<p>A bit confused about the process so would appreciate any help.
1. Do most admits stay overnight all 3 days? (Am I missing out if I leave Sat night?)</p>
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<li><p>Lunch and Dinners are not shown on the schedules--Are you on your own or tagging along with your Stanford host to the cafeteria?</p></li>
<li><p>Parents Thurs schedule shows checking in for Admits/Parents starting at 9am with separate parent events at 11am & 6pm. So we all stay together most of the day with my parents leaving the campus after the 6pm parent mixer and not coming back till Sat night or Sun morning?
Thanks for any insights!</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Hey, why don’t you go on/ join the stanford class of 2016 facebook group. I’m sure your questions will be better answered there than on cc. And we’ve got a pretty awesome online community going on too!</p>
<p>By the way, check out SLE (Structured Liberal Education) while you are visiting. It’s a bit like a LAC for freshmen, housed in Flo Mo. Two classes with fellow SLE-ers and two with the rest of the school, for that first year. A very welcoming and close-knit community socially and according to student feedback, the happiest group of kids on campus. </p>
<p>D wasn’t sure Stanford was a fit - then she found SLE. It was a great experience.</p>
<p>Yes, I did join the Facebook group back in Jan. but I found I did not have much in common with the other admitted students except for liking nature hikes. I, too, am not sure Stanford is a fit for me. I did ask my admission officer where to find the subversive artists at Stanford and she said at the SLE program. Definitely a curriculum and a lifestyle more suited to me.</p>
<p>Trying to find opinions from past participants like M’s Mom. Do you have any recommendations for my parents? Also three nights seems a lot of time to spend with an unknown host student. I suppose it is either fun or awkward.
Again thanks for any help.</p>
<p>Some kids come or go early or stay late, but many stay the entire time. We left midafternoon on Saturday and my D felt like she missed out on the late afternoon and evening activities. But she was ready to move in and start college by the end of her visit, so it would have been hard to leave no matter when we left. She had a wonderful time.</p>
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<p>The dorms had many group activities, and it was my impression that the kids hung out together with their hosts or with other admits nearly the entire time. </p>
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<p>There are events scheduled for parents during the entire 3 days, but many kids were dropped off or came by themselves. Some activities were geared for either students or parents, and some were open to both. My D and I met up at a couple of the classes, but we didn’t sit together - she wanted to sit with other kids and I was happy sitting with other orphaned parents. After checking in at the end of the class we went our separate ways.</p>
<p>As a parent I’m glad I went - I learned a lot about Stanford, enjoyed the lectures and the nice weather, and was happy to meet other parents. But the weekend really is for the admits.</p>
<p>^April 26th-28th. And even if you can’t come on those dates you can come different weekends as well. All of that info is on the Admit Weekend registration form. </p>
<p>I’m a Head House Host for Admit Weekend this year, (SOO EXCITED!!) so if you have other questions feel free to ask.</p>
<p>Thanks for the answers and especially mema32. You answered everything! Yes, I am a bit afraid my parents will be clinging to me. I am flying in from out of state for admit week, but my family lives within an hour of Stanford. </p>
<p>One more question. Thinking now of spending all 3 days at Stanford with only 1 overnight on Fri which I would like to do at the SLE dorms. Is it possible to request a specific dorm? Once you submit your plans is it difficult to add an overnight back in?</p>
<p>As far as I know you can’t request a specific dorm, but you can request to have a specific Room Host. So basically if you can find someone willing to host you who lives in a SLE dorm, then you’d just write their name down on the registration form. Also, if you only plan on staying one night then end up needing to stay for a second, it’s mainly up to your Room Host. As long as they’re fine with you staying an extra night there shouldn’t be any problems.</p>
<p>You can visit almost anytime at Stanford. The coming week is finals, spring break after that. But anytime after then should be good. Don’t come during admit weekend, not a good time.</p>
<p>For admit weekend kids: Meet as many people as you can. This is often overlooked. Also, admit weekend is not really that representative of life at Stanford. It’s a taste, but a very small and skewed sample size.</p>
<p>Re: SLE
I’m gonna have to be brutal here and say that I don’t think anyone who is relatively social should go into SLE or FroSoCo. While most (70%) of freshman are essentially living together and getting to know each other in wilbur and stern (the freshman dorms), SLE and Frosoco kids are pretty much outcasts, and it takes a lot of effort on their part to actually get to know the rest of their classmates.</p>
<p>As I hear it, the biggest problem for SLE-ers is that they are having so much fun in SLE that they don’t make the effort to get to know kids outside of SLE. At a parent function this year, Dean Elam cited a study in which SLE-ers self-reported being the happiest students on campus, so it doesn’t sound as if the ‘outcasts’ are feeling particularly bad about it. The positive SLE experience is one of the factors that has moved the university towards freshman seminars instead of IHUM - they want to capture at least some of what makes SLE so attractive for all incoming freshman.</p>
<p>Yeah, outcasts in the sense that they aren’t well connected to the rest of their class. While I don’t doubt that within SLE, they are very close, the college experience (IMO) is undoubtedly about being in new social situations and meeting new people in addition to the standard educational aspects. </p>
<p>An important lesson I’ve learned so far here: Don’t let your schooling get in the way of your education. Yes, of course you need to try and learn as much in your classes as you can, but part of college is learning to be a well rounded person in general. And this means learning to interact with all sorts of people, not just those who are in your major or program. And unfortunately that’s something I don’t think the current structure of SLE gives you.</p>
<p>Regarding IHUM, I don’t think the switch away from IHUM is necessarily what you’ve mentioned. Simply put, kids don’t like IHUM because it forces them to study from a narrow range of topics they may not be interested in, for an extended period of time. Seminars have a much broader range of topics, and are less based off of a traditional lecture/discussion section/essay format.</p>
<p>No argument if this were a 4 year program - it’s not. It’s one year. No argument if everyone was a humanities major - they aren’t. My kid was STEM and there were plenty of others. No argument that college is a time to try new things - and SLE-ers do, but often they do it together, just like in a freshman dorm. </p>
<p>The only group not represented in SLE are the athletes because the afternoon seminars don’t work with the athletic practice schedule. There are 3 subsequent years to correct that deficiency, if indeed you feel the need to do so. </p>
<p>And I’m not claiming that SLE-ers overall high level of satisfaction with their first year is the only reason the IHUM is being rethought. But Elam himself noted that this was one of the factors that went into the decision.</p>
<p>I’ll just add a couple of thoughts to the SLE discussion. My D is a freshman in SLE this year. She is having a fantastic first year; loving every moment. While she is certainly involved in SLE and has met many great friends in SLE, she is also very active and has met additional friends in several campus Clubs and with intramurals and with a daily workout group at the rec facility, and weekend parties at the Row houses, etc., etc. In my experience, SLE doesn’t define you nor limit you in any way from having a great Freshman Stanford experience. It is certainly tough with lots of reading and writing but my D thrives in that environment.</p>
<p>Sounds like she’s doing really well. SLE definitely doesn’t prevent you from doing those things, and it sounds like your D would have made many friends no matter where she lived. My reasoning is that there are kids who come to Stanford who are much less certain of who they are and may be less likely to find out who they enjoy hanging out with, etc. I feel as if living in the general freshman areas brings you more diversity, from a social aspect.
I know that I’m very glad I was in the dorm I was; many of my best friends I’ve made are from the opportunities from living in a freshman dorm.</p>
<p>Also, I’m a techie (CompSci + Management science and engineering major), so writing/reading isn’t exactly my thing haha.</p>