As a Carnegie Mellon undergrad who worked as staff at Stanford and who's lived with roommates who had been to MIT, Columbia, and NYU as undergrads, I honestly do feel like Stanford is a lot better than most top-tier schools. On the other hand, the difference between expectations and reality are the furthest apart for Stanford, because of the weird Silicon Valley reputation for extreme individualism and libertarian, entrepreneurial ideals. Nothing about any undergraduate university studies anywhere is anything other than conformity, obedience, and fascile veneers of peer and collective authority approval.
@@justins5756 only very casually. My verification was from a 2012 presidential primary election kerfuffle where Newt Gingrich fans kept mass reporting me for my comparison of his and Mitt Romney's tax plan. Eventually Googlers got tired of unblocking me so they verified me, preventing automatic suspension from large numbers of abuse reports.
Hey Introvertedmadness! I absolutely love your honesty. I'm an undergrad at Stanford and bought into a lot of the extremely positive hype that other big Stanford RUclipsrs showcase (and, as you said, profit *a lot* off of). That led to a bit of disillusionment at times, and I'd say that seeing your videos (and after having more honest conversations with some of my peers) really helps validate my experiences. Imo, Stanford is pretty great, but it's certainly far from perfect. Keep doing what you're doing! Your honesty is so important :)
hey, thank you for watching and im glad you could relate a bit to what im saying! i had a similar thing where i was super disillusioned after freshman year, but found people who kind of felt similarly about stanford my sophomore year, and it just made it better to have a lil group of ppl who i felt like were on my side lmao and didn't think i was crazy for not being happy all the time. glad you seem to be enjoying stanford / finding the good things about stanford too, that's huge :) thanks again for taking the time to comment and hope u have a legendary rest of your time at stanford!!
I did undergrad at uchicago, grad school at columbia. top tier universities don't give a flying fuck about their students -- especially in regards to mental health, but honestly admins give students less than the bare minimum in every other sphere as well. all they care about is the APPEARANCE that things are awesome, everyone is happy, and that they support their students. That doesn't mean you can't have a good time at a top tier college, but it does mean you have to rely on yourself to create that experience and have realistic expectations for what things will really be like.
thanks for sharing your own thoughts and perspectives!!! yeah like i said, i agree that it definitely is possible to have a good time at these "elite" universities, but it's not as easy breezy as they make it seem. it's interesting because i think this mindset (that it is technically possible to have a good time at these colleges) leads to this assumption that people who don't have a good time must have something wrong with them, are trying hard enough, or are just lazy. which i think is a pretty big assumption to make lol, like these colleges can also do a lot better. anywho thanks again for watching and taking the time to comment, i hope you are doing well and have a peaceful night :)
Hm. I get the desire to temper student expectations about elite colleges, but this "universities don't give a flying fuck about their students" take is overly cynical. "Admins" aren't the Borg, some advisors/faculty are terrible and some are personable and do care. YMMV I went to one of these universities. When I was a struggling first-gen, very low income student, I received so much support from my academic department and mental health services. Not to mention, the financial aid they gave was literally life-changing. I wouldn't have graduated without that support. People have valid negative experiences, but like introvertmadness cautioned, it's a data point of one. It's no more correct for me to claim that "Everyone cares about you" based on my experience than it is for you to claim "No one cares about you." While there are huge admin issues at many schools, a big part of the stress at elite schools in particular is the self-selective nature of the whole admissions process. High school kids have to be 'cancer-curing' overachievers to get in and once they get in... they continue to be overachievers! It's a class full of valedictorians, olympiad winners, published writers, etc. The rat race never ends. _Who will earn that prestigious internship/fellowship? How many classes can fill your schedule? Why single major when you can double major? etc._ Many schools (mine included) must explicitly discourage double-majoring and lower the credit cap just to safeguard students from their own burnout-prone impulses.
I have family members that graduated from Berkeley, Harvard, MIT and I have friends that went to stanford. Lots of people the experience top tier Universities care more about their status than teaching students.
I relate on so many levels with your Stanford experiences. You're an important voice for entire margins of people who feel the same. Again, thx for existing, intro.
aye super glad to hear that dude and that you can relate. the voices of stanford shall be silenced no further!!!!! nah for real, thanks a lot for the kind words, it means a lot - kinda blows my mind that i could be considered a "voice" for people lmao, but imma just keep doing my thing. appreciate you for bein here dude, hope u have a beautiful night homie :)
Hey dude, I didn't enjoy my college experience much either and in fact went through a pretty serious depression during my time in school so I have a pretty good idea of where you're coming from. I hope you're in a better place mentally now. Your experience is your own and you're perfectly entitled to have your own feelings about it. Best of luck!
aye appreciate the kind words homie, glad you're enjoying the vids :') hope u got some baller superhero bedsheets for yourself soon, & have a magical night!!!
@introvertedmadness (Stanford class of 2004 here) Your feelings are not only valid, but much more common on campus (and especially after graduation among alumni) than you think. It took me 2-3 years to learn it....i.e. there's a reason a lot of POC's have a "Disorientation" book/ campaign every year. I'd say prob 1/3rd at least of the people feel similarly, it's just that you aren't going to know that b/c folks get canceled, gaslight, shut down, shamed, if they say *anything* constructive about the curriculum, administration, social culture, etc. "People who like Stanford want to invalidate your feelings as if there is something wrong with you." 10000000000%! Your points are especially true for people who don't fit the ideal archetypes valued on campus (both by professors, ppl in the 'dating / hook up' scene, etc.). FGLI students, black male nerds (people were shocked when I didn't speak ebonics + taught debate to high schoolers), and are wealth poor catch absolute hell on campus. Final thought/tip for coping post-Stanford: I talk about Stanford the way I talk about the Lower 9th ward projects and surviving it. I suffered a lot of abuse from both, but I frame the story as proof of resilience and being a badass (b/c getting thru that school without 'fitting in' takes real cojones and strength). That tends to resonate strongly with the real world, and real life not the internet woke parade . Anyone who hates on people giving constructive feedback about Stanford w/ the shaming you talk about .... Don't listen to them. I'll hit you up on IG (bhill_adventures), I'd love to chat 1:1 - I do college admissions coaching and have to give students the 'Stanford talk' to make sure I fulfill my obligations to kids' parents to ensure their mental health in college.
