<p>What makes Stanford special, and different from other schools? What makes it so prestigious.</p>
<p>It’s reputation for producing brilliant individuals!</p>
<p>Stanford kids, from my experience, have the ability to correctly spell ‘Stanford’ and know when not to use contractions. That makes them pretty special apparently.</p>
<p>What makes any college prestigious? Why don’t you look that up after you’ve figured that out?</p>
<p>^</p>
<p>Witty remark win.</p>
<p>Its* reputation for producing brilliant individuals!</p>
<p>The atmosphere and the people for sure. I just love the Stanford community. That’s the reason why I chose Stanford over other choices.</p>
<p>
It is okay. I misspelled Stanford as Standford once two years ago, and was cursed by someone. Guess my Pekinglish was not good enough to make it right. People come from all over the world, and they have their own ways to name Stanford.</p>
<p>^^^^^^^^^^^^^</p>
<p>yep, I’ve heard it spelled P <em>R</em>I<em>N</em>C<em>E</em>T<em>O</em>N W<em>E</em>S*T</p>
<p>I’ve seen it spelled Harvard of the West more often than Princeton West :P</p>
<p>^^^^^^^^</p>
<p>Was that way when I lived in California, too :-)</p>
<p>Now I live in Massachusetts . . .</p>
<p>
Yeah, right. It is the west Princeton wants to be.</p>
<p>^I’ve heard both, and I think the Princeton West comparison is perhaps the more apt since Stanford and Princeton both have excellent undergraduate teaching, and both are situated within upscale suburban enclaves. On the other hand, Stanford is really sui generis in many ways. It offers all the educational excellence of the Ivies without the backward-looking fustiness or institutional inertia–it has the most progressive, future-focused sensibility. All this, and a fantastic climate, too.</p>
<p>So far this is the best article I have seen regarding rivalries.</p>
<p>Rivalries are created by weak teams</p>
<p>[GUEST</a> COLUMNIST: Rivalries are created by weak teams | The Daily Pennsylvanian](<a href=“http://thedp.com/node/12010]GUEST”>http://thedp.com/node/12010)</p>
<p>^ that’s an interesting article. </p>
<p>i would believe much of it is true, but it is not entirely true. Harvard students sometimes do actually emphasize their perceived superiority, so other schools get quite defensive as well.</p>
<p>^^I certainly agree with the main premise of the article, which is that it is a sign of insecurity to create “rivalries” for the purpose of disparaging other schools. (Often, though, these college “rivalries” are actually good-natured and based on mutual respect.) There is a lot of disparagement going on in some CC threads, but there’s no reason to succumb to that when the facts speak for themselves. When people knowingly post misinformation or make trollish posts stemming from their own insecurities–such as “I’ve heard that [random bad thing] is happening at, or representative of, College X”-- I think it’s worthwhile to politely set the record straight, since the primary purpose of this site is to provide information to prospective students.</p>
<p>Their superior athetics & the beach</p>
<p>Just to add on re: surroundings, Stanford has Jasper Ridge and the Hopkins Marine Station, not to mention it’s a short drive to the beach, an even shorter one to the Bay (if you want to go sailing, etc.); San Francisco and San Jose are nearby, and of course the whole Bay Area is booming with culture and commerce. Immediately on campus, there’s a golf course, Lake Lag (which is supposedly going to be continually filled), an awesome arboretum, rolling hills… </p>
<p>Do I even need to mention Silicon Valley?</p>