@Merovingian the current thread is about how Stanford is different from its east coast counterparts. The point I was trying to make is that it is in reality no more laid back than its east coast counterparts. The second point is that Stanford is less diverse than its east coast counterparts. When I looked at the statistics I was frankly quite surprised there are so few Mexicans/Chicanos especially considering it was in California. The male to female ratio is also slightly worse for Stanford than its counterparts
The third point is Stanford has an upscale shopping mall complete with Nieman Marcus and Beverly Hills type stores on property. Harvard Yale and MIT have nothing remotely comparable to that. The fourth point is Stanford considering all of the above plus its fraternities and athletes tends to be more Bro centric than its east coast counterparts
"The third point is Stanford has an upscale shopping mall complete with Nieman Marcus and Beverly Hills type stores on property. "
this is utter nonsense. In the first place the shopping mall is on the periphery of Stanford’s lands- Its’ more than 1 mile from the academic center of the university. And the land it it sits on its leased from Stanford by the mall operator. The only academic buildings remotely close to it are the Hospitals and Medical clinics- which are not where most UG’s will be hanging out.
The second is that Stanford’s campus is comprised of more than 8000 acres- and UG students classes, dorms and the student center at the center of campus are a looong bike ride way away from the stores at Stanford center. I’m at the mall at least once a week and what I see at Stanford mall all the time are tourists, and adults shopping for themselves or others.
I DO see some Stanford students grocery shopping at the local TJ’s and Safeway stores in Palo Alto and Menlo Park.
And in downtown Palo Alto on University Ave, or on Calif Ave on weekends eating at popular low cost restaurants.
But at the mall? no. It has no effect on the daily lives of Stanford students any more than Bergdorf Goodman or Saks Fifth ave in NYC has on the lives of Columbia UG’s .
Bro centric??
what the hell does that mean??
proudparent26, you seem to really have it out for Stanford- why, I dont know.
But you paint a very distorted picture of what UG life really is like at Stanford.
It depends on your personality. My son grew up in the West Coast but did not complain about the East Coast during his college years. The life style of people, the weather, the atmossphere,… were irrelevant to him. But he had a lot of involvement with other people in his college.
Stanford has ALWAYS highly valued student/ athletes scholars . It is one area that makes it different from MIT and other Ivy League colleges.
Those that participate in sports and excel academically in HS at the same time are attractive to Stanford . Thats a fact. It has many athletic programs but beyond that, it has hundreds of club level teams in every sport imaginable and every weekend there are non recruited students out on the many fields , courts and pools all over campus practicing and playing. That is one of the reasons its a happy place for the many students who want a college environment where you CAN be physically active and competitive athletically outside of the classroom IF you want and no one will question whether you are also smart.
As the parent of a current Stanford student and someone with a great deal of familiarity with Stanford, Palo Alto, and Menlo Park over many years, I disagree with the implication that Stanford is a place where wealthy, “Bro centric” students go to school, doing their regular shopping at the Stanford Shopping Center (!). Nothing could be further from the truth. And Stanford actually is a more laid-back place, probably because of the weather; frankly, though, no one cares whether you’re an athlete or not, and there are thousands of students there who aren’t—who, in fact, are actually quite “nerdy”/“brainy.” They all coexist—and socialize together—happily. At some other schools, athletes form distinct social groups—ones that can be exclusionary and make nonathletic students feel “less than.” Not so at Stanford—it’s a very open place, on all levels (except admissions!).
menloparkmom I am just trying to point out the differences between Stanford and the other colleges. I forgot about the country club style golf course at Stanford. That certainly sets it apart from MIT and Harvard. I would love to know the low cost restaurants you are referring to . It is certainly not Flemings or Zolas.
A lot of the young people in the area refer to Stanford as a very bro type of school. I am not sure that I even know what they mean by that. I have never heard that about its east coast counterparts
menloparkmom The Ivies have academic standards for athletes. Stanford Does not. That is probably why the Ivies are not able to play at the same level athletically as Stanford. That is another good difference
http://www.stanforddaily.com/2015/02/22/the-price-of-athletics-at-stanford/
You do have to score 26 on the ACT to play football at Stanford
And as I mentioned Stanford has 8000 acres, on which one can find a industrial park, a linear accelerator, a golf course, a shopping mall, a football stadium, athletic fields all over campus, a huge medical center with 2 Hospitals and a top notch med school, a tip top law school, a top notch Business school, and new buildings everywhere to house the classrooms and the homes and housing for its 8000 UG students and 15000 graduate students.