I had a similar experience as a young person going into the military. I was expecting so much out of the institution, but turns out its run by messy, faulty human beings like any other organization. Also I just felt something in my gut that was trying to keep me from conforming...I think it's just something some of us are born with. Probably got handed the evolutionary wildcard of being a wanderer.
i know what you mean, sometimes i wonder if im even a part of this species lol. but also trying to be more comfortable in my own skin. it's a journey but we'll get there. and being a wanderer sounds kinda nice :)
Undergrad STEM, regardless of school and rank, is a trying time for every student. Not sure what your story is for why or how your mental health was 'f***ed up' up but a lot of the reason for me at mid-tier state school was no longer receiving the excellent grades I was so used to making in high school. Coupled with being accountable for my own study, schedule, housing, and food, it was so easy to just sleep in and not go to lecture, commit to studying, or do anything really. A lot of the time was just asking myself, 'what is the point of all this? why can't I study constructively enough? why can't I perform well on exams?' I just couldn't see the motivating factors and the solutions to my own lack of discipline. It's a vicious cycle because it's really crippling behavior to choose not do anything and then feel depressed for that decision of not doing anything.
I felt this bro. I did the same thing. I had to force myself. Forced myself for 5 years and I burnt out so hard I had depression. I didn't feel better until I found a decent paying job and I started buying myself nice things lol
I discovers your videos about 3 months ago and Your videos are literally HILARIOUS. I love how ur completely transparent about your experiences. A lot videos that I watch that are related to college pretty much talks about college as if it were narnia. It’s so REFRESHING to hear a person with actual opinions and not just another person on some university’s payroll LMAOAOAOA. On behalf of all the young people ( 16-18) thank you for videos like these 💀
Just handed in my Master's thesis at the University of Cambridge, and I wanted to let you know that your criticisms of Stanford rang true all the way across the atlantic. My experience was a mixed bag; plenty of worthwhile opportunities that were unique to and only possible on my programme, but the toxic individualist culture and needless levels of built-in adversity hugely dampened my experience. I was sick and tired of trying to gaslight myself into enjoying Cambridge as a town. Many of the problems I had were shared with my undergraduate institution, but I feel like cambridge as a town didn't let its students catch a break when needed, and the immense funding it has compared to other UK universities means that it has less of an excuse to fuck up things like mental health and academic support. I found it much easier for myself when I went back to my UG town of Edinburgh to work on my master's thesis than putting up with the oppressive atmosphere at Cambridge. I discovered a few of your videos a couple of months back, and they were a welcome breath of fresh air amongst the typical videos that portray these institutions as the perfect, ideal places to be a student in your late teens and early 20s. Evidently the youtube gods knew I was disillusioned with where I was, but there aren't enough honest and deadpan voices about it here. It was oddly validating, even if our universities are on entirely different continents and with entirely different curriculums.
Cambridge MPhil here. sorry u had a bad experience at Camb and congrats on handing in your thesis despite it all. I'm 40. Maybe age makes me more appreciative of the opportunities presented here in this old town than it would have been had I come up here in my 20s. Without invalidating your unpleasant experience, the world out there is vastly more complex than Camb's. Good luck and everything.
Talking about the idolization of higher education institutions like Stanford, MIT, Ivy League, USC, UC systems there is a lot to say. I think it’s not only damaging to incoming freshmen with unrealistic expectations, it’s also damaging to high schoolers or people applying to these institutions. The marketing is biased and glamorized. I agree with you that the mainstream deserved a more balanced and nuanced perspective in videos about these institutions otherwise it feels an information asymmetry where you’re buying something that’s falsely advertised. People play into the game of “eliteness”, which isn’t the same as high quality, and don’t realize how isolating or competitive it can be.
This applies to all colleges because they need to be able to “sell their school” to potential freshmen. So they have to exaggerate certain things about the school in order to make money. But I do like this guy’s videos because they are nuanced and provide a more realistic view of college.
Personally, I really appreciate these kinds of vids. It doesn’t completely ruin the vibe at all, it just helps me see these schools in a more realistic way, and the fact that you do it with perfect humor makes it enjoyable all at the same time.
I felt a similar way at FSU that you felt at Stanford and hated it for a while. I've realized tho that it's not the university itself that made me miserable but not being able to improve my life through classes that made it miserable. Imo college is pay to win and if you have money and friends it's great but if your poor and on your own it's incredibly depressing.
Graduating from FSU this May, yea I really think people make the experience, I'm glad I got involved in the clubs I did or else I would've quite literally lost my mind
I went to Tufts and totally bought into the prestige factor plus the school specific branding. I bought in so hard that I was convinced it was the only place I would have a good time at college. This was not the case and when I had a rough freshmen year it was even worse because of my high expectations. Something that is really important to remember about any of these schools is that at the end of the day they are businesses and that it is highly in all their interests to sell an image of them being damn near heaven on earth. There is an excellent book called Excellent Sheep by an ex Yale prof that does a great job breaking this down as well as bunch of other problems with elite unis in the US. That being said, after an adjustment period I did find my people at Tufts and managed to have an overall good time and a year out from grad now part of me misses not heading back to campus . Also if you want to have a better time in undergrad don't study CS lol. I wrote my senior capstone on just how backwards the obsession with rigor for rigors sake (or more fang grads lol) is ultimately a self defeating practice but that's a whole other comment for a whole other video. TLDR: Yes elite unis brand themselves to a point that is almost impossible to live up to on campus and they have a lot of other problems as well but after making this realization as a scared and lost freshmen it is still very possible to have a postive and overall happy undergrad experience :)
I loved the video you did about the CS program at Stanford. Just recently, I’ve got admitted to a CS program myself. When thinking about it, I’ve contemplated on going for a B.S. in software dev. Real life scenarios should be the antithesis behind a college education (especially if you’re paying 60k to attend brick & mortar.)
