<p>So currently I’m starting to look at colleges and my mother is heavily pushing for me to attend Stanford. I previously didn’t wish to go to that school at all, as I thought that it was filled with pretentious people and that it was a heavy “party” school. For me, the college that I wish to go to would ideally be filled with a strong intellectual culture with people who love learning for the sake of learning. The surrounding area would be filled with culture like art, music, and theatre with plenty of good food. I am hoping to go into medical school after graduation but having a well rounded education that includes the humanities is important to me too. I can see myself going to sit-in lectures just to learn something new as well as listening to debates about current issues. I can’t see myself going to parties that often, although once in a while it would be fun. Being with a group of people who aren’t afraid to goof off immaturely would be amazing, however. Being from Seattle we’re known for the “Seattle Freeze” and I consider myself somewhat introverted. I don’t mind cold/hot weather but I rather not live in a place where it’s hot all the time and after growing up in the Pacific NW I’ve come to appreciate cloudy/rainy days. (Which is also why I didn’t want to attend a California school). Do you think that Stanford would be the right fit for me? My dream college at the moment is Columbia. I qualify for enough financial aid that money won’t be an issue and I think my grades/courses/ECs/test scores are good enough to have these two top schools within my reach. As for my backup school it’s the University of Washington Seattle Campus.</p>
<p>There are probably a lot of schools that would be a good fit for you, but the school I thought of as I read your post is University of Chicago.</p>
<p><a href=“Arts explosion rocks Stanford - San Francisco Chronicle”>Arts explosion rocks Stanford - San Francisco Chronicle;
<p>Stanford has the strongest humanities programs in the nation, and it seems as though that’s what you’re interested in.</p>
<p>Stanford is not full of pretentious people, and it does seem like a nice fit for you. You could also look into Liberal Arts colleges, where there are usually more of an intellectual atmosphere, “learning for the sake of learning.” I don’t think LACs are accompanied by great college towns with cultural activities and events, but you could have a look. </p>
<p>EDIT: Most great college towns full of culture are with the larger universities. However, look into Amherst. It’s an LAC that happens to share a college town with UMass. The city of Amherst is highly ranked as a college town, so I assume it would be a good fit for culture.</p>
<p>Also look at Reed College.</p>
<p>I’m sorry OP but the way you phrased the question is rather ludicrous and presumptuous…it should be the other way around…Will Stanford want you? That should be the question. If you approach the essays with your ATTITUDE and the way you SOUND…I can tell you…you will be easily rejected like so many. </p>
<p>Any school can be as you describe Stanford as being. That is, you will not come to know the entire student body. You will come to know students on your dorm floor, students in your classrooms, students you meet at your job or non-curricular activities. You will be able to avoid the unattractive people at any school, but it will be up to you to do so by seeking out people you like. College is a time for young adults to try on new personae. This is why you’ll find a friend in one class turns out not to be a friend at a party or at church, mosque, or temple. You have to be the one to seek out the kind of people you like and see through the superficiality of people. Don’t be afraid of Stanford. You’ll have to do this social work wherever you go. I’ve heard of students de-selecting a school because they didn’t like the tour guide–now who is it who’s being superficial or pretentious?</p>
<p>Stanford is a big enough school so that you will always be able to find different types of people. There are ‘pretentious’ people on any campus, but there will also be the type of classmates that you are looking for.</p>
<p>Agree with @gravitas2. Get in first, then you’d have a conundrum. Otherwise, it’s all moot.</p>
<p>And yes, I thought of the U of Chicago as well when I read your post.</p>
<p>If you don’t like the sunshine why go to Stanford, go where you are most comfortable. </p>
<p>does your mom know how hard it is to get into S? </p>
<p>your mom pressuring you to attend S where there is a good chance you wont even get accepted is just silly.</p>
<p>what are your stats?</p>
