2003: can anyone touch Stanford?

I went to a lowly rated state school. Completely disagree with all the negative statements about Stanford.

The reason Stanford did so well this year is because they have a great team leader in Grant Robison. Thats what they have been lacking. Lannana is not very good with building team chemistry...that is left for the athletes.

If you look at Stanfords roster at nationals it's not like they did anything special for the amount of talent they have. All those guys were high school phenoms that would do just as well, if not better, at other programs. There is not another team in the nation that can compare with Stanford's talent.

The Stanford campus is not that great. The school is pretty damn boring if you ask me. Not the college experience I would want.

Academically Stanford is awesome...no doubt about it.

Runners do not progress as well as they should at Stanford.

Ok. My guess is that you would be in the minority with regard to Stanford's campus. You are never far from either the ocean or the mountains, a 30 minute communter train ride takes you to San Francisco if you want to do that. A 90-minute car ride takes you to Monterey which is beautiful beyond belief, and then of course if Palo Alto itself and that amazing campus. It is not a big city downtown setting for sure, but it's the best campus I've ever seen. The worst by the way is the University of Michigan - that campus sucks.

X2Z...there's a jealous, jealous person. Stanford is by far one of the most beautiful campuses in the US. The running in the area can not be beat and the city of San Francisco is one of the best cities in the world. With perfect running weather, beautiful scenery and a lot to do, I can not see how you would even attempt to pass of a statement like you did.

Yea I guess the campus and weather is good for soft and conservative (close minded) people

Stanford may have very strong academics, but they're certainly not 'the best' in the country. Some schools are more vigiorous. Yes most Ivies are a walk-in-the-park once you get in, but some (Cornell comes to mind) are VERY difficult. That said, when academics and athletics are BOTH taken into account, I think Stanford is unbeatable...as long as you're willing to submit yourself to the all-or-nothing Stanford program (I am not...not applying).

How can Stanford be the best university in the country when its only the third best in the San Francisco bay area?

So your saying every runner on Stanford received an SAT score of over 1400?

Does a Stanford runners shit stink?

It sounds like the Utopian Karl Marx was looking for.

Stanford is loaded with ethnic diversity but this rainbow shares a common color and that is green and lots of it...their students tend to come from cushy backgrounds. The student body and their families are usually very wealthy, don't buy this 'most of us are a bunch of poor minorities' BS. Stanford's campus is pretty enough, like a gated community right next to lovely East Palo Alto. Don't stray there by accident though. Also worth mentioning is Knower's way of saying "We're better than you, you'll work for us someday, blah-blah-blah, and we make the bank to prove it," all the while claiming he is not trying to be condescending or arrogant. Most of those kids haven't struggled for s*** in their lives except for grades and SATs. Though they are immensely talented, they don't have real-world experience. Then again, the Knower types are likely to be so focused on making money that they'll never have to ride a subway in New York City or Washington, D.C., even if they lived there. There is more to life than making money. If you don't understand that now, when you grow up you'll get it later.

1. The diversity at Stanford means: Rich Asian's and the Mexicans who serve you at the local resteraunts.

2. Palo Alto is one gigantic strip mall.

3. They have pretty much closed down the Dish.

4. If you have allergies: Stanford is always in bloom.

5. Nola's is the only half way decent drinking est. in the whole town. (Please don't even bother mentioning the Blue Chaulk because everyone will know you belong to a frat)

6. Don't kid yourself it isn't close to San Fran. It may be only 27 miles but it is about 1:30 minute drive.

7. The Traffic is terrible.

8. There are exactly two attractive girls in the entire city of Palo Alto (see the hottest girl in track posts)

9. It is outragously expensive to do anything there. Talk to all the post collegiantes who are paying $500 bucks a month to live in a garage.

And the only reason to go to stanford....

Running past the Rodin sculptures at 10:00 at night. No place else in the world you can do that except for paris.

The crazy Burghers....

You guys all crack me up. I asked a few simple questions, made one spelling error by mistake, and possibly did not "stream-line" my writing and I got back maybe one or two serious replies. The rest were sarcastic or pointless and didn't answer the question. Wow. What a great message board. I'm serious. Over at dyestat all this crazy shit isn't allowed really. Hell, I can't even say hell. Letsrun.com is awesome. And that's not speaking sarcastically.

1) We come from cushy backgrounds... bs... if I and many of my friends did, we would not be taking out thousands in loans each year. Are their rich people here, duh!!! They're everywhere.

2) Stanford isn't THAT hard... bs... As a soph, I took an intro digital design course and my final project was the same as a senior digital project at UWash. Can you find an "easy" major? yeah, be Comm and you may only have to pull one or two all-nighters a quarter.

