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I've given myself until the end of this week to decide between applying early to Stanford or Yale... any final thoughts about why I should apply early to one over the other?

By Yourworld (Yourworld) on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 01:14 am: Edit

Nobody can give you any advice when you don't include any details about yourself, academics and major or major areas you may study in. Also why these 2 particular schools.

By Mikemac (Mikemac) on Thursday, September 30, 2004 - 01:19 pm: Edit

Wow, these 2 schools are so diametrically different that the only reason I can see you are torn between the 2 of them is that your main goal is a prestigious degree and secondary (or perhaps 4th or 5th) is picking a college that is a good fit for you.

I know you'll ignore this, but for others who may click on the thread my advice would be to focus on deciding what YOU want in a college in terms of setting (urban/rural), size, location in the US, type of students it attracts, the way it delivers its education (a LAC differs from the larger lecture classes in larger U's), and so on. Then find colleges that match these criteria.

After just a few years of working nobody is going to care what college you went to, just how well you're performing. That Harvard or Yale degree isn't a magic wand that will open doors for the rest of your life, but your college experiences will be with you for a lifetime.

By Marlgirl (Marlgirl) on Friday, October 01, 2004 - 07:36 pm: Edit

Wow... that was quite harsh. Know how people can have friends who are quite different? Well my college list is somewhat similar... I know it is comprised of some schools that are VERY different, but they all appeal to different parts of who I am. I don't just want prestige. I *do* want a school with very bright, motivated students and I think that some of the top ranked schools are most likely to have a large portion of the students be bright and motivated. I also really liked Amherst, Williams, and Swarthmore (quite different, I know). I don't think Yale and Stanford are really all that different... they are both quite strong academically across the board, seem to have friendly, interesting, diverse students, are roughly the same size, have good profs, etc. There *are* some differences and it's because I see these differences and see the advantages/disadvantages of each side that it's such a hard decision. If they were really similar places, it'd probably be easier.