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E-PrinceRatings can fool you, and university ratings often do. Read U.S. News & World Report, and you find Princeton, Harvard and Yale nestled comfortably on top; check out Forbes, and you find Princeton, Caltech and Harvard there. But if you ...(back to the article)
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Could not agree with this article more. I'm tempted to go one step further (and one step away from the article's main focus) and criticize Princeton's push for uniformity. There is a trend at Princeton to fit the mold (probably one of the reasons why such a large percentage of Princeton grads went on to the Wall Street) while at Stanford the entrepreneurial attitude that Silicon Valley seems to inject into the university seems to support a more individualistic attitude among the students. As Prof. Grafton put it, there needs to more of an emphasis on entrepreneurial flair and independent thinking.
Recently back from Palo Alto, I completely agree - Stanford runs a tight ship. In comparison, Princeton does not always get it right. A small example, at the same time accepting millions to research climate change, the Tiger bus system is not running on hybrid buses. This probably wouldn't be the case at Stanford (or really anywhere else.)
As a "townie", with loose affiliations to Princeton and Stanford, I can tell you that both universities need more integration with their surrounding communities. I think it's the only way to make something with both tradition and newness. Let's drop the insular behavior and - as the previous commenter put it - the need to fit the mold. It may be just the thing to spark independent thinking and an entrepreneurial flair.
professor grafton, with all due respect, stanfurd sucks. if i had wanted to go to there over princeton i would have bothered applying in the first place. go bears
Having taught at both Princeton and Stanford, I couldn't disagree more. Stanford's administration is bloated and inefficient. Princeton does a much better job of educating its undergraduates. If Princeton moves to be more like Stanford, everybody loses. (The location of Stanford is to die for though).
"Its culture, so far as I’ve experienced it, is cheerful and laid back — a nice contrast to Princeton, the place where everyone knows that he or she has just been marginalized."
Professor Grafton, what exactly were you thinking when you wrote this? I'm not even white or American, and I always feel at home here. So do most of my friends - we're all really glad we go here (except, obviously, during midterms week).
Also, umm, a place where people are always talking about problem sets is not where I want to be (and neither do mort ptonians, I don't think). That's what makes Princeton special: we work hard, we're bright, but we're also really dynamic, and have interests outside of academics.
Stanford rejected me, damn it. We must not emulate them
such an awkward title
What's the point of this piece? Who's the target audience? If we (i.e. the student body) were truly interested in hearing an editorial about why Princeton should be more like Stanford, then we'd be at Stanford! Sure, Princeton isn't perfect and there's always room for improvement- ugh hmm, wilson college -but with the University's current financial state these type of "improvements" won't be taking place anytime soon and don't really need to. So, rather than fantasizing about transforming the east coast ivy elite into the west coast scientific chic, let's just appreciate the tremendous resources which are steeped in history in tradition that we already maintain and keep in perspective the privilege we fortuantely already afford. If any should disagree, perhaps it would be best for those tigers to trade in their stripes for wings, and growl like a tree.
The Princeton Band could certainly learn something about scattering from the Stanford Band.
Stanford is the #1 science school- while Princeton has top notch math and physics, we trail Stanford badly in like 25 other areas. Princeton needs to get rid of the jock culture that permeates, bring on more intellectual students and foster strong industry partnerships like the pharma cos on Route 1.