<p>I completely agree ^. For the record, and in case you’re misunderstanding the purpose of my inquiries on this thread, our decision was already made a long time ago and will not be influenced by any of your comments.</p>
<p>However, that’s not to say I and others like me aren’t curious and won’t question why posters are saying what they do. In some socio-educational circles, college selection choices are of primary importance and elicit commentary from friends and strangers. After a while, if you hear a particular point of view about a school expressed often enough, you start to wonder what the genesiss of that idea is. Is it a concept of supposed popular wisdom with neither personal nor objective basis in fact that individuals just continue to perpetuate? (An example of this would be the statement: “Harvard is not good for undergrad.” Really??) Or is there some kernel of truth to it you can learn, once you separate it from bias and hyperbole? After all, and also for the record, when D asked her Stanford hostess if there was anything special she needed to bring for her visit, the answer was raincoat and boots. And indeed, it rained every day while D was there. And there were plenty of puddles. Soooooo…</p>
<p>Some peope are insecure by nature and need validation of their impressions and decisions. Others have zero knowledgeable people arouind them to guide them in the college selection process, and that’s why they read CC. I’m sure also that there are students from the opposite coast who might not have the opportunity to visit Stanford to form their own first-hand impressions. And lastly, there are plenty of folks who will pick apart the validity of published reports like USNWR rankings, so it’s hard to know what to think sometimes. Hence, people look for information wherever they can find it.</p>