Current Student...ask Away

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
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<p>ok, so i'm sure you guys have random questions to ask about stanford. shoot away. but please don't ask "will i get in with this gpa?" and don't ask me to read your essays. honestly, it's a waste of my time and yours b/c i'm no adcom or english major. anything else is fine. stats and essays just annoy me. essay ideas are ok though. and general stats are fine. and by general i mean GENERAL. short and sweet, that's how i like it.</p>

<p>if you are too embarrased to ask in this thread or it's more specific to you than anyone else, just pm me. dorms, food, weather, courses, dating scene....whatever, feel free to ask.</p>

<p>and this isn't a joke. i just used to come here before and felt bad not helping you panicked seniors...or juniors...or god forbid sophomores. any freshman here and that's just downright wrong. </p>

<p>anyway, i'm here at your disposal. won't promise i'll answer at lightning speed, but i'll try. afterall, i am at stanford. i got things to see and people to do...switch that.</p>

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<p>How good are the Sociology and History programs? Also, how engaging is the intelletual climate at Stanford?</p>

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<p>Why did you choose Stanford? Are you happy with your decision? What are Stanford's biggest problems? How is the food? How are the dorms? What is SLE? How are the IHUM classes? How are the parties? Is there close interaction with professors? How are the professors? Is there grade inflation (how easy is it to get an A?)? Does everyone have a bike? </p>

<p>Thanks! (Lots of questions I know!)</p>

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<p>how easy is it to get laid?</p>

5

<p>omg. are you a whore?</p>

6

<p>If you're familiar with the Cowell houses and/or Wilbur Hall, how does the rest of the campus dorms/dining halls stack up?</p>

<p>While at EPGY this past summer I stayed in Terra and ate at Wilbur Hall, so that's why I'm interested.</p>

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<p>omg! i was @ EPGY this summer too! But i stayed @ the coolest house in cowell...theta!</p>

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<p>the food at stanford is hella good. i mean, it's on and off, but for the most part i like it (I live in stern...). apparently some dorms have better food than others, but it all tastes the same to me... I dunno, i dont really pay that much attention to food.</p>

<p>stanford is tight. i love it.</p>

9

<p>woah, i guessed i asked for it....</p>

<p>How good are the Sociology and History programs? Also, how engaging is the intelletual climate at Stanford?
--honestly, i have no clue. i'm personally not that interested in either, but i have heard some good things about the history dept. but i don't have that much insight as far as those to subjects go. sorry.</p>

<p>Why did you choose Stanford?
--loaded question. academics, athletics, location, weather, cali, overall atmosphere seemed inviting yet challenging. i don't know, it just fit. </p>

<p>Are you happy with your decision?
--very</p>

<p>What are Stanford's biggest problems?
--not many. there are issues with the workers and pay, ya know, the usual. as far as academics, none. and housing, none. i'd say there is some lack of straight up school spirit. don't get me wrong, there is A LOT of school spirit and quarkiness, but it's not solid solid like public school, which is understandable. whatever, i like sports which is why i bring that up.</p>

<p>How is the food?
--depends where you go. Florence Moore (FloMo) sucks. Stern is not the best, but its eatable. Wilbur is pretty good. Lagunita is the best. I haven't tried Manzanita but i hear its good. There are also places you can use your cardinal dollars, which are dollars you get depending on what meal plan you get. theres a 10 meal/wk, 14, and 19. i had the 14 meal/wk with 155ish cardinal dollars, and that was more than enough for me. but the food is good overall and accomadates everyone. there's mostly mexican, asian, italian, american, and some meditterranean food at the dining hall. </p>

<p>How are the dorms?
um, ok i guess. branner-all frosh triples, small rooms. wilbur and stern-big room doubles. flomo-big room doubles. frosoco-normal room doubles...but its the away from everything. lagunita-small room doubles, but the only rooms with a sink and mirror in each room, which is pretty sweet. there are other dorms, but i forgot them right now. </p>

