Stanford University Reviews

"It's a world class program with very few faults. The program is tailored to individual student's interests and ambitions. The faculty, students, and facilities are outstanding."

"Pros are beautiful mountains nearby and great, supportive faculty. Oh, and pass fail grading. Cons mostly relate to the surrounding area and cost of attendance. The surrounding area is extremely pricey and living is very dense."

"Collaborative environment, very research focuses, faculty are trying to innovate classroom teaching with some success (several classes currently in flux). A very happy, student-wellness orientated program with many connections to silicon valley and healthcare leaders."

"Many opportunities, but they need to improve the preclinical and clinical curriculum"

"The Master's program in Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford was a good preparation for a job in the aerospace field. The academic programs provided a broad overview of many aerospace disciplines, including dynamics and controls, lightweight structures and materials, and rocket propulsion fundamentals. I thought it prepared me well for an entry level job as an engineer. However, I do think that most of the learning that is most important to my job now I got from hands-on work on extracurricular engineering projects, which taught me how to approach real-world design problems, how to quickly iterate through the test/fail/fix cycle, and how to deal with complex systems with a large group of people. I didn't take advantage of any of the many opportunities for in-depth research in any one specialty, which is certainly a primary draw of the program for many people, especially those looking to continue on to a PhD program or pursue a career in research or academia. However, I feel that if you are planning to start a career in industry as an entry level aerospace engineer, I think that this program was certainly adequate preparation, but probably not any better than many other aerospace programs at other institutions around the country."

"School is big and impersonal in the CS dept. Sometimes there is an overemphasis on work over learning. Overall, however, courses are well taught and my comrades are interested and intelligent."

"+ Like-minded classmates of equal level of achievement + Some possibilities to take classes outside the major - Absurdly expensive - One year program, rather than two years"

"Stanford has been difficult, but rewarding. Sometimes, however, it feels like University-sanctioned services intentionally rip-off students which is why I have underrated affordability of living. It is also often hard to get off of campus, and there is not much to do off of campus in the immediate surrounding area."

"Stanford's program offers many pros, two of the most prevalent are the quality and accessibility of professors and the opportunities the school provides both professionally and academically. The main con for the engineering program is that the workload is very significant and sometimes prevents students from being able to take advantage of everything that Stanford offers."

"Extremely tight-knit and supportive community. Not as much career guidance as I would have liked. Faculty not as supportive of non-academic careers."

"Stanford has yet to let me down. It has greatly exceeded my expectations in academic quality of both faculty and my classmates, networking and student support opportunities, financial support for research and travel to conferences, and much more. A particularly unique aspect of Stanford's Neuroscience Program is the two week long intensive neuroscience techniques course before the start of the semester. These two weeks the incoming class spent 12 hours a day getting to know each other, some older students and many professors. We also learned many electrophysiological and molecular biological techniques, which I found extremely enriching as I had never had hands on experience with these procedure. The only aspect of Stanford I would chance would be our stipend value: the Bay Area is an expensive place to live."

"The best neuroscience program in the world! (according to our awesome administrator :P) The community of graduate students is incredible, and faculty are very accessible and supportive. Required coursework is minimal, which leaves a lot of flexibility to take any of the amazing courses offered at Stanford that might be relevant to you (i.e. Machine Learning). Biggest con is cost of living, but you're probably not going into science for the Ferraris. The surroundings are worth it though. after moving to the bay area from the east coast I'll probably never leave."

"Pros: strength of Stanford brand, especially in Computer Science"

"Excellent graduate program. Stanford has great academics and many smart peer students."

"Stanford University is an excellent place to live and conduct research."

"The program gives a rigorous preparation in the target field of study, but also offers a lot of freedom to draw on other academic resources within the university. Linguistics is a very diverse field and the program stimulates research that cross-cuts these sub-disciplines in original ways. The faculty are ultimate experts in their field but are also well prepared to supervise projects in related disciplines, which makes for a very cohesive department were groundbreaking research is possible. Dissertation and qualifying paper committees are purposely organized in way that brings together faculty from various fields, which allows experts from other disciplines offer a fresh outlook on a student's project. The funding package includes excellent health insurance and is sufficient to live comfortably on campus or elsewhere. There are multiple fellowships that can augment the basic funding in later years. The department also has a very strong focus on professional development, with departmental workshops that complement university-wide resources. This is reflected in successful academic and non-academic job placements for recent PhDs. Undoubtedly, one of the best Linguistics programs in the country and in the world."

"One of, if not the, best neurosciences Ph.D. programs."

"My Materials Science and Engineering Master's program has allowed me to take a variety of incredible courses I could not have taken otherwise. It is pretty flexible by letting me structure, more or less, a program that I believe would better cater to my interests while also providing a solid educational foundation. Since the courses are at the graduate level, I get to experience courses that provided more a environment more similar to the workforce. The only thing I wish I could change would be the research experience. Due to the unfortunate confluence of the program being short (< 2 years) and my principal investigator taking time-off, I am, and will be unable to do research as an extracurricular activity."

"This is without doubts one of the best programs in the world in Linguistics –and in several subfields the best one. Great aspects include the commitment to excellence, the wonderful faculty in both the academic and personal sense, and the academic enviroment. By far the largest drawback is the fact that the area –not only the university– is not affordable."

"Stanford University is located in the heart of Silicon Valley, which offers extensive networking opportunities for jobs in the surrounding area. The Linguistics Department in particular is very consciously invested in the professional development of their graduate students, providing more than adequate funding to eat, live and even conduct department-funded research. The quality of living in Palo Alto and the Bay Area is extremely high, with excellent weather, lots of opportunities to see the city, and beautiful landscapes to explore. As a current grad student in the department, I have no regrets about turning down other offers. This is arguably the best PhD program in Linguistics in the world."