<p>My only real qualm about choosing between Stanford and Harvard now is the level of intellectualism at the school. Although I do enjoy partying some and watching, I do want to have conversations outside of those that I could get at any state school. Stanford is also known for having students who are really laid back. How would one of yawll rate Stanford’s intellectual environment as compared to Yale or Harvard? Are the students perhaps a little bit too chill?</p>
<p>It depends on where you look. You will find “chill” students at Harvard and at Stanford. I suggest looking at the Structured Liberal Program at Stanford–it might suit your interests well.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/areaone/14des.shtml[/url]”>http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/areaone/14des.shtml</a></p>
<p>The idea of c"chill students" is a relative one. For example, a University of Texas professor recently called Stanforde intellectual environment “light years” better than U of T, one of the foremost state schools in the nation. I think by chill it means Stanford students have balanced lives, they talk about academics, but also play a sport, either competitively or intramurally, find a few groups they truly enjoy, and grow as people.</p>
<p>i know a couple people who are disappointed with what they see as a lack of intellectualism in their dorm, but this is sort of countered by the argument that the dorm is your home- it is where you go to relax after a long day of classes, not where you go to be super-intellectual. i would guess that people who choose harvard are more interested in a very intellectual college environment than the balanced, laidback one that attracts stanford students, and that harvard might thus have a more intellectual atmosphere than stanford. however, this might also result in a more stressed, competitive atmosphere. i think stanford classes are definitely intensely intellectual, while outside class it’s your choice which friends you have and what level of conversation you have with them- overall, it’s well rounded. if you want intellectualism, you can find it, no problem, but stanford won’t hit you over the head with it.</p>
<p>You probably have already made your decision, but as a freshman student, I don’t see this place as an intellectual university. Yes, you can be an intellectual here and choose intellectual classes but as a whole this place doesn’t foster it. My standards may be arbitrary and useless to you, but it seems to me that the true hallmark of a true intellectual university is esoteric classes. At Chicago and University of Chicago, they offer Sanskrit classes; over here, they offer classes on French Porn, and if you love CS, then you’ll love the special brand of techie “intellectualism” here.</p>
<p>They offer Sanskrit here too, and a host of other obscure languages–Ukranian, Tagalog, Norwegian, etc. </p>
<p>We too have our esoteric classes–Sleep and Dreams, etc.</p>
<p>and French porn is actually a decent class – my section leader and I are actually trying to copublish a paper on one of the movies (we haven’t seen porn…yet)</p>
<p>Someone, what aren’t you publishing a paper on!</p>
<p>Also, Zephyr, we don’t offer sanskrit. Don’t believe we don’t offer quirky classes, though - check the course catalogue. But that isn’t a good measure of intellectualism anyway…</p>
<p>I was a bit disappointed with the lack of intellectualism. I’ve kinda gotten used to it, but do miss it a bit. I have one really awesome friend here who makes tons of bad physics/philosophy jokes which I thoroughly enjoy. We discuss issues from our philosophy class on a somewhat regular basis. I have another friend who would make bad physics puns too… only I don’t really see him all that much anymore. My point is that while you can find the kind of intellectualism that you desire, I don’t think it’s all that easy to find.</p>
<p>lol lki what the heck have i published yet?</p>
<p>at admit weekend, I sorta felt out of place because everyone was so cool and liked sports and stuff like that ._. I know everyone must be really smart but I’m worried I won’t fit in.
That said, I REALLY enjoyed having out with the more techie people and I went to this bbq where there happened to be a lot of techie people at my table and I felt quite comfortable even though I was the only profro and I thought it would be awkward. it rockeddd</p>
<p>Everyone was cool and liked sports? What? EVERYONE here was a nerd in high school. Everyone. Some of them don’t want to admit it and try to be cool, we be know better. There are probably a lot of people who were into sports in high school, but there are also a lot who aren’t. If you like techie stuff you will take techie classes with techie people, maybe join techie clubs, and it’ll be pretty easy to meet other techie people. There are plenty of techie people who are far from “cool,” aren’t especially athletic, and who will want to meet other techie people. There are a LOT of people here on campus so it’s very, very unlikely that you won’t find a group of people where you fit in well. Now, granted, that might not happen the first day, week, or even the first quarter. I mean you will meet SOME people who are techies (or fuzzies even!) who will be friends, but it might take a while to meet the people you’ll still be friends with years down the line. But it’s that way for everyone. So don’t fret! </p>
<p>BTW, part of it is probably people trying to be cool. When meeting people for the first time and being in a college setting for one of the first time, it’s not uncommon for people to try to impress each other. After a week or month or so most people give that up and realize it’s rather silly. When they realize it’s cool to be smart at Stanford they will probably let their guard down a bit.</p>
<p>haha yeah I probably just didn’t meet a lot of people. I meant the prefrosh were too cool so they probably WERE trying to impress people. this won’t stop me from going to Stanford hehe. besides, if I ever have trouble meeting ppl I can come to CC (jk) and I have people from my school who rock already. :p</p>
<p>you guys talk like its a bad thing to be cool and like sports</p>
<p>haha, bluephish, you and I think alike. [btw, I went to the Harvard admit weekend and had the same problem–only, I doubt I could EVER find people I would be comfortable around over there] I’m still deciding, but if I go to Stanford, we can be techie-cool together ;)</p>
<p>hey there’s a lot of techie-cool here at stanford :D</p>
<p>and, bluephish, did you go the frosoco bbq? if you did, i probably met you…</p>
<p>mlee, yeah i went to harvard after stanford admit weekend and really couldn’t find people I truly jived with there…
the prefrosh were nice and interesting but, eh, everyone and esp. just the students just seemed a bit strung out.
it ended up being an easy choice for me all else being =</p>
<p>yeah I went to the frosoco bbq 
It was great, I must say.</p>
<p>I just got back from Harvard and I guess since admit weekend was over the people working in the admissions office, dining hall, etc. looked at me like I was crazy and they didn’t make any effort at all to make me feel welcome…my host, who was my friend already, and all her friends were nice but …<em>shrug</em> no offense to Harvard but uhhh…I liked Stanford’s techie-coolness better ^^</p>
<p>so techie-nerds can be found but what about quirky people? are most people smart but “mainstream” types?</p>