<p>Yes the dorms have wifi.</p>
<p>No you don’t need a vacuum. At least in my dorm, they had a communal vacuum on every floor.</p>
<p>No, the dorms do not have ACs. A small fan would be helpful, but you won’t need it for the majority of the year.</p>
<p>No, you don’t need an ironing board. Personally, I didn’t iron all year. If you do need one though, you can probably borrow from a friend or RA.</p>
<p>during winter and spring break, do all students leave campus?
is there an option of staying on campuses or are all students forced to leave (residences and dining halls closed?)?</p>
<p>@zenkoan, Packages: Not so sure about why, but I think it was a security measure. I don’t think the school wanted random UPS/Fedex people walking around the dorms and also, I think some people probably had packages left in front of their doors stolen.
See:
[Residences</a> to no longer accept mail | Stanford Daily](<a href=“http://www.stanforddaily.com/2010/05/24/residences-to-no-longer-accept-mail/]Residences”>Residences to no longer accept mail) and [Private</a> carriers to run Roble package center | Stanford Daily](<a href=“http://www.stanforddaily.com/2010/06/03/private-carriers-to-run-roble-package-center/]Private”>Private carriers to run Roble package center)
…The Stanford Daily website has more info than I can offer. But I think this will be a major inconvenience for those of us who don’t live on West Campus. Ugh. And since then, I haven’t seen any more info about this so called package center so until further notice I guess it’d be better to ship light/use USPS if possible (maybe they sent yall incoming freshmen more info about it? idk). I really feel that the students had almost no say in this matter which is kind of annoying but safer I guess.</p>
<p>Vacuum: In my dorm the communal vacuums were gross/not super functional, especially for a neat freak like me. So I just borrowed a friend’s all the time. The majority of people I know never even vacuum though so buying one is probably hugely unnecessary.</p>
<p>Textbooks: If possible, buy online on Amazon, Ebay, Half.com, etc (advance if possible and if you know you won’t drop the class) or from friends/people who’ve taken the class. THE BOOKSTORE WILL CHARGE YOU AN ARM AND A LEG, and the (still expensive) used books sell out fast. I’ve saved so much money by not buying from the bookstore unless I need to. Also, I hate buying things new when books can so easily be reused. I find it wasteful, personally. & wow, I didn’t know about the rental till now, cool. You can also rent books online from Chegg.com but I’ve personally never tried it. The bookstore buys books back at the end of the quarter but your face will fall when they offer you $15 for a $200+ dollar textbook you bought new only 9 weeks before. Try to sell to others taking the class for a better return.</p>
<p>Breaks: Thanksgiving break dorms stay open and I think at least one dining hall usually does too. A lot of students leave but a good amount, especially the international kids, stay. Winter break dorms are dining halls are strictly closed and you have to leave. Spring break dorms are open but dining halls are usually closed. So you can stay but you’ll have to find food. Most people leave (trips with friends, etc) but a few stay.
I think that for winter there are options (eg The Stanford Guest House, etc) for people who want to stay or can’t leave, but expect to pay a lot.</p>
<p>the article says there will be another package center in escondido village
which could be more convenient to people in wilbur, stern, manzanita</p>
<p>I think the EV center is almost only for grad students as of now… I’ve got my fingers crossed that they make it for everyone.</p>
<p>btw thanks again for all the info</p>
<p>I appreciate your time and information too, earthwise and other current students. Thanks for checking this thread to help us out. : )</p>
<p>Of course of course! I love answering questions - maybe it is a testament to how much I miss Stanford when I’m away from it, but still I remember being where you are, and it’s always nice to have an unofficial perspective on the place that’ll become your life for the next 4 years. Reading these boards, it seems so easy to be reduced to a list of statistics about yourself, but once you get to Stanford nobody cares about what your SAT score was or whatever. Everyone’s talented but everyone knows admissions is a huge crapshoot and so many of us could just as easily have been rejected. It’s a huge honor to study here, and we all made it in for a reason. Going to Stanford is most definitely the best decision of my life and so I feel compelled to share how I feel. Truthfully, no amount of research will prepare you for what you’ll encounter once you get here - there are so many quirks and so so many surprises ahead. No words can express how amazing a Stanford experience is; anyway, everyone has such a different one. I bet you can tell that I LOVE Stanford. Best advice I’ve got: get pumped - you’re about to start the most amazing four years ever! And no they don’t pay me to say that. I personally can’t wait to see all your new faces around the Farm in the fall.</p>
<p>Anyway, keep the questions coming. Gives me something to do when I’m bored (:</p>
<p>What proportion of Stanford '14 students did campus visits prior to applying to the school, 99%, 90%, or?</p>
