Stanford more prestigious? I don't think so.

pwoods
Thu, 08 Mar 2012 02:50:48 +0000

“This is a somewhat dynamic situation. Columbia is an up-and-comer on the scale of a few decades and may not have plateaued yet.”

Historically, that’s backwards. Columbia was one of the most prestigious schools in the first half of the 20th century and the postwar period, while Stanford didn’t become a nationally-known school until the late 1970s and 1980s (the same time when Columbia, and New York City more generally, were at their nadir).

I suppose you could say that within the last 15 years, Columbia is an “up-and-comer” as it’s been regaining prestige, while Stanford has been well-established, but within the last century, the opposite is actually true.