B+
Overall Review
Stanford has incredible academics, as almost anyone will tell you, especially when you go into "techie" subjects like engineering, hard sciences or mathematics. But as with most big name universities most professors are more concerned with their research, so students aren't their main focus. There are great TAs and section leaders though, so you still get lots of individual attention. What people dont often talk about though is the heavy conservative leaning in the more fuzzy subjects or social sciences. Having the Hoover institute on campus really does mark a difference and you'll find that professors and faculty in general tend to be quite opposed to the more liberal notions or "radical" ideas. Especially in the Economics department this can be seen. If you are looking for a really liberal education, then Stanford is probably not the place to go, it really did fool me!
The workload is intense, and professors generally expect a lot from you, but its generally very useful and there is always somebody willing to help.
The one big "MUST-TAKE" class at Stanford is Drama180Q. Despite the name, this class in not a theatre class, it is an introductory seminar on Noam Chomsky and his political and social ideas. If there is a class that you take at Stanford that will change your life, this is probably it. The professor, Rush Rehm, is fantastic and very engaging and the class size is usually small, so you get to interact with the whole class a lot. I highly recommend taking this course!
Jan 17, 2012
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