Current Student...ask Away

<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.
current_student is online now</p>

<p>is there much drinking/drugs at Stanford. I mean, how is the social atmosphere on campus in general?</p>

<p>hows the dating atmosphere in general?</p>

<p>is it a high pressure environment (gradewise)?</p>

<p>Well... I got a few for you.</p>

<p>a. Is working at Stanford hard-- I know we have to do 8 to 9 hours a week to help pay off loans but does it intrude on personal time?</p>

<p>b. How smart are the kids at Stanford. Are they overtly serious pricks (I am pretty sure they are not) or completely party hardy characters?</p>

<p>c. I did summer at Stanford and the food was mediocre (likely because of summer programs). How is the food for most of the year?</p>

<p>d. Intramurals, how big are they?</p>

<p>e. Here on the east coast, a lot of people don't really look up to Stanford as much as the HarvPrinceYale. From knowing peeps on the West, will a degree from the Farm take you as far as other places?</p>

<p>f. How are the internment oppurtunities?</p>

<p>g. Courses: mostly fun, or mostly drab?</p>

<p>h. Race mingling: I know its diverse, but do races stick to themselves or is there some "cross-polination?"</p>

<p>Answer if you want. I can wait 7 months if nec.</p>

<p>i have some questions about the dorm lottery, how does it work? i have no clue what the process is like and would like to learn about it</p>

<p>if its too long to describe, dont worry about it, but thanks in advance if u do</p>

<p>Basically, everyone is assigned a random number from 1 to N, where N is the number of students requesting housing through the lottery (basically all undergrads). Then you make a list of housing choices ranked by preference, and the assignments are made in order of lottery number.</p>

<p>ah, ic, thanks im_blue!</p>

<p>there are many who drink, and many who don't drink. i don't believe its a problem. of course you have people that throw up and stuff like that, but that'll happen everywhere. stanford is pretty lax on its alcohol policy. what i mean is it doensn't set out to shoot and kill those who drink underage. instead, they promote a "helping" environment. basically they tell you to help each other if one of you is drunk or passedout and get help without worrying about reprecussions.</p>

<p>^^^^i decided just to combine all the ?'s so ignore the above post. stupid 20 min limit on "edit post".</p>

<p>is there much drinking/drugs at Stanford. I mean, how is the social atmosphere on campus in general?
---there are many who drink, and many who don't drink. i don't believe its a problem. of course you have people that throw up and stuff like that, but that'll happen everywhere. stanford is pretty lax on its alcohol policy. what i mean is it doensn't set out to shoot and kill those who drink underage. instead, they promote a "helping" environment. basically they tell you to help each other if one of you is drunk or passedout and get help without worrying about reprecussions. socially, its very alive. always something to do, alcohol or no alcohol. it IS stanford. we aren't really the type to get drunk off our asses every night.</p>

<p>hows the dating atmosphere in general?
---if you want to, its def doable. of course, those are those who are conservative. look in the main Stanford forum under the thread of this same title and you can see what i put about the dating/sex scene. i'm too lazy to copy and paste.</p>

<p>is it a high pressure environment (gradewise)?
---i think most of the pressure comes from yourself. there isn't a lot of the cut throat atmosphere felt at those hoity toity easter universities. i think its all about how you personally approach school. i'd say 80% of the pressure come from the individual and their own standards and expectation for what they want. the rest is normal parent/don'tknowwhatiwanttodoinlife/collegeatmosphere pressure.</p>

<p>a. Is working at Stanford hard-- I know we have to do 8 to 9 hours a week to help pay off loans but does it intrude on personal time?
---well you'll have less time to do something else, like sports for instance. but it's definetely not a burden on social life or other things. i know lots of people that worked this past quarter and it never came between them and other commitments. job hours are lenient and school comes first. they'd call in b/c they had exams or tests and it was ok.</p>

<p>b. How smart are the kids at Stanford. Are they overtly serious pricks (I am pretty sure they are not) or completely party hardy characters?
---you have it all. there are some pricks, though not many. most are pretty normal kids. there are some crazy genius's, but not everyone knows everything. i've met people that are in junior math courses as freshmen, and i've met people that don't know what oxidation numbers are. that doesn't mean one is einstein and one is an idiot. everyone has something they excell in some way or another. but overall, yeah, people are smart. above average, but not intimidating or daunting for the most part. trust me.</p>

