Sigh.
For those of you that want to believe that Stanford is snobby or has some sense of entitlement, fine, I can't change that. All I can do is try to offer the other side of the picture, which is that I didn't find that to be the case at all with the med school. And actually, not super significant with the university as a whole.
As for the comment about the nurses and Stanford and UCSF med students, I've never heard that. I'm not doubting your information bjc, I'm just saying that my experience never yielded that kind of information. I'm sure the nurses respect the UCSF students, but I never heard a ton of bitching about the Stanford students. On the other hand, the nurses obviously have far more exposure to Stanford students than to UCSF students, so it stands to reason that the odds are better of running into "bad apples" from Stanford more often than running into "bad apples" from UCSF. I feel that your scenario is leading up to the blanket statement "All UCSF students are humble and salt-of-the-earth people and all Stanford students are arrogant little whiners." I hope we can agree that both statements would be grossly false.
My only other point would be about pre-established conceptions that people bring with them when they interview at various schools, or meet people from various schools. Private schools that are publicly well-regarded, like Stanford, have a tendency to be perceived as snobby, or bastions of the well-heeled elite. While there may be some basis (either in the present or the past) for such stereotypes, stereotypes obviously do not represent the whole picture. I think that preconceived notions can greatly color one's experiences and lead to biased judgments. A statement from a Cal-State or UC student may be considered to be completely harmless, but coming from a Stanford student, people may infer snobbish or elitist undertones into that statement that really did not exist -- simply because the "Stanford" name projects certain stereotyped images (as I have mentioned). What may be considered simply as institutional pride at UCLA or UCSD may be misconstrued as snobbism if the same behavior occurs at Stanford or another private school.
All I can say is to reiterate my experience as a student and an employee at that school. The medical faculty, staff, and students that I met were mostly excellent and very respectful of their colleagues from other nearby institutions. There are snobs and arrogant pricks at the school, certainly. But, I doubt there are significantly more of such people at Stanford than at say, UCLA or UCI, based on personal experience of having attended summer session with students from those schools.
