Just accepted.. and is now very confused!

Colleges & Universities Stanford University
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<p>I posted this in the Search and Selection forum, but i’ll love you guys’ opinions as well. </p>

<p>I just found out yesterday that I was taken off the Stanford waitlist. I’m not quite sure about FA at this point, as they somehow put me as International when I’m not (I’m a perm. resident and therefore qualified for FA). I’m in contact w my regional rep and I really hope it all gets sorted out. FA aside, as I hear that Stanford has an amazing FA policy, I’m having a hard time weighing the two schools, esp as I stopped looking into Stanford and focused soley on CMC after S passed me up in the first couple WL rounds (it was too painful XD). Now that I am actually faced with this incredibly hard decision, I was hoping you guys could help me out.</p>

<p>I have several concerns/questions about Stanford:

  1. Stanford’s a lot bigger than CMC is (where you can walk everywhere haha). Does it feel like the school is sometimes too large? Or is it really easy to quickly connect to people? Are there orientation programs, trips, etc? Does the campus ever feel too isolated?</p>

<li>I kno that for freshmen year, there are lectures etc as the intro classes have a lot of people. What is the quality of the TAs? How involved are the profs in teaching undergrads, or are they mostly focused on research? How easy / accessible is counseling/the administration? Is the focus more on graduate students or undergraduate students?
I am pretty sure that I will want to attend law school after college, and I really like class discussion, etc  and focusing on writing. I’m worried about this, as Stanford seems to be more focused on science/math etc while CMC is a liberal arts college and more focused on reading/writing. I’m also worried about science/math classes being graded on a curve… esp as those are def not my strong suits and Stanford abounds w math/science geniuses XD. Currently I’m undecided as my major, but I’m thinking gov/poli sci or maybe even history.</li>
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<p>3.How are the career services? CMC has paid internships for the summer so I was wondering if Stanford has a similar program, I’d love to have internships for all summers. CMC also has the Washington program, which Stanford doesn’t have and will be hard for me to give up XD. I also really want to do study abroad. Also, how easy is it to get involved in research/philanthropy?</p>

<li>How important a part do frats/sororities play in student life? I really don’t like what I’ve heard of most sororites/frats so I really hope they don’t dominate the social scene. Are most of the students politically aware/involved in politics? How is the Stanford debate team?</li>
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<p>Thank you guys so much. I’m so excited to be taken off the WL and honored, but as I had already submitted my deposit/made CMC friends it’s also hard to give that up. I have til this friday to decide so right now I’m extremely confused!
Edit: From my post, it seems like right now I’m leaning towards CMC. However, that’s not really the case. I change every couple hours XD depending on what I’m thinking about. I’m not asking about CMC as I kno so much about it, but I am asking about Stanford as I don’t kno as much about it as I do about CMC. I’ll really appreciate any info/suggestions. ty! </p>

<p>Stanford has always been the dream school. And now that it’s finally within my grasp, I’m so lost :/</p>

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<p>CMC has paid internships??? Damn it…</p>

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<p>Alright, I’ll try to be helpful. </p>

<p>I got off the waitlist during the very first round and also had to make a pretty agonizing decision between Stanford and Tufts (don’t laugh…). I also got into CMC regular and it was my 3rd choice actually. I’ve been to STanford a few times and have done A LOT of research so I’ll see if I can give you a few pointers:</p>

<ul>
<li>Orientation: best I’ve seen out of any college. An entire week of great events/programs. They give you a 40-page packet/schedule. Yes there are pre-orientation trips. They’re supposed to be much better than CMC’s.</li>
<li>Haven’t been a student so I can’t comment on the “large” aspect but I do know that SF is very easy to get to even if it takes a good 40 mins. Quick bus ride and a train right into town. I’ve been to CMC on a visit too and it is a ***** getting to LA. Transport system in LA is terrible and CMC’s connections into town aren’t that great. Plus, LA kinda sucks…</li>
<li>Stanford DOES have a Stanford-in-Washington program and it’s supposed to be fantastic. They pair you with an awesome internship (mandatory). I’m definitely planning on doing it. </li>
<li>About your science/math class worries, you theoretically only have to take 2 math science classes if you want to major in a social science. Some SS majors will require a few more math classes because of higher-level econ requirements that require more advanced math classes.</li>
<li>Stanford is known to have grade inflation. They also have a very friendly calculus sequence for math-deficient people like you and me. If you want to kill yourself, there’s the accelerated sequence too.</li>
<li>Stanford debate team had an active thread in the CO2013 Facebook group and they seemed really approachable and friendly. They did say that experience is recommended, though. Seems like a good team.</li>
<li>From what I’ve seen, except for LGBT rights and an occasional brouhaha on another issue, Stanford students are pretty apolitical when compared to schools on the east coast. Don’t expect mass rallies or protests like those at NYU. Still, students are smart and engaged in real world issues and do care about a lot of things.</li>
<li>For undergraduate research, Stanford has the most amount of funding (in the millions) in the entire country. Top notch program. They have tons of stuff to do in the summer and the school year. You will find 10x the research opportunities when compared to CMC. </li>
</ul>

