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A cynic’s guide to killing it at Stanford. - 82lsju - 09-04-2019

"How to Major in Unicorn Many of the freshmen now arriving in Palo Alto came to raise capital and drop out. A cynic’s guide to killing it at Stanford."

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/how-to-network-through-stanford-university.html

RE: A cynic’s guide to killing it at Stanford. - stupac2 - 09-04-2019

This sounds so completely foreign to my experience that it's hard to believe it's the same place.

RE: A cynic’s guide to killing it at Stanford. - SamuelMcF - 09-04-2019

Recent CS grad here ('16). Most of this is SUPER exaggerated. Either that, or I was a shitty student and had none of the above happen to me because of that. ;)

I can, however, confirm the very last quote (about the guy trying to start a competitor to Excel). He was in my class. Total asshat who got booted out of the company by his own best friend and cousin after spending their first million of VC funding on a house.

RE: A cynic’s guide to killing it at Stanford. - czaja - 09-04-2019

(09-04-2019, 11:36 AM)stupac2 Wrote:  This sounds so completely foreign to my experience that it's hard to believe it's the same place.

I’m sure it’s a bit sensationalized in order to make it more entertaining, but I’m also sure that there’s more than a bit of truth in it.

I was a CS major in the mid-late 90s, and in general, I’d say a good number of the anecdotes in the article would have had a similar analogue back in the dot-com era (e.g., CS TA's being a recruiting ground for companies, people stopping out to work for startups, etc.). The two main changes seem to be the popularity of the CS major among the students and more aggressive VCs.

If I recall correctly, CS was maybe the 5th or 6th most popular major when I was there, but it seems like it's far and away the largest (by # of students) these days. As the article states, I'm sure that there are many more people majoring in CS these days that would have been targeting Wall Street year ago, and this has to change the dynamic in the dept a bit.

Also, I think it was more common to get a VC introduction through a professor or other contact; now it seems like the VCs are trying to skip directly to the students.

RE: A cynic’s guide to killing it at Stanford. - 82lsju - 09-04-2019

(09-04-2019, 11:55 AM)czaja Wrote:  
(09-04-2019, 11:36 AM)stupac2 Wrote:  This sounds so completely foreign to my experience that it's hard to believe it's the same place.

I’m sure it’s a bit sensationalized in order to make it more entertaining, but I’m also sure that there’s more than a bit of truth in it.

well it is a cynic's guide......

RE: A cynic’s guide to killing it at Stanford. - stupac2 - 09-04-2019

(09-04-2019, 12:05 PM)82lsju Wrote:  
(09-04-2019, 11:55 AM)czaja Wrote:  
(09-04-2019, 11:36 AM)stupac2 Wrote:  This sounds so completely foreign to my experience that it's hard to believe it's the same place.

I’m sure it’s a bit sensationalized in order to make it more entertaining, but I’m also sure that there’s more than a bit of truth in it.

well it is a cynic's guide......

Yeah but I was expecting there to be something in there that rang true to me, but nothing did. I guess maybe because I wasn't a CS major and didn't know very many of them?

RE: A cynic’s guide to killing it at Stanford. - Stanford2020 - 09-04-2019

As a soon-to-be Senior Psych major, nothing rang true for me here either. Yeah, it seems like everyone has a "friend of a friend's roommate" who dropped out to pursue something, but that's also the case for having had a seminar with Jennifer Gates or Katie Ledecky. These people exist, but it doesn't mean there needs to be a "Guide to Killing It" exclusively devoted to that and marketed to all. And to "get around that", they interview Psych and SymSys majors..... about VCs and CS?

CS is the most popular major but that doesn't it has some iron grip over us all. Lest we forget the President and Provost are a neuroscientist and physicist, respectively.

RE: A cynic’s guide to killing it at Stanford. - Stanford2020 - 09-10-2019

A worthy response article made its way to my Facebook feed this week. I'm friends with one of the authors and a few of the quoted contributors. I still don't agree with everything put into this (it's awfully cynical at parts for an "optimist's" guide), but it's still much more relevant to the majority and a better piece than the original cause of this thread.

https://medium.com/@alinautrata/an-optimists-guide-to-finding-meaning-at-stanford-ee26e0f9aa95

RE: A cynic’s guide to killing it at Stanford. - deepred - 09-10-2019

In case you missed it, there was a follow-up in the same publication that covered non-tech fields at Stanford:
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/09/if-not-snapchat-what-stanfords-non-tech-fiefdoms.html

RE: A cynic’s guide to killing it at Stanford. - Hank 91 - 09-11-2019

Alas, poor English majors! I knew them well!

RE: A cynic’s guide to killing it at Stanford. - Mick - 09-12-2019

(09-11-2019, 02:55 PM)Hank 91 Wrote:  Alas, poor English majors! I knew them well!

I know an Ivy League kid, B. A. History, '18. He's a friend of my son and fell into Operations because he literally didn't know what else to do. He's now #2 in Ops at a verrrrry large tech company (still private, but very large and will exit in a few years), largely because he has an uncanny knack for solving problems. COO relies on him entirely. Kid is 23 years old and making bank. They've already offered to fund his MBA.

I know it's not tech wizardry. But he's doing pretty well.