<p>What is SLE?
--its for crackheads. but really, its just this intense program focused on humanities growth blah blah blah. it's rigorous, you live with your classmates, and don't have a life, or so i hear. you live in east FloMo, um, can't think of what else is interesting about it. honestly, i doubt its THAT bad, but i sure as hell wouldn't do it. here's more info <a href="http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/areaone/14des.shtml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/areaone/14des.shtml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>How are the IHUM classes?
--the consensus is they are all pretty boring and useless. it's a bunch of humanities BS. if you're into that, great. if not, eh. i can say that overall they aren't hard. but they are annoying. its something everyone has to do, so of course the gut reaction of freshman is to ***** about it, which is what we do. you are going to have to rank them next summer if you decide to go to The Farm, so just let me know if you have questions about specific ones. it's easy to petition to change them, so don't worry.</p>

<p>How are the parties?
--eh, not the best i've been too. you can definitely have fun, but not all the parties are great. there are enough to keep you entertained, and of course theres alcohol. so if you know someone or want to drink, it's not that hard. there are also a ton of social and random dorm "get togethers". stanford is very lax with alcohol rules, but in a good way. they expect you to be responsible and not get wasted every night. but overall, the parties are partyable.</p>

<p>there close interaction with professors?
--if you want. it's really easy to get to know your prof if you go to office hours and talk to them. 95% of the ones i've met or heard of are pretty approachable.</p>

<p>How are the professors?
--um, knowledgable and nice for the most part.</p>

<p>Is there grade inflation (how easy is it to get an A?)?
--no much. and it's not "easy" to get an A. you have to earn it.</p>

<p>Does everyone have a bike?
--yeah, pretty much. i know one person who doesn't have a bike. but besides that person, everyone has a bike. there are also several longboards and a scooter here and there. </p>

<p>how easy is it to get laid?
--well, if you are layable, then i'm sure its pretty manageable. i remember an article during admit weekend about sex. it said that 50% of stanford students are virgins/abstinent b/c they choose to, religion, and other such reasons. so given, more intellectual people and a smaller community is perhaps going to have less sexual activity than U of Colorado, but there are still those willing and wanting.</p>

<p>omg. are you a whore?
--doubt this questions was aimed at me, but i'll answer anyway. no, i'm not a whore.</p>

<p>If you're familiar with the Cowell houses and/or Wilbur Hall, how does the rest of the campus dorms/dining halls stack up?
--don't know cowell, but wilbur is ok. has good spirit, and decent sized rooms. lots of freshmen, and ok dining hall. ugly and plain on the outside though. not a bad place to live i don't think. right next to stern. branner and lagunita have the prettiest buildings. branner is like a hotel, and lag is spanish antiqueish. if i had to rank overall, i'd say the best place to live is...
1.lagunita
2.wilbur
3.stern
4.branner
5.flomo
6.frosoco (freshman sophomor college)
oh yeah, and i forgot roble. i'd put them between with wilbur and stern. they eat at lagunita.</p>

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<p>"Also, how engaging is the intelletual climate at Stanford?"
You won't find a lot of intellectual discussions over dinner here. If you are looking for a stereotypical intellectual environment, this may not be the place. You can find people to have intellectual discussions with, but it will probably take some effort. </p>

<p>Why did you choose Stanford?
Good socially, happy students, strong overall academics, strong math, strong physics... I visited last spring and just fell in love with the place</p>

<p>Are you happy with your decision?
very!</p>

<p>What are Stanford's biggest problems?
1) advising here isn't that helpful... at least I have yet to receive any grade advice from any advisor of mine, then again I have yet to ask any questions that would lend themselves to helpful answers. I think advising everywhere is probably less than great because it's difficult for your advisor to know your needs right away (when you probably need advising the most your frosh year). I hear it gets much better when you choose a major and get a new advisor in that major.
2) Dining hours are weird, breakfast and dinner close late, you learn to live with it
3) It is pretty hard to get off campus. If you like going to the city a lot, this might not be the place for you. While you <em>could</em> go to san fran every weekend in theory, almost everyone stays on campus. The stuff off campus is pretty expensive and it takes about an hour by Caltrain to get to san fran, longer to actually get to you final destination.
4) Cardinal dollars don't work at jamba juice, the treehouse, the cafe in packard, or the cafe in the math department. Why can't I use my points at the places on campus I'd most want to use them?
5) The dating scene is kinda nonexistent. You are either in a long term relationship or single.
6) This is at once the best and worst part of Stanford: in all likelihood, you will no longer be special. There will be smarter more talented people all around you. While it's great to be around such amazing people all day, it's easy to forget that Stanford is an unusual place. The hardest part of getting used to college life for me was accepting that in some classes I would be below average. In some ways my identity in high school was closely tied to being a very strong student, so I had to adjust to the fact that I am now average. </p>

