<p>Note: I, Lucyan, do not in anyway support any stereotypes suggested in this thread. I made this thread to do Stanford good, to clear any misunderstandings about the university.</p>
<p>Right across the bay I was attending an introductory orientation at Berkeley when a colleague of mines began spouting out the word “Stanford”. Of course, I, being pure and innocent, never heard much of this Stanford before. Who was this Stanford? Who was he? </p>
<p>It was at that very moment that my colleague Robert cured me of my ignorance: “Stanford isn’t a person. It’s a world class university, you dope! Unless you count Leland Stanford, the guy who exploited poor, innocent Chinese workers through cheap inhumane labor during the gold rush.” At least that’s how I think how he said it. Robert always says things with this classy Queen’s English accent. Anyways, so Robert told me how great Stanford was, with his world-class professors, astronomical endowment, groundbreaking research, green trees, hobo-free streets, ethnic minorities, and grade inflation. But upon discussing the last topic, grade inflation, Robert’s face turned red. His Queen’s English speech suddenly turned into screeching blasts of Cockney. “Stanford students are so darn lucky! They never have to work because of this grade inflation! Even engineering students, agh! All they do is party, party, party, while we Berkeley students actually have to work for our degree. Stanford students never study! At all!”</p>
<p>At the sound of Robert’s last statement, a couple of Korean colleagues who were also listening to the conversation nodded in approval. “People at Stanford never study.” “You got that right.” </p>
<p>Even though the Koreans were approving of Robert’s heartfelt diatribe against Stanford, I couldn’t nod. “What, is your head stuck or something?” asked one colleague. “I just feel like I should know Stanford in person before I agree to any judgements.”</p>
<p>So I went on collegeconfidential and I found Stanford and made this thread. I assume people on the “Stanford University” part of the forum go to Stanford. So, Stanford students, this is your chance to clear your name of those unjust stereotypes at Berkeley (Having just met Stanford, I am starting to believe in the wrongness of these stereotypes as well). Do Stanford students ever study (at all)?</p>
<p>[here’s something I’ve posted a few times; the following applies not only to Stanford, but to many selective universities and grade inflation in general]</p>
<p>There’s a common misconception that supposed grade inflation automatically means that classes are easy, or that students skate by regardless of the rigor. That’s not the case at Stanford, or likely at any other elite private school that has a high average GPA. The reason that elite universities tend to have higher GPAs is mostly (if not completely) because the students are naturally harder-working and talented - on average. Indeed, some Stanford professors have said - in the context of debates on grade inflation - that over the years, they’ve made their courses more and more difficult, but with increases in selectivity, students just respond to the increase in difficulty and work harder. Some have asserted that the students of 20 years ago cannot even compare to the caliber of students at Stanford today. </p>
<p>It’s gotten to the point where they cannot justifiably make the class harder: the material is the material. Moreover, simply grading more harshly would penalize students who are clearly showing mastery of the material and doing strong work (in the A or B range). And harsher grading would disadvantage them relative to students of similar caliber at less selective universities, students who are ahead of the curve there and get the grade they deserve. Presumably, their advantage would come in job or grad school applications. It makes no sense to reward smart students simply for having gone to a less selective school where their peers are more heteregeneous, and where these top students would be ‘big fish in a little pond.’ Unfortunately, employers and grad schools don’t care that your peers raise the bar on you: they want to see good grades, period.</p>
<p>You would think that a student might reason, “well the grades tend to be high anyway, so I can slack off.” But if you slack off, you usually won’t do well: the only reason that the grades are high is that the students are neurotic and choose not to slack off (most of the time, at least). Professors also have an annoying tendency to leave students in the dark about where they stand; students have no idea how they’re doing or how the class will be curved, and as a result of their high-achieving nature, they err on the safe side and work harder. Another reason that grades are often higher at elite privates is simply the class sizes: small classes tend to have higher grades, no matter what the school is.</p>
<p>Now it’s entirely possible that there is some inflation even after you account for the selectivity (…but it’s extremely unlikely to be a coincidence that the more selective the school is, the higher its average GPA). This isn’t well-understood, largely because it’s nearly impossible to discern the standard of difficulty in coursework for the purposes of grade calibration. Gradeinflation.com too sees the difficulty in this, and relegates this point to a mere footnote:</p>
<p>So to answer your question, yes, students study, a lot; the quarter system makes it feel like you never stop studying, because it seems like the quarter just started and then you quickly have midterms upon you and then bam! Finals. If you want more proof that it’s not “all party no work” at Stanford, google “duck syndrome.” On that note, it appears that your colleague may have been duped by the duck syndrome.</p>
<p>For the record, this whole notion that Stanford students have it easy is a very old part of the Berkeley lore - dare I say, “dogma.” Many of them simply cannot accept that Stanford students have fun and work hard and have innumerable opportunities thrown at them and get amazing financial aid and never have to deal with waitlists and… So they console themselves with an imaginary picture of what Stanford is like. “Pfft, pansies. I actually had to work for my degree” and such. Whatever helps them sleep at night. ;)</p>