I also have a lot of criticism for the university where I went for undergrad (UCLA) lol. Also, it's so cool that your channel has blown up lately. You've became one of the top channels for college/college grad info and memes
Seriously dude thank you for speaking your truth. I’m sorry you and so many other ppl from other schools have had to go through this. I think the competitive culture between schools is a contributor to a lot of denial. it’s gotten to the point where many of us are neglecting our own negative thoughts and feelings, and those of our classmates, to preserve the “perfect/better/happier than other schools” narrative so we feel better. Which is ofc counterproductive, bc it’s so important we acknowledge how we feel so we can work on it and try to improve our own mental health and the school overall. So thank you again; as an upcoming stanford frosh, you’ve inspired me and a ton of others to be more honest with ourselves and with others.
Thank you for showing the hidden truth behind the glamor that schools like to show! I was definitely one of those freshman that had really high expectations for Stanford, but came to realize that it isn’t perfect. I’m glad you’re showing prospective applicants what Stanford really is. Keep up the great work, and I’ve enjoyed watching your videos!!
aye thank you for watching and the kind words dude!! means a lot, and cool to hear about your stanford journey with those feelings too - it's really interesting to hear other people go through that whole disillusionment phase too, makes me think maybe a lot of people are feeling the same way but just don't express it publicly (which is totally fine lol). anyway, appreciate u for taking the time to leave a comment broseph, hope u have an excellent night :)
Those videos are very uplifting for me, since my cs major curriculum is more up to date than the Stanford one and I pay no money at all since college is free in my country (foreigners have to pay 1k dollars for semester and don’t have any admission criteria)
Bro...keep up these videos... Your channels your choice. Am interested in other topics you have sir and hopefully more people can appreciate your style and vibe.
aye appreciate the support bro, it means a lot!! definitely gonna just keep doing me and keep that vibe going. thanks for watching and being here for this journey, hope u have a chill night man :)
Honestly, I’m a rising senior caught up in all the A2C college hype type shit rn. I know I need a reality check and this helps a lot thank you so much.
Don’t trip man. I think the only thing we can ask from you as your audience is for you to be genuine. Whether that goes with or against the grain is unimportant. If everyone was too afraid to get cancelled the internet would regress into everyone having one single opinion we deem “correct” as a whole, which is super lame. Keep speaking your mind. Great video
Hey man, idk if u will read this, but I really like ur criticisms. Like u said a lot of college is glamorized and although im not going to a prestigious school, college was not at all like movies or their advertisements and i feel sold out. I thought yay being free from my parents! But the life transition is so much more soul-breaking than what ppl are willing to show. Sometimes i also feel like im supposed to be enjoying my "limited time" here and it really sucks when other people are like shouldn't u be happy u get to go to college in the first place? But its ur own emotions and brain man. Not everyone will have the same experiences but thats exactly WHY u should speak up about it. Someone who feels scared to speak up about the same thing will get their representation and perhaps courage to speak up themselves. Change is what we need and u are driving it whenever u release content. Keep going!!! The negative experiences are just as important, if not more so, as positive! I am glad to see someone finally sharing the negative side of college publicly and not just self-help type videos. It's what ppl need and deserve to see before making a decision about college-- and also, colleges should reflect on themselves too, not just us. ^_^
i never understand why people are like. shooters for giant corporations, or super successful/elite/prestigious/wealthy institutions in general. like, i promise u they dont need u to defend them with ur life, they will be ok regardless lmaooooo also, i really like how transparent u are about ur feelings and motives. something about that is really comforting to me :) also also,
yes exactly!!!! it's like bruh why you just throwing yourself at the feet of these mega corps, u know that's not even a human being right?? it's an imaginary thing that's in some random tax books in delaware. also yes moose :) thanks for watching and glad you enjoyed the video!! hope u have a fantastic night
“I actually had a bad experience at Stanford ya know” - you and me both pal Edit: I just heard him say he’s from New York. It makes total sense now. I’m from Philly, and east coasters like us just can’t stand all the fake shit that Stanford doles out on a daily basis. It’s frankly exhausting.
I’ve moved around a lot because of school and internships and I really agree with that quote, it’s just another place with its own problems, it’s not gonna fix everything just going to a new place. I think that’s a really important lesson to learn when you’re young, nothing is perfect so idolizing things, people, or places is just super unhealthy.
The fact that your speech was not heavily edited and far from fiction and script added a separate sincerity, I felt as if I was talking to a friend. I get bored of unnecessary formality of youtubers
omg a fellow wallice fan this is the greatest moment of my life!!!!!!!! u have swag taste in music c: thank u for watching and the kind words and support, it means a lot and is the whole reason i keep making these videos. i hope u have a sensational magnificent night homie :)
The reputation is what creates the culture. People who go there expecting awesome things will most likely attempt awesome things. Same thing as how some people perceive lower tier schools as boring sad weak. Generally though, without this implied reputation, it is the same as any other school.
How do you react/feel when people likely praise you or at least Stanford when they know you went there even though you had a really negative experience there? I think most people have a very rose-colored view of top schools.
As long as they get to keep their status of working there and their big juicy salary they just don't feel pressured to do beyond the absolute bare minimum until there is a consequence for not trying better
I actually really appreciate your opinion in this video. I enjoyed the seriousness of it as compared to the satire of your other videos. It kind of opened my eyes up to my own cult-ish ideas over defending Stanford. Thank you for the mental health warnings before taking such a commitment at Stanford! Also, my two cents: I think people might hate your other videos because of the cynicism, but sometimes that's what makes your videos funny. Maybe if you combined more positivity with your crucial, and often hilarious, social commentary? Not in an over-the-top way, but more in a way where people can leave your video with an overall feeling of "Hey, that's true, but I can overcome what's wrong with the world and do my best," rather than feeling defeated. THIS video however did exactly that -- it felt positive and left me on a stronger note while revealing to me much more about life. Definitely not telling you what to do, it's just me brainstorming because I love sharing and hearing opinions.
just rewatching your old stuff and saw I'm in this vid at 2:53 which is kinda crazy to me lmao - fun fact that photo is from one of the one unit extra chem help things because the normal class academics were not "super good" lol. hope all is well
how tf do you only have 18.4k. wheres the 184k? youtube algorithm down stupid. Also quick question who are those 3 stanford RUclipsrs you flashed my the screen? what happened to them why'd ya put them on the grave?