<p>c. I did summer at Stanford and the food was mediocre (likely because of summer programs). How is the food for most of the year?
---i talked about this in the thread with this same title in the main Stanford forum. excuse my laziness.</p>

<p>d. Intramurals, how big are they?
---depends on your dorm, and how involved you want to be. usually, frosh dorms are pretty into it. basketball is pretty big. dodgeball, frisbee, and touch football were this past quarter. it's def fun and a lot of people like to play. so it's big for intramural. to give you an idea, i believe there are 3 divisions for intramural basketball (2 for sure). div 1 is basically varsity rejects and varsity athletes from other sports out season during winter quarter ie football players.</p>

<p>e. Here on the east coast, a lot of people don't really look up to Stanford as much as the HarvPrinceYale. From knowing peeps on the West, will a degree from the Farm take you as far as other places?
---well, i'm only a freshman, but everyone out here knows stanfords pretty freakin good. so in cali, i would say its as good, if not better, than a hahvahd or other stick up thier you know where school.</p>

<p>f. How are the internment oppurtunities?
---really good. i get like 38428430 emails about oppurtunities and i know a lot of people who have done them.</p>

<p>g. Courses: mostly fun, or mostly drab?
---IHUM and PWR suck. i'm a techie though. but courses you are forced to take suck no matter what. of course, class you are interested in are awesome. IntroSems (introductory seminars) are fun. you apply to the ones you want and its a small class taught on specific subjects. heres more info <a href="http://fsp.stanford.edu/forStudents/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://fsp.stanford.edu/forStudents/index.html&lt;/a> overall, GER (general ed req) are a ball/boob buster if you don't like that particular subject. an english major is probably not going to like finishing the math req. but overall, courses can be bearable at the least if you get a good prof and gread TF/TA. I hated my IHUM but my TF was awesome, so i didn't mind the course. always make sure to get a great TA/TF for all your courses.</p>

<p>h. Race mingling: I know its diverse, but do races stick to themselves or is there some "cross-polination?"
---def diverse. a lot of race socials and race specific activities, but that's just the usual pride and educational side to it. races mix in classes, sports, everything. if i had to pick one race that sticks pretty closely to itself, i'd say the black community. but even then, it's no where near exclusive or anything. stanford is really diverse and any race congregation or specific group you see is too plan some sort of event where all are invited to learn and experience new things. no discrimination. if there is any, its an individual, not a group. </p>

<p>i have some questions about the dorm lottery, how does it work? i have no clue what the process is like and would like to learn about it.
---what im_blue said. but don't worry about it until the end of your frosh year. you should make friends to draw with first, unless you're a loner, which usually doesn't end up being the case.</p>

<p>Hi, I got some questions too</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Is it possible to double major in one of the fields in BS and one of the fields in BA? How hard would that be? I'm thinking of double majoring in economics and computer science.</p></li>
<li><p>Can you pleaes explain what Management Science and Engineering degree is? I looked it up on Stanford's website but couldn't really find much info on that.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Thx in advance!</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Possible, but you need to complete both major requirements without any course overlap to get the BAS (Bachelor of Arts and Sciences), which is difficult to do in 4 years even with AP credit, since Stanford has been reducing the list of eligible AP exams the last couple of years. Since 180 units are required to graduate, and Economics requires 75 units while CS requires around 100 units, you can see why it's pretty difficult.</p></li>
<li><p>Management Science & Engineering is basically called Industrial Engineering at other schools. Some people call the MS degree in MS&E the poor man's MBA. A lot of people go into investment banking and consulting jobs after getting their BS or MS. It's pretty well-known among Engineering majors that MS&E classes are an easy way to boost your technical GPA.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I'm sorry. But I'm kinda not so smart.</p>

<p>What's the difference between getting a BAS and getting a dual bachelor's degrees (BA and BS)?</p>

<p>From the student handbook</p>

<p>BAS</p>

<p>The bachelor of arts and science (B.A.S.) is awarded to
those who complete the requirements for an undergraduate
degree and fulfill the requirements for two majors, one leading
to a B.A. degree and one leading to a B.S. degree; e.g.,
economics and civil engineering, international relations and
geophysics.
You’ll have to complete a minimum of 180 units of
University work that includes the General Education, writing,
and language requirements. A minimum of 135 units
must be taken at Stanford. Curricular requirements for at
least one undergraduate major must also be fulfilled.</p>

