My kid got in as REA and was going to attend Stanford in September of 2017 but was offered a great opportunity to study a language and another culture abroad for one year and took a gap year, so is scheduled to attend Stanford (got nowhere else to go) as a freshman in September 2018. I would like to hear from students and parents of the students who took gap year after getting in about how was their experience at Stanford, arriving there one year later older and wiser (hopefully)? Is there a group for students who took gap year at Stanford? I was particularly curious about whether there was (or felt) a disconnect from other freshmen who are generally one year younger and coming to Stanford directly from high schools, and whether it would be better to stay at an all freshmen dorm or at a dorm with both freshmen and sophomores. Thanks in advance.
My D. is in a 4-class dorm in East Flo Mo and loving it. One of the 3 dorms on that side is a freshman dorm that tends to have a lot of loud parties. She’s glad she didn’t end up in an all-frosh dorm. Despite not being in a freshman dorm, there is a tight-knit freshman group that has formed.
Depending on what your son is interested in and where on campus your son would like to be living, FroSoCo might be a good option, as would one of the language / culture / ethnic theme houses (there are the only theme houses open to freshman). The interesting thing about the ethnic and racial theme houses is that – by design – only 50 percent of their residents belong to that ethnic/racial group (and they are all 4-class).
Yes, it might be a good idea to stay at a Mandarin or Spanish language/culture theme house if there is one. Thanks for ideas.