<p>Not only is your college counselor incredibly insensitive, she’s just plain wrong. Stanford gets thousands of applications from top students on the East Coast - about 70 from my daughter’s prep school alone. It’s also got an international reputation. Look at the QS rankings of top universities worldwide (think of it as an international USNWR ranking compiled in Europe) and you will see Stanford very highly ranked and above several Ivies. </p>
<p>Obviously rankings are far from the definitive way to assess schools and their reputations, but it’s enough to bring into question the knowledge and biases of your counselor.</p>