When I think of the things that made Stanford special, I think of the exposure to world-class researchers. Some classes were simply not available at other institutions. For example, I took "Medical Artificial Intelligence" from the guy who was the pioneer in expert systems for medicine. I remember a two-quarter sophomore seminar with class size limited to six undergrads. We were taught plate tectonics by the Dean of Earth Sciences and worked with a grad student to develop a simulation in C. Then there were all the opportunities to join research labs because there is so much world-class research going on at Stanford. (This was back in the 80s.) I am convinced that (1) you get out of college what you put into it, and (2) the main advantages of big research universities, aside from the diploma, is tapping into what makes them unique.
When I think of "success in school," I don't immediately think of GPA. It's not all about the courses, and in the debate of name-brand schools, I think it's rarely about the standard classes.
When I think of "success in school," I don't immediately think of GPA. It's not all about the courses, and in the debate of name-brand schools, I think it's rarely about the standard classes.