UChicago Vs. Stanford Vs. Yale

Zillow
Sat, 11 Apr 2020 14:06:20 +0000

Congrats to your son! I’m also a Stanford admit and will be attending does he chose to go. I seriously considered all three of these schools before deciding on Stanford. Contrary to what a lot of people here are saying I do humbly believe that Stanford and Yale are a tier above UChicago. The name brand from those two does tend to have more cache depending on what you chose to go into. When deciding where I wanted to go I had a friend in business say that applicants with Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Stanford are significantly more likely to get interviews and opportunities and they even had some sort of nickname for those 4 schools. In addition, a lot of people will look at college rankings either on US News and World report or major-specific. I was told not to pay much attention to these. Stanford’s acceptance rate and name brand are evident regardless of what these services say. I’ve seen it ranked from 1st to 7th and it really just depends on the metrics they’re using, but I would argue nothing beats the prestige that comes with Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Stanford.

Money is definitely a big factor and I’ve heard varying reviews from friends about the financial aid at Stanford. What I’ll say is that your son is absolutely right that Stanford or Yale will open lots of doors. A lot of people I talked to at Stanford raved about their opportunity to go into politics after graduating. However, if your son is looking to be a lawyer I know that UChicago also opens a lot of those same doors. Where he goes to law school will ultimately matter more than whether he went to Stanford, UChicago, or Yale undergrad. So I would say that if he wants to do something on the Hill Stanford and Yale will open more doors (just based on my experience in making my own decision), but if he wants to be a lawyer that is not the case. However, should he change his mind during college Stanford or Yale would be better locations as their other programs such as Comp Sci at Stanford might bring greater cache than UChicago (not that UChicago isn’t world-renowned in other programs but nothing beats Stanford Comp Sci).

Where the money really comes into question is the experience. The weather and the people at Stanford and Yale (particularly Stanford, hence my decision) were a lot more friendly, in my experience. In addition, a school like Stanford offers so many experiences outside the classroom that can help boost your resume. I heard that because of the quarter system there it is much easier to take advantage of these opportunities. It is possible that the difference in money is worth it because of the experience at Stanford or Yale will be significantly more fun and beneficial. That however, is clearly a family decision. If he wants to be a lawyer I don’t see how Stanford and Yale bring that much more if any cache than UChicago, but they certainly bring a different kind of (and in my opinion better) experience than UChicago.