<p>How are the IHUM classes?
My IHUM section was awesome, but I often felt that I didn't get anything out of lectures. Some of the reading was pretty bizarre, including Ballard's Crash (it is a book about a guy who is turned on by car crashes... probably almost qualifies as adult fiction). I think it depends a lot on 1) if you like the readings and 2) if you like your section.</p>

<p>Is there close interaction with professors? How are the professors?
There isn't too much close interaction with profs for frosh, with the exception of intro seminars and pwr. If you want to talk to the prof all profs have office hours so you can take the initiative to get to know your profs. There's also a faculty dinner at each dining hall once a quarter where you can invite a prof and get to know them in a less academic setting. My profs first quarter were pretty good. I really liked my math and physics profs, was less crazy about my IHUM profs (couldn't always figure out how what they were saying was relevant to the texts, some of it was kinda out there). We have a shopping period so you can choose which classes to take and decide which profs you like. You can drop classes pretty late into the quarter which is nice. </p>

<p>Is there grade inflation (how easy is it to get an A?)?
I think there is some. I wouldn't say it's easy to get an A though. In IHUM first quarter you will probably get Bs on all your papers, but might end up with an A- in the end. My math class I'd say had some grade inflation and my physics class (60 series) had a lot... then again everyone in 60 series could probably get As in 40 series without too much effort so in some ways it's kinda necessary that they don't punish us for taking a harder class.</p>

<p>how easy is it to get laid?
Actually, one of my friend complains that this is too difficult. If you're female and at any college and just want a one night thing it's pretty easy, there will be <em>some</em> willing guy. If you're a guy it's more difficult. Someone was selling shot glasses that had lines that said something like (from bottom to top) finals, housing draw, trying to get action on a friday night. </p>

<p>Wilbur hall during the summer is supposed to be pretty bad. I went to SUMaC and was talking to the head of SUMaC at my dorm's faculty night and he was saying how during the summer wilbur is pretty bad (geared towards younger students) and FloMo was much better. FloMo is a bit better during the year and I would guess that Wilbur is much, much better. Wilbur has pretty good food with a lot of variety which is good. </p>

<p>With the food, I remember hearing bad things about lagunita. I ate there for admit weekend and wasn't blown away at all by the food. I'd rank the dorms differently:
1) Branner- all frosh, good location, lots of space, nice rooms, several nearby meal options
2) Wilbur- several all frosh dorms, good location, good dining hall, reasonably large rooms
3) Stern- several all frosh dorms, good location, ok dining hall (near several others though), reasonably large rooms
4) frosoco- supposedly really good food, two room doubles, supposedly larger rooms, far from everything (given the distance I've actually only been there once...) oh, plus random bbqs every so often and random extra perks
5) lagunita- small rooms, ok food, far from everything
6) flomo- not crazy about their food, contains SLE--> some social stigma, although very close to the row
I've never been to roble, so I don't know how that fits in
I STRONGLY recommend all frosh dorms. There isn't really as big of a difference between four class and all frosh as people seem to think. There are still plenty of people in all frosh dorms who study all the time and plenty in four class dorms who party a lot. All frosh dorms do tend to have more dorm spirit, you are with a bunch of people who are going through the same thing at the same time, and are just a fun place to be. You can still get advice from your dorm staff or upperclassmen you meet in various clubs and activities. It can be loud at times, but usually only on the weekends and if someone down the hall is being loud and you need to go to sleep you can just politely ask them to keep it down and they will. Four class dorms are probably a bit quieter, but there are still plenty of social people there, plus they are allowed to have alcohol at dorm parties so in theory their parties could be wilder than all frosh dorm parties (then again with all frosh parties people just usually drink away from the lounge). Everyone seems pretty happy with where they end up living so in the end it probably doesn't really matter.</p>

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<p>I keep hearing Stanford takes more emphasis on essays than other schools? To what extent is this true? Also, are there anything else that is unique/special to Stanford's Admission process (like the one I just mentioned)</p>