@9:11 👀, is that cathincollege!? lol, the shade of it all 😂😂😂😭😭💀, whatever happened to her channel? I was sooo obsessed with her vlogs back then. Anyways, love your videos, you're so funny 😂.
University education is really unproductive and a waste of time. I love the chance to meet new people but I do not want to waste money and my time on some useless education.
I think the main reason you had such a bad experience at Stanford is because you did not follow your passion and major in Public Policy or English. It is like going to a restaurant ordering food you don't like and then describing the experience.
for me, i don't think that was the main reason why i had a negative experience, but i definitely see how it could be perceived that way. i definitely think that cs wasn't the right major for me, and if there was a "making youtube videos" major i would've had a much better time lmao. but i don't think i would've enjoyed english (i took a few classes in that department and didn't vibe with it lol), and i didn't consider public policy since i wasn't interested in it (i think you got that from my casually explained: stanford video? but i just made that up for the video lmao). i guess if we're going with the restaurant example (lmao i think it's funny we're using this analogy now), i guess it is possible that the restaurant of stanford had some menu items that i would've enjoyed, but obviously i can't go back in time and try those menu items out lmao, and i think there were other problems with the whole "restaurant" than just the food / what major i chose (lmao really milking that metaphor). anyway thanks for watching and taking the time i comment dude, hope u have a nice night :)
your videos are excellent and genuine, why don't you start reaction videos on funny or any relatable content, where you present your thoughts with funny jokes and memes? it would be fun to watch. (all the best for the future)
Do you want to go to Stanford? Visit the school first before deciding to go there. Don't wait to visit on the ProFro Weekend (i.e., Admit Weekend). Pick a random week to visit. Visit the school first before filling out the school's college application.
You said you were gonna list your criticisms of Stanford but you just blabbed about bs. And your "illness" of apologizing unnecessarily is real, you just went on about how it's just maybe your "personal situation" and shiz, get to the point. Hated this vid.
i go to a top 10 uni and when me and my parents walked into my dorm full of roaches and peeling wall paint, and the dining hall food gave students food poisoning….. my dad said “so this is a 1st world education….” 💀🤌🏻 the resources u get at t10 universities are great but ngl admin doesn’t give a shit abt students outside of the classroom.
@@aibutttickler i'll take "i clearly have never step foot into a top american private university" for 500 please.......wait until you hear about niche and can read about this *gasp!*
@@GalacticNovaOverlord when ur a first year, u dont get a choice to live off campus. top 10 unis are hundreds of years old and many freshman dorms aren't renovated. just tour harvard or columbia and you'll see
@@eczemmaa Oh no, I'm aware that of the top unis that have horrible dorms and maintenence. Mine didn't. Anyways, Columbia and Harvard are nowhere near top 10 for engineering lol
Stanford grads do not impress me. I watched a Stanford grad burn through $1.5M of taxpayer funds pretending to build a BPM system which never came to be, even paying for hundreds of licenses to the tune of $300K+ for users of that nonexistent system up front. Then that same Stanford grad moved on to burn through $8M+ pretending to upgrade a city’s aged IT systems, resigning before that boondoggle was publicly exposed for the waste of taxpayer funds it was. Now that Stanford grad is working as budget director of another city. No telling what havoc her actions will cost taxpayers before running away from that job. So do not fret leaving Stanford.
A personal goal of mine is to never fanboy any organization that just wants to take my money
spittin nothing but facts. those orgs would drop us in a second if it meant they could make an extra cent lol. hope u have an excellent night dude :)
@@introvertedmadness thanks for the great videos keep it up!
yeah, especially considering that they call themselves "non-profit" research universities.
As a Carnegie Mellon undergrad who worked as staff at Stanford and who's lived with roommates who had been to MIT, Columbia, and NYU as undergrads, I honestly do feel like Stanford is a lot better than most top-tier schools. On the other hand, the difference between expectations and reality are the furthest apart for Stanford, because of the weird Silicon Valley reputation for extreme individualism and libertarian, entrepreneurial ideals. Nothing about any undergraduate university studies anywhere is anything other than conformity, obedience, and fascile veneers of peer and collective authority approval.
67subs and verified? Damn you're a youtube easter egg
@@otify480 he’s gotta know someone at RUclips
@James Salsman
How is it better? How is it worse? I would love to hear your experiences.
@@Veilure don’t go to any of the schools but Stanford has better weather which can help a lot
@@justins5756 only very casually. My verification was from a 2012 presidential primary election kerfuffle where Newt Gingrich fans kept mass reporting me for my comparison of his and Mitt Romney's tax plan. Eventually Googlers got tired of unblocking me so they verified me, preventing automatic suspension from large numbers of abuse reports.
Hey Introvertedmadness! I absolutely love your honesty. I'm an undergrad at Stanford and bought into a lot of the extremely positive hype that other big Stanford RUclipsrs showcase (and, as you said, profit *a lot* off of). That led to a bit of disillusionment at times, and I'd say that seeing your videos (and after having more honest conversations with some of my peers) really helps validate my experiences. Imo, Stanford is pretty great, but it's certainly far from perfect. Keep doing what you're doing! Your honesty is so important :)
hey, thank you for watching and im glad you could relate a bit to what im saying! i had a similar thing where i was super disillusioned after freshman year, but found people who kind of felt similarly about stanford my sophomore year, and it just made it better to have a lil group of ppl who i felt like were on my side lmao and didn't think i was crazy for not being happy all the time. glad you seem to be enjoying stanford / finding the good things about stanford too, that's huge :) thanks again for taking the time to comment and hope u have a legendary rest of your time at stanford!!
