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Journalism of Courage
–Jared Griffin
October is right around the corner, and along with it, the US early deadline for colleges (1st November). As an ambitious and talented student, you may be considering the same Ivy+ schools as your peers, wondering which school will give you the best shot during the early application round. Since you can only apply to one private university under “Restrictive Early Action”, you are faced with a difficult choice.
Engineering- and entrepreneurship-oriented students may especially have the likes of Princeton and Stanford in their sights. Both scenic rural campuses with strong intellectual proclivities, reputations in STEM, and elite names that everyone recognises—on opposite coasts of the continental US—Princeton and Stanford seem incredibly similar, no? Here is how to spot the differences and make the best decision for you.
Princeton and Stanford boast similar (prestigious) reputations, (top) rankings, and (extremely low) admit rates, which lead to similarly strong professional outcomes. It’s interesting to note, though, that Princeton’s international rankings are distinctly lower, likely because of its lack of grad schools such as medicine, law, or business.
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A major difference involves how Stanford’s location amid Silicon Valley produces unmatched opportunities for tech and entrepreneurship, while Princeton grads tend to have access to direct Wall Street recruitment thanks to the campus’ proximity to NYC. Note also that the Princeton alumni community is unparalleled, even among the upper echelons of higher education.
As top private institutions located in affluent suburbs, Princeton and Stanford are both quite expensive (the cost of living in Princeton vs. Palo Alto is similar). Thankfully, with their enormous endowments, both offer generous aid packages for international applicants—albeit with a limit. While Princeton is need-blind for all international students, Stanford can only provide aid to a select number of applicants. If aid is important to you, this is a significant potential barrier:
Stanford has a limited amount of financial aid for international students. International students needing assistance must make that indication on the admission application. Applicants who are admitted with eligibility for aid will be awarded assistance from institutional funds based on their family’s financial circumstances.
Princeton and Stanford represent the standard application process for the uppermost elite US institutions. Both have REA and RD decision plans. Their early round restricts you from applying to other private universities with REA or ED (Early Decision), though you may still apply to universities with non-restrictive Early Action policies. This policy keeps students from being poached by each other’s rivals.
Beware: both universities feature long, intensive essay sets that require significant time, thought, and effort. Most notably, Princeton is still test-optional, while Stanford is not. That is a big deal if you have not taken the SAT/ACT or have not achieved a strong score.
Recent trends have shown that, post-COVID, Ivy+ schools are taking standardised testing quite seriously again, which is why they are requiring tests once more.
On the surface, Princeton and Stanford are both universities with multiple constituent schools/departments, largely liberal arts curricula (interdisciplinarity encouraged), relatively low student–faculty ratios, and most classes taught by faculty. When you look more closely, though, you see that Princeton offers half the majors that Stanford offers.
Its small size and lack of significant graduate schools hinder your academic opportunities. As a result, the Princeton experience is far more traditional and straightforward. Meanwhile, Stanford strives to be forward-thinking in its approach, no doubt influenced by Silicon Valley culture.
A fun historical bit: after many years of grade inflation, Princeton formerly instituted a policy of grade deflation in 2004, but abolished it by 2014 once it was clear that fellow elite universities would not follow suit!
You could say that both Princeton and Stanford are highly academic in that the cultural environment is distinctly intellectual. Yet, where Princetonians (far out in middle New Jersey) may be more abstract and in their heads much of the time, Stanford students tend to be more grounded, partly thanks to the entrepreneurial environment of Silicon Valley.
This point is evident in the two schools’ divergent histories. One of the country’s oldest universities, Princeton belongs to the Ivy League, which has always been associated with blue-blooded backgrounds: class, aristocracy, and the like.
A product of this mentality is Princeton’s civic-minded and preppy belief in one’s moral duty to live “In the nation’s service and in the service of humanity”.
By contrast, Stanford was founded rather recently in the country’s history (1885) by railroad magnates who took advantage of the West’s economic opportunities.
After considering the factors above, ask yourself what kind of experience and outcome you want, based on the type of person you are. If you resonate with a bit more tradition, try Princeton. If you want a bit more of the future, try Stanford. In today’s uncertain times, the world needs both kinds of student.
