Stanford University is the most preferred college among high school graduates in the United States, according to a Princeton Review survey.
One of the reasons that make the West Coast College the most sought after higher education institution in the country is its increased focus on applied sciences and STEM fields than Harvard and other Ivy Leaguers. Science and engineering are two of the most popular subjects in the tech job market.
Last year, 26 percent of Stanford's undergraduates majored in either computer science or engineering (about three times as Harvard) and 90 percent of Stanford undergraduates enrolled in at least one computer programming class (about half at Harvard).
Plus, its proximity to Silicon Valley, sparkling facilities, alma mater to prominent technology moguls of Google, Yahoo and Cisco, and heavy recruitments from tech giants including Boeing attracts students to California.
The University also raises more money from donors than any other university in the country. In a February 2014 report by Council for Aid to Education, Stanford raised about $931,569,265 in 2013 alone. The list is part of Princeton Review's annual "College Hopes and Worries Survey." The survey is designed to determine student stress levels during the college application process, Huffington Post reports. The list was once dominated by Harvard, the 378-year-old institution that lost its places in recent times for failing to expand its offerings in computer science and engineering. Alan M. Garber, Harvard's provost, said that the University couldn't keep up with the demand of sudden interest in engineering and related areas. "Harvard for a long time had sort of an ambiguous relationship to applied science and engineering," said Harry R. Lewis, a computer science professor and a former dean of Harvard College. "It wasn't considered the sort of thing gentlemen did," NY Times reports. In an attempt to give a tough fight to other STEM-focused universities, Harvard has proposed a new campus in the Allston neighborhood of Boston that purely concentrates on such subjects. Max Shayer, a senior from Alaska, hopes that Harvard slowly establishes good relationships with renowned tech industries in the country. Apart from lacking programs on STEM fields, Harvard students have always been known for being intensely competitive and working hard, that leads to feelings of overburdened and stressed. The Top 10 "Dream Colleges" in the United States are as follows: 1) Stanford University 2) Harvard College 3) Columbia University 4) New York University 5) Massachusetts Institute of Technology 6) Princeton University 7) University of California - Los Angeles 8) Yale University 9) University of Michigan - Ann Arbor 10) University of California - Berkeley