Penn has this credit requirement with a lot of flexibility. My question is, how much is this a burden on students? Or rather, a plus?

Undergraduate Resources: Penn has this "One University Policy" with undergrad and grad ration basically 1:1... Not the same story for Stanford, which is largely grad... How does this affect undergrad? Are the graduate school resources availably to students? Are undergrad largely ignored?

Campus: Stanford has a HUGE (rural?) campus vs. Penn relatively small city campus. How does this affect community life?

Location: Stanford, couple of hours away from San Francisco and Penn in Philly and an hour from NY. Do students ever get bored in Stanford?

Social-scene: I think they are both rather chill and laid-back? Though I wonder, how does clique play out in Stanford? Are people very competitive in Stanford? What about parties? Constant? Can I find some in the weekdays? I come from a culturally drinking society so I don't want to be suppressed with horrid alcohol policies.

Housing: I've been to Penn and they are alright. What is it like in Stanford? Nice dorms? Do I get to pick if I want a roommate or not?

Finally, I am looking at majoring in PPE (Philosophy, Politics, and Economics) if I go to Penn, which I know Stanford does not offer. What kind of special or interdisciplinary programs does Stanford offer that is similar, if not, better? What's Poli Sci in Stanford like? Any rankings available? Rumor has it Stanford is more of a science/math college than a humanities/social studies... true or false?

PS: Sorry for the lengthy post but all this has been in my head.

andy_g

god thank youuuu i thought i was the only one. i am undecided as well and this sucks. however, i think i can answer a few of those questions. i'll leave most for actual students, but i learned at AW that
1. drinking is NEVER a problem (although AW is dry, ppl i met convinced me that during the year no one cares if you drink)
2.dorms. penn has ****ty dorms. i stayed at west lag while at stanford and also saw branner or whatever its called, a house but idk its name, and the common room of zapata. west lag rooms are tiny (about the same as hill's tho) but the dorm complex itself is gorgeous. i would say stanford dorms (at least some, the ones i saw for sure) are a hotel when compared to penn's.
3. poli sci dept.-stanford's is one of the best, top rated. of course penn's poli sci is really good. but apparently there's HYPS>then Penn. its up to you to decide if rankings will make you happy.
4. stanford's campus is paradise but i like being in a city. thats just me though


i still dont know where im going. i loved penn for ages and will prob end up there cos its closer. ahhhhh i cant make decisions though stanford is awesome

Dew

Stanford is one of top 5 schools in the country (HYSPM) why give that up!

eating food

it sounds like you don't want to go to stanford.... so go to upenn!

Relampago

Philadelphia-Small City? You must be from NYC haha. Stanford has so many courses you are not too constricted by the core curriculum. And like most universities with Grads and undergrads you are actually paid attention to by both professors and grad students. Stanford is not a huge school relative to UCLA, Michigan or Berkeley so there still is that small school attention available and I think you can even take grad level courses if you are a top notch student and so inclined. But to be honest I agree with eating food. It seems like you want to go to Penn so just go to Penn. I almost feel like you are more justifying to yourself why Penn is on par with Stanford because maybe you feel subconsciously that Stanford has more name recognition than Penn, but they are both great places. According to the chart below students choose Stanford 85% of the time when faced with this option

The New York Times > Week in Review > Image > Collegiate Matchups: Predicting Student Choices

KQI

I'm actually leaning more towards Stanford at the moment but my questions are biased against Stanford because I don't know Stanford. On the other hand, I know UPenn a lot so I just want to dig into these two schools.

pearlygate

Penn has one university policy... great. But Stanford is even better, at Upenn if you're a college/SAS student and you decided to switch major to business then you have to reapply to Wharton and wait to get admitted (based on GPA). At Stanford you can declare ANY major without having to reapply and you can take any classes you want. They don't even check the prerequisite for taking a class because they assume you're mature enough to make a decision for picking a class. So if you call penn has one university policy, Stanford IS one university lol.

Btw Stanford has more Grad student than undergrad but does it matter though? you can hang out w/ grad student too and undergrad student are perceived as cooler here (cuz they're rarer and more hip) lol just my opinion.

Also Stanford has more top ranked department and more money to spend than Penn, chances are you'll meet more famous professor at Stanford than at Penn. One thing I hate about Penn is their stinginess. They charge you money for everything. Their housing suck, their cafetaria food suck (thank God for food truck) It kinda ****ed me off when I was there. For me personally, comparing Penn to Stanford is like comparing hell to heaven. I know it's kinda extreme... but yeah I like Stanford much much better than Penn.