I did undergrad at uchicago, grad school at columbia. top tier universities don't give a flying fuck about their students -- especially in regards to mental health, but honestly admins give students less than the bare minimum in every other sphere as well. all they care about is the APPEARANCE that things are awesome, everyone is happy, and that they support their students.
That doesn't mean you can't have a good time at a top tier college, but it does mean you have to rely on yourself to create that experience and have realistic expectations for what things will really be like.
thanks for sharing your own thoughts and perspectives!!! yeah like i said, i agree that it definitely is possible to have a good time at these "elite" universities, but it's not as easy breezy as they make it seem. it's interesting because i think this mindset (that it is technically possible to have a good time at these colleges) leads to this assumption that people who don't have a good time must have something wrong with them, are trying hard enough, or are just lazy. which i think is a pretty big assumption to make lol, like these colleges can also do a lot better. anywho thanks again for watching and taking the time to comment, i hope you are doing well and have a peaceful night :)
Hm. I get the desire to temper student expectations about elite colleges, but this "universities don't give a flying fuck about their students" take is overly cynical. "Admins" aren't the Borg, some advisors/faculty are terrible and some are personable and do care. YMMV
I went to one of these universities. When I was a struggling first-gen, very low income student, I received so much support from my academic department and mental health services. Not to mention, the financial aid they gave was literally life-changing. I wouldn't have graduated without that support. People have valid negative experiences, but like introvertmadness cautioned, it's a data point of one. It's no more correct for me to claim that "Everyone cares about you" based on my experience than it is for you to claim "No one cares about you."
While there are huge admin issues at many schools, a big part of the stress at elite schools in particular is the self-selective nature of the whole admissions process. High school kids have to be 'cancer-curing' overachievers to get in and once they get in... they continue to be overachievers! It's a class full of valedictorians, olympiad winners, published writers, etc. The rat race never ends. _Who will earn that prestigious internship/fellowship? How many classes can fill your schedule? Why single major when you can double major? etc._ Many schools (mine included) must explicitly discourage double-majoring and lower the credit cap just to safeguard students from their own burnout-prone impulses.
I have family members that graduated from Berkeley, Harvard, MIT and I have friends that went to stanford. Lots of people the experience top tier Universities care more about their status than teaching students.
I relate on so many levels with your Stanford experiences. You're an important voice for entire margins of people who feel the same. Again, thx for existing, intro.
aye super glad to hear that dude and that you can relate. the voices of stanford shall be silenced no further!!!!! nah for real, thanks a lot for the kind words, it means a lot - kinda blows my mind that i could be considered a "voice" for people lmao, but imma just keep doing my thing. appreciate you for bein here dude, hope u have a beautiful night homie :)
Hey dude, I didn't enjoy my college experience much either and in fact went through a pretty serious depression during my time in school so I have a pretty good idea of where you're coming from. I hope you're in a better place mentally now. Your experience is your own and you're perfectly entitled to have your own feelings about it. Best of luck!
I think you're a really chill guy and I love listening to your videos. also yes I am jealous about your spiderman bedsheets
aye appreciate the kind words homie, glad you're enjoying the vids :') hope u got some baller superhero bedsheets for yourself soon, & have a magical night!!!
@introvertedmadness (Stanford class of 2004 here) Your feelings are not only valid, but much more common on campus (and especially after graduation among alumni) than you think. It took me 2-3 years to learn it....i.e. there's a reason a lot of POC's have a "Disorientation" book/ campaign every year. I'd say prob 1/3rd at least of the people feel similarly, it's just that you aren't going to know that b/c folks get canceled, gaslight, shut down, shamed, if they say *anything* constructive about the curriculum, administration, social culture, etc. "People who like Stanford want to invalidate your feelings as if there is something wrong with you." 10000000000%!
Your points are especially true for people who don't fit the ideal archetypes valued on campus (both by professors, ppl in the 'dating / hook up' scene, etc.).
FGLI students, black male nerds (people were shocked when I didn't speak ebonics + taught debate to high schoolers), and are wealth poor catch absolute hell on campus.
Final thought/tip for coping post-Stanford: I talk about Stanford the way I talk about the Lower 9th ward projects and surviving it. I suffered a lot of abuse from both, but I frame the story as proof of resilience and being a badass (b/c getting thru that school without 'fitting in' takes real cojones and strength). That tends to resonate strongly with the real world, and real life not the internet woke parade .
Anyone who hates on people giving constructive feedback about Stanford w/ the shaming you talk about .... Don't listen to them. I'll hit you up on IG (bhill_adventures), I'd love to chat 1:1 - I do college admissions coaching and have to give students the 'Stanford talk' to make sure I fulfill my obligations to kids' parents to ensure their mental health in college.
I had a similar experience as a young person going into the military. I was expecting so much out of the institution, but turns out its run by messy, faulty human beings like any other organization. Also I just felt something in my gut that was trying to keep me from conforming...I think it's just something some of us are born with. Probably got handed the evolutionary wildcard of being a wanderer.
i know what you mean, sometimes i wonder if im even a part of this species lol. but also trying to be more comfortable in my own skin. it's a journey but we'll get there. and being a wanderer sounds kinda nice :)
Undergrad STEM, regardless of school and rank, is a trying time for every student. Not sure what your story is for why or how your mental health was 'f***ed up' up but a lot of the reason for me at mid-tier state school was no longer receiving the excellent grades I was so used to making in high school. Coupled with being accountable for my own study, schedule, housing, and food, it was so easy to just sleep in and not go to lecture, commit to studying, or do anything really. A lot of the time was just asking myself, 'what is the point of all this? why can't I study constructively enough? why can't I perform well on exams?' I just couldn't see the motivating factors and the solutions to my own lack of discipline. It's a vicious cycle because it's really crippling behavior to choose not do anything and then feel depressed for that decision of not doing anything.