<p>do you have a non custodial parent?</p>
<p>@mom2collegekids brings up a good point that some parents seem very unaware about what elite college admissions in this country are like nowadays. If she’s going off of her own experiences a generation ago, she really needs to get up to date.</p>
<p>While near-perfect stats (as in 4.0 GPA and 2350 SAT) still give you a good shot at schools like Dartmouth, Cornell, Northwestern, and Chicago (in the case of Northwestern, you’d have to show them love as well; that might also be true for Dartmouth), even with near-perfect stats, you’d need some sort of a hook for Stanford and Harvard these days, it seems. If you just have stats in the 99th percentile, you’d need some pretty amazing hook. Below that and you better be an athlete who can contribute to teams on S or H or something like that.</p>
<p>You should know that northern calif is not sunny all the time. There is a late ‘summer’ in the fall but after that it is cool and can be rainy.</p>
<p>I think you should not be so judgy without some investigation, which you obviously have not done. Chances are you won’t get into Stanford. I think it is kind to put in an application or two to please a parent. I know my daughter did that for me. Once you get in you can decide it it is for you or not. Read up meanwhile.</p>
<p>Brown sounds like it fits quite a few things you like. My daughter did a write up as a Jr for her old HS and talked about the entire education she got outside of class and listening to guest lectures/talks. Brown itself is full of art and theater and RISD is close at hand (nothing like NYC though for sure.) Also they do have fun and silly stuff. There was a huge bounce house arena set up on a lawn for freshmen. They also had a giant slip n slide on the college green. Spring weekend is famous and there are headliner bands. </p>
<p>Apply to a few colleges like Columbia etc You might like to have a few more slightly less selective schools in case of a shut out and no choices. Even if you go to your safety it is nice to have some choices come decision time.</p>
<p>Stanford is likely one of MANY great choices for you. I think the acceptance rate at Stanford was about 5% last year regardless of how good your stats are, it will be a reach school. It is fine to apply to Stanford, but be sure to develop a comprehensive list of schools which includes reaches, matches, safteys and financial safetys.</p>
<p>It’s vastly unlikely that you’ll have to worry about this, just statistics-wise.</p>
<p>Columbia and UChicago sound like the best fit for you if you’re looking for prestige as well. </p>
<p><em>ORIGINAL POSTER EDIT</em>: @gravitas2 @PurpleTitan </p>
<p>I’m sorry if I seem pretentious myself. I’m a very goal orientated person, so if I know that theres a college fit for me that I can work towards it would help me a lot and keep me on track. This way I can also figure out specifics that Stanford may want so that I can concentrate on those factors. I know that there are many pretentious people at any school but shamefully I only just started to open my eyes a bit more and not be as stubborn about my choices. (Hence this thread)</p>
<p>As for my current stats (I’m a junior) I have taken 5 APs (Physics B, Calc AB, Language Arts + Composition, US Government + Politics, and Chemistry). Next year I will be taking 4 APs (Calc BC, Psychology, Biology, and Environmental Science) as well as 2 University of Washington College Courses: (Spanish and English Composition and Literature, the latter of which is the hardest English course my school has to offer.) I would have taken AP US History + AP Computer science instead of AP Psych and APES if not for schedule conflicts.</p>
<p>I have a 3.994 UW GPA, 2310 SAT, and 800s on a SAT Chem and Math 2. Next year I will be taking SAT Physics and possibly the ACT. </p>
<p>ECs include: 2 very highly selective nursing camps, President of my team’s robotics team (and treasurer as well as Head of Educational/Community Outreach for 2 years), STEM Club founder for disadvantaged elementary elementary schools that has reached 4 schools, 200 students, and raised $1000 for my robotics team, Girl’s Honor VP, participant in NHS, Homework club tutor at a disadvantaged elementary school for 4 years, ELL club tutor for one year, created a STEM Summer Camp for Elementary children and a Saturday morning Chemistry Lab program for homeschooled students who don’t have the opportunity to work in a lab setting/use equipment most likely unavailable to the general public, Swim team 4 years, Track 1 year, pit orchestra 2 years, paid pit orchestra at one of the two best theaters in Seattle for 2 years, taught piano to learning disabled children this year, piano 10 years (including master classes + adjudication with internationally recognized pianists), American Association of University Women STEM Summer Camp Counselor (had to be invited + paid position), 40+ community service this year alone.</p>
