[cardcrimson]

A handful of the professors I had at Stanford were really exemplary. Most were okay. Many were awful. And I graduated with a BSME in a department that was rated the highest in the country at the time. The benefit of a Stanford education lies with the students, not the professors. Distance learning will kill that.

I had some really good professors at Stanford. Maybe 2 or 3 that were awful. One was a visiting professor from Kansas. Many of my profs were world leaders in research in their fields and they were able to make their areas of interest exciting to learn. Sorry your Stanford experience wasn't similar. 

On the other hand, I totally agree with the benefit of going to school with really great minds in the student body. I told my daughter that the reason we were willing to pay the money for a top school was the exposure she would have to future leaders in every area of life. 

My son's university is unfortunately not providing that. He is benefiting from being on his own. He is benefiting from seeing more of the real world at a large public university. There aren't many Stanford level minds there though. That is why he is trying to transfer.

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I don't think Stanford and the Ivies are going to be hurt too much by a loss of foreign students or from students trying to stay closer to home. The allure is too great. Mid-level schools are going to have some issues and low tier schools are going to have survival problems. If the school does not provide a great college experience than parents will figure internet classes are good enough. That will be offered for cheap elsewhere.

My memories of Stanford and the profs:

The memorable ones on the plus side were Mary Sunseri, who taught calc (made it fun). Zimbardo (no explanation necessary). Gurley, a socialist who taught Econ 101 (or whatever it was called). 

I can't remember the names of several in the ME/Engineering department, but three who stood out, a guy in materials whose in class demo's were crazy (one sent him to the hospital), a renowned ME prof who had to be the nicest guy alive, and a recent PHD who was also a KA--the median test scores in his class were typically were in the teens (an absolutely brilliant guy, an incredible partier, and a prof who hadn't quite yet figured out that even the masses at Stanford didn't share his brilliance). 

The crappy: the seventies leftover grad assistant who taught frosh english, my two advanced math profs (the biggest shock of my years at Stanford, was when one of them actually showed up not wearing his vintage, mustard colored blazer), and a civil engineering prof with a monotone voice that Ben Stein would be jealous of and who always ended up with chalk all over his face. John Anderson, the failed Presidential independent candidate, was a brobdingnagian disappointment as well. . . .

Some of the best times were our "study group" breaking into the ME department just off the quad on Sunday nites, often with beer, and working collectively to figure out the problem set due in the morning. Of course we'd use the campus phone system to call all the other study groups to share info to resolve the more complex issues.

Importantly, the labs and the lab work were fascinating, even for MEs. Some access to some great, great facilities.

Going to be really tough to duplicate any of those experiences virtually, while still commanding the stiff tuition. . . .

[cardcrimson]

A handful of the professors I had at Stanford were really exemplary. Most were okay. Many were awful. And I graduated with a BSME in a department that was rated the highest in the country at the time. The benefit of a Stanford education lies with the students, not the professors. Distance learning will kill that.

I had some really good professors at Stanford. Maybe 2 or 3 that were awful. One was a visiting professor from Kansas. Many of my profs were world leaders in research in their fields and they were able to make their areas of interest exciting to learn. Sorry your Stanford experience wasn't similar. 

On the other hand, I totally agree with the benefit of going to school with really great minds in the student body. I told my daughter that the reason we were willing to pay the money for a top school was the exposure she would have to future leaders in every area of life. 

My son's university is unfortunately not providing that. He is benefiting from being on his own. He is benefiting from seeing more of the real world at a large public university. There aren't many Stanford level minds there though. That is why he is trying to transfer.

---

I don't think Stanford and the Ivies are going to be hurt too much by a loss of foreign students or from students trying to stay closer to home. The allure is too great. Mid-level schools are going to have some issues and low tier schools are going to have survival problems. If the school does not provide a great college experience than parents will figure internet classes are good enough. That will be offered for cheap elsewhere.

My memories of Stanford and the profs:

The memorable ones on the plus side were Mary Sunseri, who taught calc (made it fun). Zimbardo (no explanation necessary). Gurley, a socialist who taught Econ 101 (or whatever it was called). 

I can't remember the names of several in the ME/Engineering department, but three who stood out, a guy in materials whose in class demo's were crazy (one sent him to the hospital), a renowned ME prof who had to be the nicest guy alive, and a recent PHD who was also a KA--the median test scores in his class were typically were in the teens (an absolutely brilliant guy, an incredible partier, and a prof who hadn't quite yet figured out that even the masses at Stanford didn't share his brilliance). 

The crappy: the seventies leftover grad assistant who taught frosh english, my two advanced math profs (the biggest shock of my years at Stanford, was when one of them actually showed up not wearing his vintage, mustard colored blazer), and a civil engineering prof with a monotone voice that Ben Stein would be jealous of and who always ended up with chalk all over his face. John Anderson, the failed Presidential independent candidate, was a brobdingnagian disappointment as well. . . .

Some of the best times were our "study group" breaking into the ME department just off the quad on Sunday nites, often with beer, and working collectively to figure out the problem set due in the morning. Of course we'd use the campus phone system to call all the other study groups to share info to resolve the more complex issues.

Importantly, the labs and the lab work were fascinating, even for MEs. Some access to some great, great facilities.

Going to be really tough to duplicate any of those experiences virtually, while still commanding the stiff tuition. . . .