<p>I’m sure many of you have read the Stanford summary in Fiske’s college guide. I think their statement that ‘Stanford is the first great truly American university’ provides one of the key reasons why this school is seeing an ever increasing number of applications.</p>
<p>The composition of what Stanford is offering academically and socially is setting the standard for what a great univeristy is supposed be as we move into the early part of the 21st century. Yes, places like Harvard and Yale have done a good job of trying to keep up. People like Dad2 think the older the better, so by that standard the University of Salamanca or Padua should still be great. The reality is that a great school in this day and age has to be evaluated much differently than universities were a 100 years ago. It also explains why a relatively new school such as UC San Diego has manged to reach the upper echelon so quickly. Stating the obvious, students want the best education in practical, relevant disciplines.</p>
<p>Yale seeing a little slip in applications… Like they say, adapt or die.</p>