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Stanford doesn't sound like a "university" in the traditional sense of the world. Perhaps a vocational centre, where the pursuit of knowledge comes secondary to

Stanford doesn't sound like a "university" in the traditional sense of the world. Perhaps a vocational centre, where the pursuit of knowledge comes secondary to application? It is interesting to note that Stanford is a "true" American university (unlike east coast universities which were meant to be copies of oxford and cambridge), and that may explain its readiness to embrace the juggernaut of the capitalism.

pigscantfly 11y ago
Stanford is absolutely a research university in the truest sense of the world. There have been 31 Nobel laureates on the staff as well as 19 winners of the Turing award. It's also worth pointing out that the CS department, though important, comprises a small minority of faculty and students on campus. There are lots of professors and grad students doing research in archaeology, physics, medicine, classics, materials science, etc. who most people hear little of.
- darkmirage 11y ago
  Actually CS comprises of around 15% of undergrads and commands a dominating influence over the rest of the school. http://stanfordvisualized.soraven.com/ http://stanfordvisualized.soraven.com/
  - pigscantfly 11y ago
    I would describe 15% as a small minority. I agree that the department is important to the school (possibly the most important single department), but I think your characterization of its influence as dominating is totally incorrect. I'm guessing that you have a lot of CS major friends, live with many CS majors, and probably study it yourself. However, there are plenty of places on campus which have almost no influence from the department. Examples which immediately come to mind are the co-op I lived in last year which had 2 CS majors out of 56 residents, the several-billion-dollar medical school, and the school of humanities (which in aggregate dwarfs the CS department in terms of enrollment). Even the rest of the School of Engineering isn't really influenced by departmental decisions. I think that most members of these communities would strongly disagree about being dominated by the department; your perspective likely stems from sampling bias in some regard.

pigscantfly 11y ago

Stanford is absolutely a research university in the truest sense of the world. There have been 31 Nobel laureates on the staff as well as 19 winners of the Turing award. It's also worth pointing out that the CS department, though important, comprises a small minority of faculty and students on campus. There are lots of professors and grad students doing research in archaeology, physics, medicine, classics, materials science, etc. who most people hear little of.

darkmirage 11y ago
Actually CS comprises of around 15% of undergrads and commands a dominating influence over the rest of the school. http://stanfordvisualized.soraven.com/ http://stanfordvisualized.soraven.com/
- pigscantfly 11y ago
  I would describe 15% as a small minority. I agree that the department is important to the school (possibly the most important single department), but I think your characterization of its influence as dominating is totally incorrect. I'm guessing that you have a lot of CS major friends, live with many CS majors, and probably study it yourself. However, there are plenty of places on campus which have almost no influence from the department. Examples which immediately come to mind are the co-op I lived in last year which had 2 CS majors out of 56 residents, the several-billion-dollar medical school, and the school of humanities (which in aggregate dwarfs the CS department in terms of enrollment). Even the rest of the School of Engineering isn't really influenced by departmental decisions. I think that most members of these communities would strongly disagree about being dominated by the department; your perspective likely stems from sampling bias in some regard.