<p>Stanford is clearly an incredible school with an amazing campus and endless academic opportunities. My only questions involve the the social life...</p>
<p>1) How boring is Palo Alto? I've heard there is literally nothing more than a few restaurants...hence "The Stanford Bubble" </p>
<p>2) Even if Palo Alto is boring, does the campus life make up for it? No one who goes to Stanford expects to find insane parties every night like at big state schools....but are there enough PARTY options on the weekends? Just looking for a typical college experience which does include some partying. My idea of fun on the weekends is not watching TV in my dorm with friends.</p>
<p>3) How much does the social life center around the football games? Do must students go?</p>
<p>4) Do the athletes segregate themselves socially?</p>
<p>The train to SF is RIGHT THERE. If you can’t find fun in SF you should request a pulse check. Make friends with the upper classes/grad students, they rent houses as a group, usually cool Eichler, and throw terrific parties with live bands.
3) 50/50, it’s a big campus, a lot of students prefer soccer games
4) Not on purpose, but they have a different schedule and room together</p>
<p>1) No one really hangs out in Palo Alto cause there’s enough going on on-campus. Plus, it’s mostly restaurants and retail shops in PA so not a whole lot going on either. But it is a nice thing to have directly off campus when you want some good food. </p>
<p>2) Campus life is what creates the Stanford Bubble. There’s so much going on on-campus that there’s no need to go off besides for big events like concerts and such. (which often happen on-campus too, lol.) I think a lot of people underestimate the party scene at Stanford. Sure it’s not a party school necessarily, but there are always parties on Fridays and Saturdays. (Usually Thursday-Sunday during the first few weeks of the quarter). If you want to drink/smoke nearly every day of the week there are groups of friends that do that too. Only thing is that since everyone is here because they’re good students, if people have a lot of work to do, less people will be going out. (Particularly during dead week and finals week.)</p>
<p>3) Since our football program has been really establishing itself lately (3 BCS bowls in a row!!) more and more students are going to games, but it doesn’t control social life. If you don’t like football, there are a number of students who ignore it completely. Plus football is only fall quarter, so the majority of the year people aren’t thinking about it much. </p>
<p>4) During freshman year athletes live with everyone else and have the opportunity to be integrated, but just like other student groups, athletes tend to segregate themselves a little bit since they make really strong friends in their sport. However, athletes don’t exclude non-athletes. For example, I’m not an athlete and a good amount of my friends are.</p>
<p>1) There is a Stanford Bubble, but it’s not because of Palo Alto. There is so much to do on campus that there’s very little need to leave campus. With that said, I try to get off campus once every week or two. I’ll often take a zip car with friends to Mountain View to get some food and boba, or I’ll bike to Palo Alto mid-day and walk around and shop. Beyond the immediate Stanford area, San Francisco is literally 30 minutes away by the baby bullet on Caltrain and there’s nothing stopping students from going there. Stanford is anything but boring–I had similar concerns before attending, and I’m surprised by how occupied I am. I wish I had the time to do nothing and be bored.</p>
<p>2) I think I answered this with Number One. Campus life is intensely occupying and very fun. There are plenty of party options, on both weekdays and weekends. Dorms often drink very frequently and blast music. Frats are usually open on weekends in addition to dorm parties. I will guarantee that you’ll have a typical college experience–there’s plenty of partying at Stanford (perhaps too much when you’re trying to study :p). And don’t worry about watching TV in a dorm with friends on the weekend…I literally haven’t watched TV on campus ever, except in the dining halls. </p>
<p>3) Social life doesn’t center on football games at all. Whether you go or don’t go, it doesn’t really matter. Games are free for students, though, so it’s a fun thing to do. Most people party and drink before and after, though, so it creates parties. It is not crucial to the social life though…at all. It’s only a factor in fall quarter.</p>
<p>4) No, I don’t think so. While athletes definitely hang out with each other, they are as part of their dorms as any other student. They often throw the parties in the dorms, to be honest. Some segregation is natural, but it’s certainly not exclusive. </p>
<p>Come to Stanford, trust me, it’s anything but boring lol.</p>
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<li><p>Palo Alto is awesome for going on dates. Plenty of restaurants to choose from. Palo Alto gets better after you turn 21 because then you can start going to bars where there are a nice amount of. You aren’t going to SF every week either and I dont know anyone who did. SF is only really an option on the weekends and most times people need to study and do work on the weekends so SF is usually reserved for breaks and summers.</p></li>
<li><p>Social life as an undergrad revolves around campus. The party scene isnt great. If you want to party every weekend you easily can. If you don’t want to party you easily can. I partied a fair amount at Stanford and the biggest negative is that since Stanford is small you end up seeing some of the same people out every week. For the most part you can easily meet and find the people who want to party and there are usually things going on Friday and Saturday and sometimes Thursdays. If you are Frat more often than that.</p></li>
<li><p>Similar to the partying. If you want to go to football games you can easily go with plenty of people, if you dont then there are people to hang out with who dont like to go. Stanford doesnt have a big football scene like you find at SEC/ BIG 10/12 schools. I’m an avid football fan and I find it good enough. You’ll find the people who are passionate and who will tailgate and want to travel to road games and that ends up being enough.</p></li>
<li><p>After freshmen year, athletes tend to end up living together because they spend so much time together but you will know athletes if you are social. You will meet them at parties, in the dining halls, in classes. I was friends with plenty of them and would hang out with them all the time. Only slightly less in-season because their sport became their life then.</p></li>
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