<hr>

<p>Dual Bachelor's Degrees</p>

<p>You may work concurrently toward both a B.A. and a B.S.
degree. To qualify, you’ll have to complete a minimum of
225 units of University work that includes the General
Education, writing, and language requirements. A minimum
of 180 units must be taken at Stanford. Curricular requirements
for both majors (one leading to a bachelor of arts
degree and the other to a bachelor of science degree) must
also be fulfilled.</p>

<p>1) BAS (one diploma, two majors): You get one diploma that says "Bachelor of Arts and Science in Computer Science and Economics" and need to complete 180 units (4 years).</p>

<p>2) Dual bachelor's degrees (two diplomas, two majors): You get two diplomas that say "Bachelor of Science in Computer Science" and "Bachelor of Arts in Economics" and need to complete 225 units (5 years).</p>

<p>3) Secondary major (one diploma, one major, transcript notes 2nd): You choose one of the diplomas from option (2), but your transcript will note that you completed the course requirements for a second major.</p>

<p>The first two options are available if your two majors are a BA and a BS, and they require you to complete both major requirements with no overlap. If this is not possible, or if both your majors are BA or BS, then the third option is available. Most colleges offer the dual degree and secondary major options, but Stanford also offers the BAS option, which is sort of in the middle. In the grand scheme of things, the difference between the 3 options is pretty insignificant as far as employers and grad schools are concerned.</p>

<p>icic.
Thx for your response!
so from my understanding, getting a dual bachelor's degrees isn't really more beneficial than getting only a BAS right?</p>

<p>"hows the dating atmosphere in general?"
dating doesn't really seem to happen.... hooking up and long term relationships happen a lot, but somehow dating never does. exactly how people go from friends/hooking up to being in a 3 year relationship is a great mystery to me still</p>

<p>"I did summer at Stanford and the food was mediocre (likely because of summer programs). How is the food for most of the year?"
FloMo is about the same, Wilbur is MUCH better during the academic year</p>

<p>"Courses: mostly fun, or mostly drab?"
It depends if you can find classes that interest you. A lot of people hate PWR and IHUM, but I think it's possible to find PWR and IHUM classes that interest you. In IHUM the TF really does make all the difference, and next quarter we'll see if I can enjoy PWR. I thought my math and physics classes were fun (potential physics major) so I suppose a lot of it is your attitude. There are plenty of really awesome classes, and you have a couple of weeks that you can shop for which classes you want to take and you have several weeks after that to drop any classes that you just don't enjoy.</p>

<p>Is the greek life big on campus? Does stanford give a lot of time off for vacation (how long do you get off for winter break, thanksgiving, etc.)? How does the quarter system work and do you like it? Do people EVER go to palo alto and what for? How are the research opportunities?</p>

<p>
[quote]
so from my understanding, getting a dual bachelor's degrees isn't really more beneficial than getting only a BAS right?

[/quote]

Right, it's not worth the extra 45 units just to get two degrees, because employers and grad schools will count it like any other double major.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Does stanford give a lot of time off for vacation (how long do you get off for winter break, thanksgiving, etc.)? How does the quarter system work and do you like it?

[/quote]

Thanksgiving and spring break are 1 week each, winter break is 3 weeks, and summer is 14 weeks. Each quarter is 10 weeks of classes and a finals week, while semesters at other schools are 15-16 weeks of classes and a finals week. My undergrad was on the semester system, and I prefer the quarter system a lot more. It's much easier to slack off and cram for the final (believe me, everyone will end up doing this) on the quarter system, you get to take a wider variety of interesting classes, and the projects aren't as long. The downside, especially for freshmen, is that all your high school friends will start college a month earlier than you and they'll get out for the summer earlier, which sucks when the weather is nice like at Stanford.</p>

<p>How many quarters are there in the academic year? Three?</p>

<p>is there wireless internet in the dorm rooms at stanford? if so, does stanford use 802.11g routers?</p>

<p>
[quote]
How many quarters are there in the academic year? Three?

[/quote]

Three quarters in the academic year and a summer quarter.</p>

<p>
[quote]
is there wireless internet in the dorm rooms at stanford? if so, does stanford use 802.11g routers?

[/quote]

Most dorm rooms and academic buildings have wireless internet, which is compatible with 802.11b and 802.11g. More info here:
<a href="http://www.stanford.edu/services/wirelessnet/faq.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.stanford.edu/services/wirelessnet/faq.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>