<p>Stanford is stunning but I heard there is little community there- more of a transient school-not as rah rah small town- please explain this if this is true thanks</p>
<p>Dunno--my brother loved his two years there--in the 70s. Not sure how it's changed since then. My friend's daughter loved it when she was there--graduated from there about 5 years ago. She said there were always things to do & folks to do it with & everyone there was really interesting (more interesting she thought than the folks she later met at UCLA law school). Neither my brother or this friend's daughter metioned it being a transient school--most students live on or near campus, I believe (that's what the tour guide told us as well).</p>
<p>but I heard there is little community there- more of a transient school-not as rah rah small town</p>
<p>really? IMO, Stanford has a very strong community feeling. BTW, it's known for having "the happiest students." </p>
<p>You just can feel it. Compare Stanford with let's say... MIT? Goodness gracious. In my feeling, MIT is much more of a Advanced Scientific Digital Fortress.</p>
<p>One of the reasons I want to apply to Stanford is because of that. Happy place, energetic and vibrant, close community, sunny (lol), etc.</p>
<p>Stanford is in the heart of Silicon Valley, with strip malls and 7-Elevens on every street corner. Though there are only 60,000 people in Palo Alto, there are 1.7 million people (and probably 3 million cars) in Santa</a> Clara County</p>
<p>Surrounded by Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Los Altos, Stanford is in an extremely affluent area, but has no real sense of neighborhood or community. People can be friendly, but are not close to each other in a small town, neighborly way.</p>
<p>Here is a news article of interest ... a different perspective!</p>
<p>Posted on Mon, Aug. 29, 2005</p>
<p>PALO ALTO'S PAST
Community built on achievement grew up around Stanford University campus</p>
<p>By Dan Stober
Mercury News</p>
<p>Palo Alto, a town of 60,000, was born from Stanford University -- midwifed by Leland Stanford himself -- and grew up to become the brains of Silicon Valley.</p>
<p>The influence of the university shines through in Palo Alto's museums, its arts center, its 33 parks, the city's leafy canopy of trees and its staunchly liberal politics.</p>
<p>On the other hand, the stratospheric cost of homes and the BMWs on every block speak to the power of high-tech stock options. Stanford professors built stately homes -- and now tech money pays for the bulldozers that knock them down with the regularity of sunrise.</p>
<p>But the professors and CEOs of Palo Alto are on the same wavelength when it comes to one thing: education. Palo Alto's public schools have a nationwide reputation for excellence (with an emphasis on math and science), a status that helps keep those real estate prices sky-high.</p>
<p>Gunn High School was recently named one of the top public high schools in the country by Newsweek, while crosstown rival Palo Alto High ranked high on a 2004 Wall Street Journal list of schools whose graduates are welcomed by the nation's most selective colleges.</p>
<p>Some say Silicon Valley was born in 1938 in the famous garage on Addison Avenue where David Packard and Bill Hewlett built the audio-oscillators they sold to Disney to use in the production of ``Fantasia.'' Today, HP is headquartered in Stanford Research Park, along with a host of other valley heavyweights.</p>
<p>But for centuries before there was a Palo Alto or an Internet bubble, the area was the home of the Ohlone. The demise of their civilization began with the arrival in 1769 of Spanish soldier Gaspar de Portol</p>
<p>"but has no real sense of neighborhood or community..."
"...but are not close to each other in a small town, neighborly way."</p>
<p>oh well that's sad.</p>
<p>kevster, you will be very happy at Stanford, but students probably won't feel a sense of community unless they get involved through service</a> projects or something like that. Find yourself a service</a> club or organization ... get involved in the community.</p>
<p>Nester's husband here. I went to Stanford in the 1970's. I'm not sure what you mean by transient or rah-rah small town, but there definitely was a sense of community on campus when I was there. (Even in the jaded 70's!) Although students did venture into Palo Alto and surrounding areas for pizza, movies, Jack-in-the-Box, etc. (make sure either you or your roomate has a car; is Zots still there?), most of the action was on campus which was the center of the community. Stanford is a community onto itself, separate from Palo Alto, with its own post office and zip code. For the most part, students opted to live on campus all four years (except for the unlucky few who could not survive the housing draw in those days) and I'm sure that's the same now. Although Stanford students pride themselves on appearing laid back (though no less academically serious), just go to any football game, basketball game, Band rally, or Sunday night movie at Mem Aud and school spirit will abound.</p>
<p>I've lived in Palo Alto for the last 7 years (I go to school in Berkeley now). Having attended high school right across the street from Stanford campus, I had quite a few friends who went to Stanford. As such, I visited campus quite often; I think I averaged about 2-3 visits a week...my tutor also happened to be a student there. From my 2 years of frequenting Stanford dorms and various campus areas, I must say that yes, Stanford does indeed have a deep community feeling. I mean, hell, they even have DORM pride. It seems like everybody's pretty comfortable with one another, and it's just a happy, happy, happy place (5 pts extra credit for those who get that reference).</p>
<p>Then again, along with such a close community feel inevitably comes the almost inescapable Bubble.</p>
<p>gsp silicon valley</p>
<p>yeah true, i know stanford students are very happy they are there and overall, they are happy. But i also expected there was the strong community feeling. Maybe people are just a little more independent?</p>
<p>I think within the school there is a sense of community, especially within student groups and within dorms (freshman dorms at least, I can't speak for those in 4-class dorms). Everyone in my dorm (more or less) is friendly and gets along well. If anyone in the dorm ever needs help, there's usually someone who can and will help them out. If you see someone in your dorm at a party and they've had a bit to drink, you look out for them. I think that there is also a lot of school pride both because of strong athletics and also because of Stanford's all-around awesomeness. It's hard (impossible?) to not love Stanford. I'd say the overall campus-wide sense of community is slightly less strong than, say, the sense of community in the dorm but I do think it still exists. </p>
<p>Random side note: I was actually really worried about the sense of community at Stanford. For a long time I thought I wanted to go to a small LAC (namely Swarthmore or possibly Amherst or Williams). I was pleasantly surprised to find that there is a strong sense of community here too.</p>