<p>i dont think there is any way for us to know. i think it was one of the questions in the admitted students survey so stanford admissions probably knows…but i don’t know if they will release any of that info</p>
<p>Thanks for all the answers! Does anyone happen to know what textbooks are used for the CME series and/or computer science classes?</p>
<p>Google stanford bookstore. If you search for the class, the books are already up for fall term</p>
<p>What if we don’t know what we are taking in the fall? I know one class but won’t know my IHUM and PWR assignments for awhile (especially because I am petitioning to take PWR in the fall). Will I have to buy my books from the bookstore in order to have them on time? I’m really on a budget.</p>
<p>What is Stanford’s printer paper policy?</p>
<p>I know this seems like a ■■■■■ question, but I’m being serious. Really. It’s related to an essay topic I’m thinking about writing and I don’t know where to find the answer to this question.</p>
<p>At Columbia for example, the tour guide explained how each student is allowed a several-hundred-something pages limit each semester for homework printing, etc. and the like. I don’t remember if that limit was given for free or for payment, and I don’t know if there was a pay-per-page option, over-page-limit fees, or whatever.</p>
<p>But yeah, does Stanford have something similar? If not, how does it work?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>EDIT: Sorry, I found what I was looking for. Please disregard this post completely.</p>
<p>Since you don’t sign up for classes until NSO you likely won’t know exactly what you’re taking until then. After you sign up you probably have a few days to get books before classes start. This should be enough time. Also, you probably don’t need to have the book for the first couple of class meetings, and if you do I’m sure you can borrow them from someone or use ones on reserve at the library until you get yours. Anyway, this is college, no ones gonna make you buy the book and punish you if you don’t or anything. Just do what you have to to get by.
For ihum you’ll probably have a bunch of reading books and/or a coursereader. I always bought ihum books along the way instead of all at once to make sure we were actually using them, but that’s just super frugal me. For pwr 1 I just had a course reader but some of them don’t even use books at all. Coursereaders are made by the professor and have to be bought at the bookstore and can range from reasonable to really expensive (one of my ihum ones was ~$200 …haha I never bought it; that’s more than I was willing to spend on ihum). They’re also generally one time use and can’t really be resold. If you’re on a budget I would recommend not buying from the bookstore unless you have to, because waiting a couple days won’t kill you. But if you need it ASAP bookstore is the way to go. Some people even go as far as to buy from the bookstore and return the books when theirs get shipped from online (although I wouldn’t condone this practice). Anyway the bookstore has like a 3 week book return window at the beginning of each quarter (for class shopping, etc).</p>
<p>How do I move to Stanford? I’m from Los Angeles and have quite a lot of stuff. I don’t think it’ll all fit into a van because I have to transport a bike up there too since I just bought one, but do rental cars even come with bike racks? </p>
<p>How did you move? What’s the best way to move? </p>
<p>Yes, I know I don’t have to bring my entire room with me, and I’m not - but it’s still a lot! And yes, my family will be driving in one vehicle.</p>
<p>What about if you have to fly in? I’m from the Midwest and I’ll probably be taking a plane. Is it difficult to move if you can’t drive in?</p>
<p>I’m flying from NJ to San Jose. </p>
<p>What I’m doing is bringing only what fits in my bag on the flight (clothes). I’m getting to the area 3 days early. Through bed, bath, and beyond, you can order everything in your own store, and it will be packaged and ready for you at the Mountain View store (10 mins from Stanford) to be picked up on the date you tell them. I told them Sept 13, the day before move-in. They also have a great system that if you no longer want something, you can just leave it at the store for no cost.</p>
<p>Some other things I am having shipped to an aunt who lives about half an hour away (still cheaper to UPS than to pay for extra baggage on the flight). </p>
<p>Also, for some stores, you can order things online to be shipped to the store closest, which I am doing for my bike. </p>
<p>This info probably doesn’t help if you have already bought tons of stuff…</p>
<p>Hey Ataraxia8,</p>
<p>I’ve always had to fly, and can’t really afford to buy all new stuff every time I switch locations so I’ve bought huge plastic tubs from target/wherever and put everything that I can’t easily bring on the plane in there. I taped them shut (really really well) and sent them through the post office to my Stanford PO Box. I’ve used FedEx once too, though that’s really expensive (~$140 for a tub). I’ve never had any problem with my stuff getting there and a single tub has never been over $45.</p>
<p>Shipping stuff can be expensive, but now that many airlines are charging something like $25 for each piece of checked luggage, it’s starting to sound good to just bring the stuff you really need on the flight out there, and ship the rest of your stuff to yourself right before you leave (so you arrive on campus before the packages do).</p>