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<p>I would say it's pretty true. Adcoms really stressed it at the orientations i went to before i applied and their essays ARE completely different from other colleges, which shows how they want to here something new and more specific to you. and i know that my grades, GPA, and SAT weren't really what got me in. i mean they weren't bad, but it's not like theres a lack of students applying with a 4.0+ GPA, AP's, and high SAT score.</p>

<p>so yeah, essays are definitely important. fo sho. lets see...they also calculate a completely new GPA for you. they take your transcript, they forget about useless class like home ec, pe, typing, and then calculate a new GPA, which is completely unweighted. of course, they take into account whether your calc class was ab, bc, or honors, but it doesn't directly affect your new GPA.</p>

<p>i'm sure they also look for specific things that make the student interesting, but i'm not an adcom so i can't tell you exactly what those things are. stanford admission is known for being more random than other top schools, so there you go.</p>

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<p>what are the classes like? discussion/straight lecture? what's the size? do you pick your own roomate?</p>

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<p>um, depends what class you are talking about.</p>

<p>if you have a class that has lecture, then you'll have a section you are assingned to go to. for math classes and chem, lecture 50 min and section is 50 min. section is sometimes required, but not always, but it helps a lot to go because you work on homework problems or labs and you get to ask questions. your Intro to Humanities (the infamous IHUM) is 50 min lecture and 90 min section. lectures to a lot of intro classes range from 100-200ish, like chem 31A/B or 31X. section is usually like 30 for non-mandatory math sections. any mandatory sections, ie ones you are actually assigned to, are 15 or less. your Program in Writing and Rhetoric (the infamous PWR) is and 1hr and 50 min class that meets twice a week and has no section.</p>

<p>of course, these are classes i have experienced as a freshman. as you go on and take more specific classes, the size decreases substantially.</p>

<p>and no, you don't get to pick your roommate. you don't even get to know who they are until the day you arrive on campus a week before classes start. it's a stanford trademark, and for me, it's a plus. it takes stress away from trying to get to know your roomate before you arrive and also allows you to have an open mind when you meet them. some people say "oh but what about planning what to bring?" just don't bring it and you can both collaborate when you meet. less to pack.</p>

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<p>What's a typical day like for you?</p>

<p>Is there plenty of free time to do stuff like working out, playing ping pong with your friends, playin ultimate frisbee outside, etc. on a daily basis?</p>

<p>Social aspects of a school are also very important to me.</p>

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<p>typical typical, like a tuesday or something? hmmm...get up at 1030 (not a morning person), go to 11am class, eat lunch with people, go to class til 205, then go to practice, do some work, then eat dinner, then chill and do whatever with some work involved in lapses.</p>

<p>theres def a lot of free time. well, i take that back. there are people that say there isn't any free time, and they don't even get involved with serious clubs or sports. they are just extreme overachievers with no life except studying. but honestly, there's ALWAYS something to do, whether its just playing pool, or going to an acappella concert, or a party, or random crap. people are pretty active, and a lot of people play frisbee. i personally haven't tried "ultimate" as the nerds call it :p</p>

<p>but yeah, its pretty relaxed as long as you remember to DO WORK sometimed during the day.</p>

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<p>interesting lifestyle.</p>

<p>how many classes are you taking? is it fairly rigorous? are kids anal about grades?</p>

<p>sorry for bombarding you with questions. better first-hand than speculation.</p>

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<p>would u say its worth the extra money it costs to go there over say paying substanitally less to go to berkely</p>

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<p>i was taking 3 classes. it wasn't too bad. there are definitely kids that are anal about grades. some kids actually believe failing is a B. some had never gotten a C on anything and freaked out when they got on on a paper.</p>

<p>is it worth the extra money? well, i never considered berkeley. i've visited, and it seems nice, but not somewhere i'd want to go to school. if you like, however, that's a different story. you should look at the major your interested and see what each school can offer. just see which one you like more. if they are both really = in your mind, then i wuld say just pick the cheaper one. but honestly, berkeley is SO big compared to stanford and pretty different in terms of everyday lifestyle, that i would say you'd have to visit both schools and decide for yourself.</p>

<p>i personally think it was worth it for me. i had to pick between other state schools that would have been much much cheaper, and i picked my dream school.</p>

<p>berkeley IS for stanford rejects, so thats another thing to consider :)</p>

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<p>god i hate morning classes.</p>