You can never name THE BEST university because at the top, they are all close, and they all have slight differences. THe reason Stanford is so great is because our admissions is not limited by an SAT score to boost our national rankings. You can get a 1600 and a 4.6 in HS, and they will reject you if it doesn't look like you will contribute anything to the university.

Do our athletes get a "break"? Well, if you look at only academics, yes. But because they have been devoting a HUGE amount of time to their athletics, they have something to contribute though, and an 1100 SAT won't get you in. Are they dumb? No, a couple years back, the football team had a higher average SAT score than the rest of the student body.

And Stanford will be good next year. Will they win? I have no idea. We'll see.

Quandry,

You obviously don't know anything about Stanford then. I lived in Escondido Village for 4 years (student housing area if you didn't know). I am friends with tons of former Stanford students and met tons while there. There isn't one student there that I met who came from an affluent background. In fact, on the whole, the background of those students was more lower class than my very middle class upbringing. These people were the sons and daughters of truck drivers, coal miners, small retail shop owners, mechanics, service people. One woman's dad was a Clown for a living.

I met way more affluent students in undergraduate school than I did at Stanford.

As far as real-world experience goes, you're right, they don't have it, but neither do most college students anywhere else. It is absolutely wrong for example to say that the affluent students go to Stanford and the poor ones go to San Jose State. That might be the case AFTER school is over, but not before or during. It is true to say though that the talented students go to Stanford and the not-so-talented ones go to San Jose State (or many other state schools). Why bust on those Stanford students because they worked hard for grades while in high school? That should be the No. 1 priority of a high school student. Getting a good education is their job then.

Not sure why you mentioned East Palo Alto. The place is a piss hole, and no one is proud of that place.

As far as the subway goes, I used to take the Metro (subway system in Washington, DC) in to work every day (post Stanford time), and so did many other highly paid professionals.

Money is not what matters to me and to many others who make it (not saying that I am or am not making tons of money). What matters is the accomplishments, and money just comes along with it.

Stanford graduates are talented and accomplished, and with that comes money if they so choose. The money is always secondary to most who make it.

I would wager that, yes, the professors at Stanford are in fact better than most other universities. I would also say that an educator has to teach to the level of the class... and if you go to a school where admissions accept "everyone" the average student of that class may be well below your's or my learning speed. An example: I had a friend who got into Harvard but also got a full ride AND a stipend from UCONN. He went to UCONN, graduated with a 4.0, and thought it was WAAAAY too easy. He could not believe how uneducated some of the people in his classes were, how poor their writing and communication skills were, etc. Is he going to do fine for himself regardless? Yes. Could he have gotten more out of Harvard, where the main interest is not partying in Storres but rather solving complex differential equations and discussing Plato and Aristotle? Yes. There is a lot to be said about being surrounded by people of equal intelligence and drive.

I also have to address your previous statement about having a drive for money. Have you ever considered that some people are so driven in their career that they want to do everything they can possibly do to be THE boss. To not have to answer to anyone else. To be THE man to make changes and develop a company the way he see fits? Its not always about money but rather the desire and need to be on top. With that often comes money. Money does not drive me but rather money is a biproduct of my success. I won't complain and I will continue to drive in my career like I would with my running. Consequently, myself and others like me will continue to make more money and be called money-grubbers, sellouts, etc when in fact we're just doing what we love and striving to be the best at it.

M

I think its funny how people characterize Stanford and the Ivies as "nerd" schools where they talk about Plato and solve DiffEQ's...

When I visited my friend at Stanford last year right before his "dead week." Those Stanford students were partying EXTREMELY hard. Then, monday rolled around and they studied a bit more, but still. no one said anything "academic" to me the entire time I was there. In fact, on the Thursday night of dead week we were drinking, and I was confused because I thought everyone needed to study really hard or something, and my friend says, "We'll work when we HAVE to, the rest of the time f*** it!"

I'd go to Stanford if I had the opportunity (i.e. - grades, etc.) no one too blame but myself. There is a great atmosphere there.

I cannot believe how uneducated someone would have to be to type "I would also say that an educator has to teach to the level of the class... and if you go to a school where admissions accept "everyone" the average student of that class may be well below your's or my learning speed."

You boy's should listen to led zepplin's "when the levy breaks" and drink a budwiser. That will straighten you boy's out.

SOB,

You have now typed "boy's" twice when you should have typed "boys".

It is apparent that you did not go to Stanford. Why don't you go get a lesson on the difference between a possessive and a plural?

You talking back to me boy? I can see you're one of them pussies. You probably work at a womens clothing store. don't you? I bet you've never been hunting in you're life. God damn vegitarian pussy.