i felt this on another level bro
Perfectly hit the nail on the head for many of us
I felt this bro. I did the same thing. I had to force myself. Forced myself for 5 years and I burnt out so hard I had depression. I didn't feel better until I found a decent paying job and I started buying myself nice things lol
i feel that so hard 😢
Related 🫂
I discovers your videos about 3 months ago and Your videos are literally HILARIOUS. I love how ur completely transparent about your experiences. A lot videos that I watch that are related to college pretty much talks about college as if it were narnia. It’s so REFRESHING to hear a person with actual opinions and not just another person on some university’s payroll LMAOAOAOA. On behalf of all the young people ( 16-18) thank you for videos like these 💀
Just handed in my Master's thesis at the University of Cambridge, and I wanted to let you know that your criticisms of Stanford rang true all the way across the atlantic. My experience was a mixed bag; plenty of worthwhile opportunities that were unique to and only possible on my programme, but the toxic individualist culture and needless levels of built-in adversity hugely dampened my experience. I was sick and tired of trying to gaslight myself into enjoying Cambridge as a town. Many of the problems I had were shared with my undergraduate institution, but I feel like cambridge as a town didn't let its students catch a break when needed, and the immense funding it has compared to other UK universities means that it has less of an excuse to fuck up things like mental health and academic support. I found it much easier for myself when I went back to my UG town of Edinburgh to work on my master's thesis than putting up with the oppressive atmosphere at Cambridge.
I discovered a few of your videos a couple of months back, and they were a welcome breath of fresh air amongst the typical videos that portray these institutions as the perfect, ideal places to be a student in your late teens and early 20s. Evidently the youtube gods knew I was disillusioned with where I was, but there aren't enough honest and deadpan voices about it here. It was oddly validating, even if our universities are on entirely different continents and with entirely different curriculums.
How was your UG experience at Edin compared to camb ?
Cambridge MPhil here. sorry u had a bad experience at Camb and congrats on handing in your thesis despite it all. I'm 40. Maybe age makes me more appreciative of the opportunities presented here in this old town than it would have been had I come up here in my 20s. Without invalidating your unpleasant experience, the world out there is vastly more complex than Camb's. Good luck and everything.
Talking about the idolization of higher education institutions like Stanford, MIT, Ivy League, USC, UC systems there is a lot to say. I think it’s not only damaging to incoming freshmen with unrealistic expectations, it’s also damaging to high schoolers or people applying to these institutions. The marketing is biased and glamorized. I agree with you that the mainstream deserved a more balanced and nuanced perspective in videos about these institutions otherwise it feels an information asymmetry where you’re buying something that’s falsely advertised. People play into the game of “eliteness”, which isn’t the same as high quality, and don’t realize how isolating or competitive it can be.
This applies to all colleges because they need to be able to “sell their school” to potential freshmen. So they have to exaggerate certain things about the school in order to make money. But I do like this guy’s videos because they are nuanced and provide a more realistic view of college.
me just vibing to the jazz in the background
Bro just chilling with the spider-man bedsheets
Personally, I really appreciate these kinds of vids. It doesn’t completely ruin the vibe at all, it just helps me see these schools in a more realistic way, and the fact that you do it with perfect humor makes it enjoyable all at the same time.
I felt a similar way at FSU that you felt at Stanford and hated it for a while. I've realized tho that it's not the university itself that made me miserable but not being able to improve my life through classes that made it miserable. Imo college is pay to win and if you have money and friends it's great but if your poor and on your own it's incredibly depressing.
Graduating from FSU this May, yea I really think people make the experience, I'm glad I got involved in the clubs I did or else I would've quite literally lost my mind
I went to Tufts and totally bought into the prestige factor plus the school specific branding. I bought in so hard that I was convinced it was the only place I would have a good time at college. This was not the case and when I had a rough freshmen year it was even worse because of my high expectations. Something that is really important to remember about any of these schools is that at the end of the day they are businesses and that it is highly in all their interests to sell an image of them being damn near heaven on earth. There is an excellent book called Excellent Sheep by an ex Yale prof that does a great job breaking this down as well as bunch of other problems with elite unis in the US.
That being said, after an adjustment period I did find my people at Tufts and managed to have an overall good time and a year out from grad now part of me misses not heading back to campus . Also if you want to have a better time in undergrad don't study CS lol. I wrote my senior capstone on just how backwards the obsession with rigor for rigors sake (or more fang grads lol) is ultimately a self defeating practice but that's a whole other comment for a whole other video.
TLDR: Yes elite unis brand themselves to a point that is almost impossible to live up to on campus and they have a lot of other problems as well but after making this realization as a scared and lost freshmen it is still very possible to have a postive and overall happy undergrad experience :)
I loved the video you did about the CS program at Stanford. Just recently, I’ve got admitted to a CS program myself. When thinking about it, I’ve contemplated on going for a B.S. in software dev. Real life scenarios should be the antithesis behind a college education (especially if you’re paying 60k to attend brick & mortar.)
I also have a lot of criticism for the university where I went for undergrad (UCLA) lol. Also, it's so cool that your channel has blown up lately. You've became one of the top channels for college/college grad info and memes
Seriously dude thank you for speaking your truth. I’m sorry you and so many other ppl from other schools have had to go through this.
I think the competitive culture between schools is a contributor to a lot of denial. it’s gotten to the point where many of us are neglecting our own negative thoughts and feelings, and those of our classmates, to preserve the “perfect/better/happier than other schools” narrative so we feel better. Which is ofc counterproductive, bc it’s so important we acknowledge how we feel so we can work on it and try to improve our own mental health and the school overall. So thank you again; as an upcoming stanford frosh, you’ve inspired me and a ton of others to be more honest with ourselves and with others.
