<p>personality-wise? are they partiers, hardcore-studiers , athletic, democratic, liberal, conservative, republican, lots of people who rose out of poverty, what!? are they laid back, strict.. etc etc.</p>
<p>thank you very much in advance, i dont have enough money to visit colleges :(</p>
<p>They're diverse, so you're likely to meet all of those types. =p</p>
<p>they are the coolest ones around. the people at stanford are one of the reasons I chose stanford over princeton and harvard. they're really genuine, enthusiastic, and laid-back.</p>
<p>they're into the whole duck mentality...look that up perhaps</p>
<p>mercruz are you just saying that based on the college guide books' take on it or do you attend stanford? I'm just asking because I asked about the "duck mentality" idea when i visited and most of the kids laughed it off.</p>
<p>Stanford kids are all of the above... And more. Youll find every type of person you can imagine there</p>
<p>No, I actually wasn't aware that College Guide books talked about that. Although it does seem to be a fairly well-known, if only partially and only occasionally true statement (see Stanford article-I can't find the link, but there was an Op-ed piece in the paper a while back). However, Stanford is very laid-back in comparison to, perhaps, U Chicago in terms of in your face confrontation.</p>
<p>yes the duck thing. well, I find that a lot of people tend to be laid back while actually working their butts off, but the duck mentality makes it sound like we're trying to hide that fact just to make people think we're cool. I don't think everyone is deceitful about it or anything, so it's not perfect analogy. you can be working hard without being frantic. </p>
<p>and yes, we're very diverse. I was afraid coming into college that I would be a loner cuz I don't party, but instead I've met a ton of kids who like to have fun like me but not crazy. </p>
<p>to sum up, the kids are Stanford are basically awesome.</p>
<p>...not that I'm biased ;)</p>
<p>I also think the duck metaphor is a bit overstated. As bluephish said, it implies that people try to cover up how stressed out they are due to the social pressure to be "laid-back". What I've found among most people is that they stress out, but are able to set that aside when they want to have some fun.</p>
<p>Emphasis, of course, belongs on "most". You will find a few true ducks who feel socially pressured to stop stressing out. There are also a few hummingbirds (the opposite of ducks; they consistently overstate their stress).</p>
<p>You'll find Olympic athletes, walk-on athletes, award-winning researchers, preppy frat guys, stoners, nerds, geeks, musicians, gamers, liberals, conservatives, rappers, dancers, people of every religion you can imagine (including none), nice people, mean people (though fewer of those), crazy people who become the Tree, famous people, and people from every corner of the globe. And that was just in my freshman dorm.</p>
<p>of course of course, I agree. I don't think anyone is hiding their work to appear "cool." In fact, the hiding kinda makes you uncool a little even...</p>
<p>just a quick question, whats duck mentality? the closest thing i found on the internet was <em>lame duck</em>, i dont get it..</p>
<p>Justalilconfused, think about how a duck swims; if you watch it from above the water it appears to glide over the pond looking all relaxed and peaceful. But look at it from under the waterline and you can see that whenever it moves it's pumping its flippers around at high speed in an almost frantic way.</p>
<p>The duck mentality is the concept that some students study the way ducks swim; they try to hide the fact that they tear through their material in top gear by acting all cool and nonchalant about academics. You know; trying to downplay how much work they do to succeed in order to seem cooler.</p>
<p>I seriously doubt that the duck analogy was started because kids try to downplay their academic commitment. I mean come on. It's stanford. You did not get there by being the kid who held up his D- to the class in pride.</p>
<p>I think it has more to do with separation of academics and sociability. When its time to cut loose and party, they do it. Quite well. They don't tend to huddle up at parties just talking about lectures and professors (I'm looking right at you, Princeton...and even Columbia a bit) really embracing their downtime. However in classes and when they need to study they know how to buckle down.</p>
<p>The duck analogy basically translates to Stanford kids being GREAT time managers. With the trimester system, they have to be.</p>
<p>Here's a link to The Princeton Review that mentions the "duck analogy" regarding Stanford students. I think it's a cool attitude to have....ahem...unlike some of the students at the East coast Ivies...including Princeton!</p>