Considering SLE

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
1

<p>Questions here for SLE alums (signed up; having second thoughts):</p>

<p>Would SLE be a rewarding experience for someone who had read many (Odyssey, Inferno, Republic, Politics, Marx, Rousseau, Sartre etc.) but not all (Aeneid, Bible, Decameron) of the major works on the syllabus in high school courses? I've been lucky to take survey courses in Western political philosophy, Existentialism, and European history and literature that together covered about 50% of the SLE syllabus. As a prospective humanities undergrad, I'm wondering whether I might prefer to take more specialized intro sequences within specific subject areas (e.g., the literary history and history of philosophy sequences). However, I do like the ideas of living with peers who want to talk about ideas over dinner, and, of course, of filling in the gaps in my knowledge. Based on your experience in SLE, what do you recommend?</p>

<p>Other, related questions:
How helpful is the SLE writing tutor? Would I have access to the same level of feedback outside of the program?
How much weekend time does SLE take up?</p>

<p>Sorry this post was a bit lengthy. Thank you very much!</p>

2

<p>Since no SLE alums have actually responded, I’ll do my best. Just finished my freshman year at Stanford and I know several SLE students, some who loved it, a few who hated it.</p>

<p>SLE takes a great deal of time. There’s no way to put this lightly, it will dominate your time, and make scheduling difficult for other classes. You may be better off just taking specialized sequences. The SLE writing tutor is probably very helpful, but there are absolutely plenty of resources available otherwise, should you choose to seek them out.</p>

<p>As for living with like-minded peers, that is a huge benefit of SLE, and I don’t know if you’d even have time to change your housing preferences at this point in the summer. If you were to change your preferences, I think the freshman dorm experience is so comprehensive, builds community so well and fits every type of student that you wouldn’t regret it. That said, if you end up in FloMo and aren’t in SLE, you’ll still meet SLE kids, and have that kind of community, you just might have to try a bit harder to find social events, FloMo isn’t known as a social hub.</p>