Stanford, Harvard, or Yale???

Bingo77
Fri, 10 Apr 2015 21:33:42 +0000

Hi there! Current Stanford student here–so obviously, I’m not biased at all

In response to the original post, I can’t speak highly enough about the humanities here at Stanford. Though Stanford is famed for its “techie” location in the Silicon Valley, don’t let that fool you–our “fuzzy” departments are phenomenal. There are great professors across the board, but in humanities classes, there tends to be a much lower class cap, which is nice.

I’m more on the English side of the humanities than poli-sci, but the government classes I’ve taken so far have been great. As a freshman, we’re required to take a “Thinking Matters” course. Mine was Rules of War. We studied the difference between a just and an unjust war, conflict in the Middle East, nonviolent protest, and more. At one point, we even did a simulation where military officials gave us a fake (but realistic) briefing, and we had to use our knowledge of war and international relations to propose the most viable solution. You can find all kinds of classes like this, and they’re really incredible.

There’s also a very cool Stanford in Washington (DC) program, and if you haven’t checked it out, I highly encourage you poke around on this website! https://siw.stanford.edu/

At the end of the day, you have three amazing schools to pick from, and you simply can’t go wrong. I love Stanford, because I’ve found the people to be exceedingly friendly (and always helpful, never cut-throat), the weather astounding (as someone from a snowy climate, I originally wanted a colder school. I can tell you right now, the sun is awesome. I can’t overstate this enough. Winter quarter is so much more fun when you can do your studying out on a field by the sand volleyball courts), and the classes to be stimulating and engaging, regardless of the department.

Best of luck on your decision–I hope you get the chance to visit all the schools and get a feel for them on your own!