Thank you for showing the hidden truth behind the glamor that schools like to show! I was definitely one of those freshman that had really high expectations for Stanford, but came to realize that it isn’t perfect. I’m glad you’re showing prospective applicants what Stanford really is. Keep up the great work, and I’ve enjoyed watching your videos!!
aye thank you for watching and the kind words dude!! means a lot, and cool to hear about your stanford journey with those feelings too - it's really interesting to hear other people go through that whole disillusionment phase too, makes me think maybe a lot of people are feeling the same way but just don't express it publicly (which is totally fine lol). anyway, appreciate u for taking the time to leave a comment broseph, hope u have an excellent night :)
Those videos are very uplifting for me, since my cs major curriculum is more up to date than the Stanford one and I pay no money at all since college is free in my country (foreigners have to pay 1k dollars for semester and don’t have any admission criteria)
What country is this?
@@mariareynaga3908 Poland
@@margonocomment2186 that’s interesting, how often do you see people from outside of europe go to polish uni?
Bro...keep up these videos... Your channels your choice. Am interested in other topics you have sir and hopefully more people can appreciate your style and vibe.
aye appreciate the support bro, it means a lot!! definitely gonna just keep doing me and keep that vibe going. thanks for watching and being here for this journey, hope u have a chill night man :)
Honestly, I’m a rising senior caught up in all the A2C college hype type shit rn. I know I need a reality check and this helps a lot thank you so much.
Don’t trip man. I think the only thing we can ask from you as your audience is for you to be genuine. Whether that goes with or against the grain is unimportant. If everyone was too afraid to get cancelled the internet would regress into everyone having one single opinion we deem “correct” as a whole, which is super lame. Keep speaking your mind. Great video
Man this channel have grown quick. Quality!!!
Hey man, idk if u will read this, but I really like ur criticisms. Like u said a lot of college is glamorized and although im not going to a prestigious school, college was not at all like movies or their advertisements and i feel sold out. I thought yay being free from my parents! But the life transition is so much more soul-breaking than what ppl are willing to show. Sometimes i also feel like im supposed to be enjoying my "limited time" here and it really sucks when other people are like shouldn't u be happy u get to go to college in the first place? But its ur own emotions and brain man. Not everyone will have the same experiences but thats exactly WHY u should speak up about it. Someone who feels scared to speak up about the same thing will get their representation and perhaps courage to speak up themselves. Change is what we need and u are driving it whenever u release content. Keep going!!! The negative experiences are just as important, if not more so, as positive! I am glad to see someone finally sharing the negative side of college publicly and not just self-help type videos. It's what ppl need and deserve to see before making a decision about college-- and also, colleges should reflect on themselves too, not just us. ^_^
Really interesting, a different view is always important. Good content man 👍
i never understand why people are like. shooters for giant corporations, or super successful/elite/prestigious/wealthy institutions in general. like, i promise u they dont need u to defend them with ur life, they will be ok regardless lmaooooo
also, i really like how transparent u are about ur feelings and motives. something about that is really comforting to me :)
also also,
yes exactly!!!! it's like bruh why you just throwing yourself at the feet of these mega corps, u know that's not even a human being right?? it's an imaginary thing that's in some random tax books in delaware. also yes moose :) thanks for watching and glad you enjoyed the video!! hope u have a fantastic night
“I actually had a bad experience at Stanford ya know” - you and me both pal
Edit: I just heard him say he’s from New York. It makes total sense now. I’m from Philly, and east coasters like us just can’t stand all the fake shit that Stanford doles out on a daily basis. It’s frankly exhausting.
damn sorry man what was ur major there
I'm from the south( GA) and think both of y'all fake
@@கோபிசுதாகர் no one cares what u think
I’ve moved around a lot because of school and internships and I really agree with that quote, it’s just another place with its own problems, it’s not gonna fix everything just going to a new place. I think that’s a really important lesson to learn when you’re young, nothing is perfect so idolizing things, people, or places is just super unhealthy.
The fact that your speech was not heavily edited and far from fiction and script added a separate sincerity, I felt as if I was talking to a friend. I get bored of unnecessary formality of youtubers
YESSSS WALLICE AND PHOEBE ARE SOOOO GOOD. W. Also, you’re doing great, don’t let the haters get to you.
omg a fellow wallice fan this is the greatest moment of my life!!!!!!!! u have swag taste in music c: thank u for watching and the kind words and support, it means a lot and is the whole reason i keep making these videos. i hope u have a sensational magnificent night homie :)
The reputation is what creates the culture.
People who go there expecting awesome things will most likely attempt awesome things.
Same thing as how some people perceive lower tier schools as boring sad weak.
Generally though, without this implied reputation, it is the same as any other school.
How do you react/feel when people likely praise you or at least Stanford when they know you went there even though you had a really negative experience there? I think most people have a very rose-colored view of top schools.
i hope not, first year
As a Stanford PhD student, I'm having a great experience here. But not everyone's thriving. I wonder if that can be said about most things in life
PhD in what? Stanford is my top choice por Political Science or Political Economics.
What major?
A STEM field :)
As long as they get to keep their status of working there and their big juicy salary they just don't feel pressured to do beyond the absolute bare minimum until there is a consequence for not trying better
The doggo 😴 😊
Hey intro thx for existing
I actually really appreciate your opinion in this video. I enjoyed the seriousness of it as compared to the satire of your other videos. It kind of opened my eyes up to my own cult-ish ideas over defending Stanford. Thank you for the mental health warnings before taking such a commitment at Stanford!
Also, my two cents: I think people might hate your other videos because of the cynicism, but sometimes that's what makes your videos funny. Maybe if you combined more positivity with your crucial, and often hilarious, social commentary? Not in an over-the-top way, but more in a way where people can leave your video with an overall feeling of "Hey, that's true, but I can overcome what's wrong with the world and do my best," rather than feeling defeated. THIS video however did exactly that -- it felt positive and left me on a stronger note while revealing to me much more about life. Definitely not telling you what to do, it's just me brainstorming because I love sharing and hearing opinions.
just rewatching your old stuff and saw I'm in this vid at 2:53 which is kinda crazy to me lmao - fun fact that photo is from one of the one unit extra chem help things because the normal class academics were not "super good" lol. hope all is well
Fire content my boy
Nice video as always, also very cool sheets bro.
