08-09-2015, 07:39 PM
A cynic might say that Stanford (and other elite institutions) run the greatest con of all time. Convince the already best and brightest that the "secret sauce" that the institution provides is both necessary and sufficient to have success and happiness in life. The truth, of course, is that Stanford (or Harvard or any other elite institution) is neither necessary nor sufficient. There are plenty of happy, successful people who went to schools that we might look upon with disdain, and turned out ok. While there aren't many, we certainly here about Stanford graduates who are miserable with their lives, or who turned out to have "wasted" the education they were given. In truth, most of the people in this forum, who subscribe to the idea of a "forty year decision" would have done quite well otherwise. Yes, our lives would have turned out differently had we gone elsewhere, but lacking the ability to do randomized corssover studies in post-secondary education in humans to test our counterfactuals, we really only have speculation about "what would have been".
I certainly have been very satisfied with what has turned out of my life in the 18 years since I graduated Stanford (sh*t, has it been that long already). I thoroughly enjoyed the four years I was at Stanford, but I can't really say that I wouldn't have been happy somewhere else. I got into a prestigious medical school (though not Stanford, so bleh). Coming from an elite school probably helped a bit, but so probably did my very good MCAT scores, and my guess is those were only helped marginally by the scientific education I received at Stanford. After that, I can't really say that Stanford has had much of an impact in my career, though I have met a couple people with connections to the school, and though I haven't used the networking provided, I will probably put that to the test in the next couple years (of course, I will also call upon my networking from medical school, residency, fellowship and faculty, none of which were at Stanford).
I met my wife at Stanford, and it seems exceedingly unlikely that I would have met her had I gone somewhere else. Would I have fallen totally in love with someone from a different school (or, having not met someone as an undergraduate, would I have met someone in my subsequent adventures)? There is no way of knowing. I do know that people who don't go to Stanford do fall in love and get married and have happy marriages (e.g., my parents).
As others have said, I have a lot of friends that date back to Stanford, but again, I have friends going back to elementary school in Venezuela, as well as from high school, medical school, residency, fellowship, etc. Though there's no way to know for sure, I'm pretty sure I would have made friends at my alternate university.
And yet, my life has turned out pretty happily for me, and I went to Stanford. I'm married to my Stanford sweetheart, we have three wonderful kids together; I live about a half hour north of the University, have a happy and fulfilling career, and really cannot complain about how things turned out (and if ever given a chance to go back, I would take it in a heartbeat). Stanford isn't the reason I am who I am and my life turned out the way it did, and yet, it must have had something to do with it, no? Certainly, my life would be different otherwise. Maybe not worse, but likely very different.
BC
I certainly have been very satisfied with what has turned out of my life in the 18 years since I graduated Stanford (sh*t, has it been that long already). I thoroughly enjoyed the four years I was at Stanford, but I can't really say that I wouldn't have been happy somewhere else. I got into a prestigious medical school (though not Stanford, so bleh). Coming from an elite school probably helped a bit, but so probably did my very good MCAT scores, and my guess is those were only helped marginally by the scientific education I received at Stanford. After that, I can't really say that Stanford has had much of an impact in my career, though I have met a couple people with connections to the school, and though I haven't used the networking provided, I will probably put that to the test in the next couple years (of course, I will also call upon my networking from medical school, residency, fellowship and faculty, none of which were at Stanford).
I met my wife at Stanford, and it seems exceedingly unlikely that I would have met her had I gone somewhere else. Would I have fallen totally in love with someone from a different school (or, having not met someone as an undergraduate, would I have met someone in my subsequent adventures)? There is no way of knowing. I do know that people who don't go to Stanford do fall in love and get married and have happy marriages (e.g., my parents).
As others have said, I have a lot of friends that date back to Stanford, but again, I have friends going back to elementary school in Venezuela, as well as from high school, medical school, residency, fellowship, etc. Though there's no way to know for sure, I'm pretty sure I would have made friends at my alternate university.
And yet, my life has turned out pretty happily for me, and I went to Stanford. I'm married to my Stanford sweetheart, we have three wonderful kids together; I live about a half hour north of the University, have a happy and fulfilling career, and really cannot complain about how things turned out (and if ever given a chance to go back, I would take it in a heartbeat). Stanford isn't the reason I am who I am and my life turned out the way it did, and yet, it must have had something to do with it, no? Certainly, my life would be different otherwise. Maybe not worse, but likely very different.
BC