<p>On the flip side, I am also still a bit worried about undergrad to grad importance to professors and Stanford’s career services center. Maybe someone else can comment on that?</p>

<p>To close it out, CMC is incredibly underrated and I would seriously consider it alongside Stanford. However, Stanford is in a class with no peers when you think of student diversity, talent, and extracurricular opportunities. CMC is also fairly conservative, and to me this was the breaking point. If you wanna talk more about CMC vs. Stanny, PM me! I’d love to help if you need anything else.</p>

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<p>Oh wow. Bluebubbles, THANK YOU SO MUCH for your post. Seriously, this is awesome. I had no idea about the Stanford-in-Washington program until now! Is there a link where I can find more info? CMC’s Washington program was something that I really had a hard time thinking of giving up, but if Stanford has one too…
Thanks for the info about orientation and math/science too. Slightly less worried now XD. When you mean engaged in real world issues, do you mean that they constantly talk about it? At CMC, I kno politics is often the topic of conversation even if people are just hanging out, and I really liked that aspect of CMC. It’s funny how we applied to the same schools :stuck_out_tongue: I’ll check out the Stanford debate team group (I do Speech, but never have debate, and I was planning on joining CMC’s team which competes internationally as well). I adore SF, so that’s also tempting as well. It’s more far away from home too, but more of a hassle to bring dorm stuff (i live in socal)… but SF is just an amazing city.</p>

<p>Hopefully someone can answer our questions about professors and career services!:)</p>

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<p>1. Stanford’s a lot bigger than CMC is (where you can walk everywhere haha). Does it feel like the school is sometimes too large? Or is it really easy to quickly connect to people? Are there orientation programs, trips, etc? Does the campus ever feel too isolated?</p>

<pre><code> There’s no denying the fact that the campus is big. Its the second largest in the world, actually. While it may be big geographically, it doesn’t really seem big. Bikes help make it pretty quick to get just about anywhere, and almost everyone has one. Public transportation is excellent both on and off campus.
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<p>2. I kno that for freshmen year, there are lectures etc as the intro classes have a lot of people. What is the quality of the TAs? How involved are the profs in teaching undergrads, or are they mostly focused on research? How easy / accessible is counseling/the administration? Is the focus more on graduate students or undergraduate students?
I am pretty sure that I will want to attend law school after college, and I really like class discussion, etc  and focusing on writing. I’m worried about this, as Stanford seems to be more focused on science/math etc while CMC is a liberal arts college and more focused on reading/writing. I’m also worried about science/math classes being graded on a curve… esp as those are def not my strong suits and Stanford abounds w math/science geniuses XD. Currently I’m undecided as my major, but I’m thinking gov/poli sci or maybe even history.</p>

<pre><code> Stanford is definitely not just focused on math an science. That’s part of the beauty of the place - its all extremely balanced, and nearly every academic program is among the top few in the world. Top notch science and enginering programs co-exist with humanities programs that are at the same level. The diversity of academics at Stanford is hard to put into words. Whatever you may end up studying, you can rest assured that at Stanford you’ll have amazing resources to do it. Undergrads and grad students have equal treatment, really- there’s more than enough amazing faculty to go around, and there are even Nobel laureates who teach freshman seminars.
As for grades and curves, Stanford is pretty well known for at least a wee bit of grade inflation. Generally: easy class, hard curve; hard class, much easier curve. When i was at admit weekend i asked current students specifically about that and they said its not something to worry about - as long as you work hard at it you won’t have to worry too much about grades.
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<p>3.How are the career services? CMC has paid internships for the summer so I was wondering if Stanford has a similar program, I’d love to have internships for all summers. CMC also has the Washington program, which Stanford doesn’t have and will be hard for me to give up XD. I also really want to do study abroad. Also, how easy is it to get involved in research/philanthropy?</p>

<pre><code> At Stanford, opportunities for career development, internships, research, philanthropy, you name it, are everywhere. It is Stanford after all - the name certainly helps with attracting those kinds of things. All you have to do is reach out and get them.
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<p>4. How important a part do frats/sororities play in student life? I really don’t like what I’ve heard of most sororites/frats so I really hope they don’t dominate the social scene. Are most of the students politically aware/involved in politics? How is the Stanford debate team?</p>

