<p>zenkoan’s post is spot on. One thing that turned me off to similar universities (Yale, Princeton, UChicago) was that much of, not all, the supposed ‘intellectualism’ there just seemed forced to me - posturing. You don’t need to discuss Kant or postmodern art to be ‘intellectual.’ For me, what real intellectualism really boils down to is what students are excited about, which is hugely varied at Stanford. Whether it’s the Solar Car team or alternative energy initiatives or issues with K-12 education, once students find what they love, their engagement in it is what makes the atmosphere vibrant and intellectual. Of course, everyone has a different take on what intellectualism means to them.</p>
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<p>haha, so true! Esp. with the self-invention and the re-emergence of the inner nerdiness. I’m imagining an evolutionary picture of the typical Stanford student - “I’m a nerd, and proud of it!” (high school) –> “I’m hella chill” (freshman) –> “Yeah, I like math.” :p</p>
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<p>Well, it’s worth noting that if she does change her major, she will be guaranteed to be in a top-5 department at Stanford, sometimes top-10. That isn’t the case at Princeton.</p>
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<p>Of course. It’s not so much that going to Princeton would put you at a disadvantage (relative to the ‘norm,’ which may be defined as having neither an advantage nor a disadvantage; and in fact, I’d say that going to Princeton puts you on the advantage side of that norm). Rather, going to Stanford confers a significant advantage. Its location within SV is a plus, but it’s really the connections that matter. As anyone in SV knows, it’s all about networking and connections, which is what programs like Y-combinator help to provide to budding startups. But if you’re a Stanford student, you don’t even need to bother with such programs: you get the connections through alumni, professors, and the countless entrepreneurs/startups/VCs that work with students on and off campus. VCs are often willing to hear a pitch from you merely because you go/went to Stanford.</p>