<p>Awards include: American Association of University Women Science Award, Seafair Ambassador Finalist, Chinese group poetry contest winner for 3 years, second place in a Chinese cultural competition, National History Day Regional winner, Regional Engineering Inspiration Award for FIRST Robotics, Community Award from the school district along with my swim team for raising 5000 for cancer research</p>
<p>I can’t think of many hooks other than I’m in the moderately low middle class income range (annual family income of $65,000) and that I had to personally strive to keep the robotics team at my school alive + figure out all the competition paperwork after our advisor suddenly died two weeks before regionals. </p>
<p>I’m not even trying to imply that I will for sure get into Stanford; like I stated before, I want to know if it’s a school that I should specifically aim for even with the extremely low acceptance rate. (Big dreams push you harder!) I hope by posting my stats you will see that I am serious about my education and that I am continuously looking towards the future. My mother is not terribly overbearing (in fact, she continuously nagged at me for taking 5 APs this year, which in her mind is 2 too many) but she wishes me to go to Stanford so that I would be closer to home. That being said, I don’t want to go to a school specifically for the distance if I don’t believe that I’d like it very much. </p>
<p>It is not hot all the time in Palo Alto. The hottest days will be in summer when you probably won’t be there, so the most you’ll have to suffer through is some possible days in the 80’s or 90’s in early September or late May. The winter months are typically chilly (50’s or 60’s) and overcast if not rainy. It almost never rains between May and September – that’s when you have the endless string of hot, sunny days.</p>
<p>Of course, with climate change, all this could be different by the time you arrive! I feel kind of dishonest for even saying that it’s usually rainy in winter since we had hardly any rain this year. </p>
<p>Your stats look good; I’m sure you have as good a chance as anybody (which of course means still a reach as it is for everybody). Not sure about the culture there, but I’ve never heard that it was known as a party school. I think it’s more likely to be a super competitive academic environment with people who don’t feel they have time for partying. I do know someone who is an undergrad there who says that she knows a lot of fellow students who are in therapy or on meds for stress, but again, that is probably true of every highly selective school.</p>
<p>@dustypig:</p>
<p>“I think it’s more likely to be a super competitive academic environment with people who don’t feel they have time for partying.”</p>
<p>People may be stressed at Stanford, but it’s not because good grades are hard to come by (more likely because of the perfectionist overachieving personality types who go there). Like Harvard, Stanford gives out a ton of A’s.
I agree, though, that I’ve never heard of Stanford as a party school.</p>
<p>Anyway, to the OP, research a bunch of colleges. Like I said, I thought “Chicago” when you described the environment you like (“fiercely intellectual” is how one poster on CC described the U of C, and I believe that is spot on). Do you have any career goals or possible majors in mind yet?</p>
<p>Stanford may well be the right school … if you can get in. </p>
<p>The bigger problem is how to build a balanced list of other reach, match, and safety schools.<br>
UW seems like a logical first choice for an admission and financial safety.
For other reach schools and match schools, especially if you’d like to remain fairly close to home, consider some of the Western LACs (such as Reed, Whitman, or the Claremont Colleges). </p>
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<p>Unless a family easily can afford the full cost of attendance, money almost always is an issue. You’ll need to consider whether you can cover the Expected Family Contribution, and if not, whether each college offers enough merit aid to cover the gap. The best aid offers are likely to be need-based from very selective private schools (which may not admit you) or merit-based from much less selective colleges (which you may not prefer to attend over UW).</p>