<pre><code> Greek life is pretty inconsequential at Stanford. They definitely don’t dominate the social/party scene. There are parties nearly ever weekend, and some annual traditions, like Full Moon on the Quad, Exotica Erotica, etc. It is a wet campus, but its extremely easy to be dry, and people will respect your decision. (Another great thing about the place - people are generally very tolerant, due to the huge diversity.) The campus as a whole isn’t over the top political, but students are generally aware and active in that regard. I don’t know much about debate, so i can’t help you there.
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<p>I hope that helps!! COME TO STANFORD!!!</p>

<p>Go Cardinal!</p>

<p>cal sucks.</p>

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<p>hey darling! well…</p>

<p>1) Look at it this way. Your college is your home for the next four years. Wouldn’t it be great to have a larger and nicer house with many different things to do and places to be?</p>

<p>I can’t really say anything about no.2, but I guess bluebubbles and ngolsh up there have cleared up all your confusions. </p>

<p>3) As far as I know, Stanford spends $4 mn a year on undergraduate independent research, which includes summer-internship payments.</p>

<p>4) Greek letter organizations are a little more prevalent at Stanford, but in a class of 1700, I doubt it matters whether you’re in one.</p>

<p>come to Stanford! Just do it! =P</p>

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<p>about number 2, from a comment on Stanford’s college p r o w l e r.com profile (they keep censoring that word for some reason):</p>

<p>“Only about 15 percent of the Stanford Student Body is Greek. Some of the fraternities, like Kappa Sig, Theta Delta and Sigma Chi, throw a good number of parties, when not on probation . . . Most members of the Greek system at Stanford say they enjoy the camaraderie and social scene, but admit that the Greeks at Stanford are nowhere near as ‘hardcore’ or ‘gung-ho’ as their state school counterparts.”</p>

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<p>thank you all so much for the amazing info!!! </p>

<p>I’m def leaning towards Stanford at this point, so here’s crossing my fingers and hoping FA pulls through :slight_smile: </p>

<p>Someone on the other thread did state that you have to try to get the career services to help you, so i was wondering if someone else could talk about that specifically? Thanks so much.</p>

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<p>haha if a person gets in, i’m gonna do everything i can to try to get them to come to Stanford… because who knows, that person may just end up being a future close friend :P</p>

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<p>^ ah that’s such a cute way of looking at it! :slight_smile: well i def appreciate your help!</p>

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<p>Another concern I have is: how laid back is the student body at Stanford?
I’ve heard that it’s pretty laid back, but is this true? I really hope it is, as i want a school where people are driven, but they don’t demand to kno people’s grades and people try to help each other succeed. :)</p>

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<p>oh and the debate team rocks. I’m a World-Schools debater, and I’m anxious to join!</p>

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<p>No problem, darling. Here’s the link to SIW: <a href=“https://www.stanford.edu/dept/siw/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php[/url]”>https://www.stanford.edu/dept/siw/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>In terms of students constantly talking about politics, I wouldn’t know since I’ve never been a student there. I only start this fall. </p>

<p>Saw your other question about student body “laidbackness”. Stanford is famous for having extremely smart students who don’t seem like it at all. Ever heard of the duck analogy? On the surface the ducks (students) seem calm and carefree. Look under the surface and they’re paddling furiously. I’ve been to campus several times and everyone is super friendly, laid-back, and there is a great atmosphere of collaboration. It is miles away from the likes of Johns Hopkins and Harvard.</p>

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<p>mmm… not true. You can take harder or more classes if you think that you can handle them. In the end, you need to maintain good GPA, if you want to go to graduate schools.</p>

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<p>A Stanford parent’s view: Stanford is very much about what you put into it. They do not hand you internships or research. You must locate the information and apply. The deadlines are strict and early (for summer you are probably looking at a January deadline). Study abroad programs are true “study” abroad and immerse you in the language. But there are limited spots and again you must watch deadlines and apply. THe same is true for the DC program. There are many “techie” people but there are also many “fuzzy” people. That is the benefit of attending a world class research university. The students I know dispute the duck analogy. It is more like they are laid-back most of the time and then scramble at exam periods or when projects are due. Also consider the impact of the quarter system, which despite a drop-add period really precludes much shopping for courses since there is such a short time period for the term. It is not an overtly competitive place. And the atmosphere does lend to a relaxed approach to college. But if you are too laid-back you will miss the many and varied opportunities offered because at Stanford it is up to you to grab them.</p>

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<p>Ewho, no I didn’t mean Stanford students are lazy and have low GPAs, I meant that they rarely obsess over their school work, care little about ruthlessly competing with their peers, and showing off their smarts.</p>

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<p>I actually have heard of the duck analogy haha. I asked about being “laid back” because I’ve heard horror stories from colleges like JHU. I want a college where people are driven (not lazy!) but HELP each other to succeed. I’m not planning to be “laid back” to the extent that I’m lazy. :slight_smile: it’s very heartening to hear that Stanford has a great atmosphere though :)</p>