After watching this video, I can say with absolute certainty that this man went to Stanford.
how tf do you only have 18.4k. wheres the 184k? youtube algorithm down stupid. Also quick question who are those 3 stanford RUclipsrs you flashed my the screen? what happened to them why'd ya put them on the grave?
ur dog in the back is such a vibe
Dude where'd you get the Spider-man bedsheets?
Thank you for keeping it real.
That dog was slumped
@9:11 👀, is that cathincollege!? lol, the shade of it all 😂😂😂😭😭💀, whatever happened to her channel? I was sooo obsessed with her vlogs back then. Anyways, love your videos, you're so funny 😂.
really interesting video thanks for the perspective!
Tamil ?
love ur vids
University education is really unproductive and a waste of time. I love the chance to meet new people but I do not want to waste money and my time on some useless education.
I own stanford
I honestly had a similar experience to yours intro. Although, I ended up being a 5th year student:( These videos genuinely mean a lot to me
Keep being honest, these Stanford vids are so interesting!!
What went wrong with those Stanford youtubers?
The description got me dead.
Those bedsheets are tough
I think the main reason you had such a bad experience at Stanford is because you did not follow your passion and major in Public Policy or English. It is like going to a restaurant ordering food you don't like and then describing the experience.
for me, i don't think that was the main reason why i had a negative experience, but i definitely see how it could be perceived that way. i definitely think that cs wasn't the right major for me, and if there was a "making youtube videos" major i would've had a much better time lmao. but i don't think i would've enjoyed english (i took a few classes in that department and didn't vibe with it lol), and i didn't consider public policy since i wasn't interested in it (i think you got that from my casually explained: stanford video? but i just made that up for the video lmao). i guess if we're going with the restaurant example (lmao i think it's funny we're using this analogy now), i guess it is possible that the restaurant of stanford had some menu items that i would've enjoyed, but obviously i can't go back in time and try those menu items out lmao, and i think there were other problems with the whole "restaurant" than just the food / what major i chose (lmao really milking that metaphor). anyway thanks for watching and taking the time i comment dude, hope u have a nice night :)
That's all the reason you need man "teaching about how to raise a cow instead of frying a steak"
What are your thoughts on stanford graduate certifications?
What happened to those Stanford RUclipsrs?💀
HAHA I like your Spider Man sheets, bro!
your videos are excellent and genuine, why don't you start reaction videos on funny or any relatable content, where you present your thoughts with funny jokes and memes? it would be fun to watch. (all the best for the future)
Wow, an honest opinion!
THIS VIDEO IS SHALLOW. WHAT PRECISELY DON'T U LIKE ABOUT STANFORD? "LIKE" AFTER EVERY WORD!!! THAT'S ANNOYING!
about 45 seconds in and i'm wondering if that dog is alive. lol
What happened to the people at 9:12?
rip arpi man
Nice Cut G 💯
Yes
no
Yeah
great video- however i noticed youre pronouncing st. anford incorrectly iykyk
you would've been crushed in Berkeley EE/CS if you thought Stanford was bad for your mental health
take a shot every time he says stanford
we get it, you went to stanford
So? what is the reason why you hate Standford? Can you please make a video like top 5 and top 10 reason why you should not go to Standford Please ?
Do you want to go to Stanford? Visit the school first before deciding to go there. Don't wait to visit on the ProFro Weekend (i.e., Admit Weekend). Pick a random week to visit. Visit the school first before filling out the school's college application.
@@thespcrewroy8716 And I said to visit the school for yourself and see if you like it there first before deciding to apply to the school.
9:13 who are those youtubers?
Why does it feel like your mic keeps getting bigger every video lol
is it that bad?
I got govco 😒
tbh this was lowkey just a rant and not really informative.
for real man
palo alto high school > stanford
no
This was unwatchable, and I'm not really a fan of Stanford.
first like
My God!!!!! Blah, Blah, Blah.....
Well don’t receive money for making these vídeos on RUclips.
This video is a complete NOTHING. NO IDEA WHATSOEVER why Stanford sucks.
You said you were gonna list your criticisms of Stanford but you just blabbed about bs. And your "illness" of apologizing unnecessarily is real, you just went on about how it's just maybe your "personal situation" and shiz, get to the point. Hated this vid.
DareBee Foundation Program💀.
@@doublesushi5990 Yeah, and?
i go to a top 10 uni and when me and my parents walked into my dorm full of roaches and peeling wall paint, and the dining hall food gave students food poisoning….. my dad said “so this is a 1st world education….” 💀🤌🏻 the resources u get at t10 universities are great but ngl admin doesn’t give a shit abt students outside of the classroom.
@@aibutttickler lool facts
Yep- always choose the newer apartments or dorms
@@aibutttickler i'll take "i clearly have never step foot into a top american private university" for 500 please.......wait until you hear about niche and can read about this *gasp!*
@@GalacticNovaOverlord when ur a first year, u dont get a choice to live off campus. top 10 unis are hundreds of years old and many freshman dorms aren't renovated. just tour harvard or columbia and you'll see
@@eczemmaa Oh no, I'm aware that of the top unis that have horrible dorms and maintenence. Mine didn't.
Anyways, Columbia and Harvard are nowhere near top 10 for engineering lol
Stanford grads do not impress me. I watched a Stanford grad burn through $1.5M of taxpayer funds pretending to build a BPM system which never came to be, even paying for hundreds of licenses to the tune of $300K+ for users of that nonexistent system up front. Then that same Stanford grad moved on to burn through $8M+ pretending to upgrade a city’s aged IT systems, resigning before that boondoggle was publicly exposed for the waste of taxpayer funds it was. Now that Stanford grad is working as budget director of another city. No telling what havoc her actions will cost taxpayers before running away from that job. So do not fret leaving Stanford.