So you guys are still serious about Stanford? It's really beautiful out here, Penni, and the Mercedes and the big job are quite attainable because what you are paying for there are all the incredible connections that CW will make. The difference between Berkeley and Stanford is stunning, incidentally. Berkeley graduates believe they get an education that is equal or better to Stanford, but they pride themselves on being a lot more egalitarian. Stanford is very elitist. Now I am not saying that negatively, and do not want to get embroiled in a controversy. Elitist can be really reassuring when you are entrusting the care of your beloved baby boy to an institution thousands of miles away from home.
Having endured classes in huge amphitheatres with thousands of students in them at UC Davis, which is very similar to the Berkeley experience, I would want a very different education for my daughter, a much more intimate one. It is hard to feel like an individual in that kind of environment. The UC system actively attempts to weed out freshmen and sophomores--it is a kind of endurance contest in a huge sea of faces, with no one very interested in the student's success, really. Upper division classes are smaller and more intimate, if you have managed to run the gauntlet successfully. My sense of private colleges is that they take more interest in having their students succeed and graduate. So if money is no object, I think Stanford is probably preferable.
And Berkeley is a lot more dangerous--the campus itself has a pretty high crime rate, comparatively, as far as I recall. Telegraph Avenue and the the other areas around the university are filled with homeless people and other weirdos of all varieties. I have not been there in several years, because it became such an unpleasant experience just to walk down the street. Suffering and mental illness up close and personal are really hard for me to deal with, frankly.
Greenish breast milk? Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!! ;^)
Okay, I am going to be looking for your article, Penni. I am so very excited for you!!!!!!! |
