[Mudhead]

I understand this is a sports message board.  But as a sports fan who puts the academic mission first and foremost as the reason for Stanford and college in general, it's tough to read some of this.   I would rather see Stanford join a non-power four conference than sell its academic soul for football.

I’m not trying to play Word games but I doubt anyone is in favor of selling Stanfords academic soul for football.  And by the way, this won’t stop at football. The issues cover basketball, volleyball, soccer , baseball and softball as well .  Stanford has altered its academic standards, in terms of admittance before. If it hadn’t, I probably would not have gotten in or gone there. 

When Stanford decided to become a national school instead of a west coast institution of higher learning , it reached out to the Southwest and Midwest by booosting the value of leadership vs academics. Being a class president or other kind of leader was given heavy weighting.  The thinking was that admitting students who were “leaders” in their school would encourage follow on students to look beyond Rice ,  IT and the Ivies and consider Stanford.  Without that weighting, I don’t think I or many of my classmates in the 60s would have been there.  

Stanford might well have become a national school anyway and I don’t know to what degree their approach worked. But today , .stanford competes quite well with Harvard and the others throughout Texas and the Midwest.

I believe that if we become a school with a second rate athletic program, it will change our demographics and not in a good way. I have a grand daughter who is a serious candidate for any school, including .stanford.  Fairly high on her list of things to look for is a big time athletic program.  She is not a colllege level athlete.  But Princeton and Harvard are out; Duke is in. Chicago is out, Northwestern is in.  And so on.

I won’t claim that a sample of one proves much or that .stanford would never have become a national school if they hadn’t admitted me. But I do believe that a school composed solely of students with the highest gpas and highest test scores will be very different from the Stanford we know and love. MIT and Cal Tech and .carnagie Mellon are excellent schools, but they are not Stanford. The Ivies are important but they aren’t Stanford. 

I’m comfortable having flexible admission standards to accomplish a greater good.  I do t feel like I’m asking .stanford to sell its academic soul by asking it to be smart enough to attract and admit great athletes.m

[Mudhead]

I understand this is a sports message board.  But as a sports fan who puts the academic mission first and foremost as the reason for Stanford and college in general, it's tough to read some of this.   I would rather see Stanford join a non-power four conference than sell its academic soul for football.

I’m not trying to play Word games but I doubt anyone is in favor of selling Stanfords academic soul for football.  And by the way, this won’t stop at football. The issues cover basketball, volleyball, soccer , baseball and softball as well .  Stanford has altered its academic standards, in terms of admittance before. If it hadn’t, I probably would not have gotten in or gone there. 

When Stanford decided to become a national school instead of a west coast institution of higher learning , it reached out to the Southwest and Midwest by booosting the value of leadership vs academics. Being a class president or other kind of leader was given heavy weighting.  The thinking was that admitting students who were “leaders” in their school would encourage follow on students to look beyond Rice ,  IT and the Ivies and consider Stanford.  Without that weighting, I don’t think I or many of my classmates in the 60s would have been there.  

Stanford might well have become a national school anyway and I don’t know to what degree their approach worked. But today , .stanford competes quite well with Harvard and the others throughout Texas and the Midwest.

I believe that if we become a school with a second rate athletic program, it will change our demographics and not in a good way. I have a grand daughter who is a serious candidate for any school, including .stanford.  Fairly high on her list of things to look for is a big time athletic program.  She is not a colllege level athlete.  But Princeton and Harvard are out; Duke is in. Chicago is out, Northwestern is in.  And so on.

I won’t claim that a sample of one proves much or that .stanford would never have become a national school if they hadn’t admitted me. But I do believe that a school composed solely of students with the highest gpas and highest test scores will be very different from the Stanford we know and love. MIT and Cal Tech and .carnagie Mellon are excellent schools, but they are not Stanford. The Ivies are important but they aren’t Stanford. 

I’m comfortable having flexible admission standards to accomplish a greater good.  I do t feel like I’m asking .stanford to sell its academic soul by asking it to be smart enough to attract and admit great athletes.m