Stanford also has a barn- you forgot bring that up. Oh thats right, Stanford’s nick name is the FARM, because that 's what it used to be prior to its founding 125 years ago. So they keep the barn as a reminder of the past.
And it has a temperate climate and Calif sunshine.
Stanford has the space and the $$ to build many peripheral, money making entities that help to serve its core purpose- which is higher education.
I would think that many elite EC colleges would be envious of the space Stanford has and what that spaces allows it to easily do. Be a first class university where more and more students want to go .
“I am just trying to point out the differences between Stanford and the other colleges”
right… 8-|
and you are doing it in as disparaging a way as possible…
I dont see any Ivy , MIT bashing by posters on this thread, do you?
They also have 100 year leases given out some of the big companies around there. If I am not mistaken, HP has a 100 year lease.
I think all of the Industrial buildings have only 50 year renewable leases.
http://www.stanforddaily.com/2015/02/22/the-price-of-athletics-at-stanford/
this is nothing more than an editorial piece in the Stanford Daily written by a Stanford student, in which she uses conjecture, incorrect information and assumptions make a point.
She ignores what the adults who actually make recruiting decisions told her.
I dont see any link anywhere that verify her assertion of the ACT scores of Football players signed 7 years ago.
Not one recruited athletics fact sheet stated their ACT/ SAT scores.
Furthermore, the Princeton study she cited was published in 2002- 14 years ago, AND used data that is now between 20-35 YEARS AGO!’
“selective colleges and universities participated in the NSCE and supplied
individual-level data on all persons who applied for admission in the fall of
1983 (or a nearby year), 1993, and 1997”
which was before Stanford DID raise its minimum academic requirements to Ivy League Sandards for recruited athletes in 2002.
How do I know they raised the standards?
One- John Montgomery, the head coach for Stanford’s Men’s varsity Basketball team for 14 years- was our next door neighbor. He left Stanford for the SF Warroirs in 2004 in utter frustration because he was no longer to sign up top tier , less academically qualified basketball players like he once had no problem in getting accepted because Stanford greatly raised the minimum academic standards for athletes inn 2002, which also created much frustration and teeth knashing among many Stanford alumni.
Two- my business partner is a active Stanford Alumni, and she well remembers being informed in 2002 that Stanford was raising academic minimum standards to mimic the academic index used by the Ivy league.
Neither she nor you did your homework.
Wow. Where did this come from? I would be careful about putting much stock in what menloparkmom writes. Even with over 10,00 posts. I haven’t followed this thread closely, but a few points. (I went to Stanford and my kid goes there now. I live on the east coast).
It is Mike Montgomery. John is his middle name.
Stanford apparently fired their old admission director in large part because she didn’t cut enough slack for the jocks. The current dean of admissions is far more political (if you know what I mean). When a coach in college loses, he or she blames it on the school. Not enough facilities, too tough on admissions, etc. They essentially all do it. It is human nature. Williams or Stanford, if doesn’t matter.
I really don’t want to follow this thread, but virtually all colleges have different admissions standards for jocks. I don’t think the Ivies are much different than Stanford. Menolparkmom doesn’t cite any data. The Stanford Daily article at least tried to find some data. Facts are stubborn things. The NCAA stopped publishing the SAT scores of varsity athletes a number of years ago. My guess is that it was too embarrassing. Most athletes at Stanford–and indeed at many school–are very intense, but mostly about their sports. That’s OK. That is why they were admitted. Let’s be honest.
This thread is about how Stanford is different than its east coast rivals. Stanford is amazing. The breath of the faculty and the irreverence of being on the west coast creates a unique environment. Ignore most of the posts on this thread. I have never seen so much mis-information. Who the heck cares about a shopping center.
I’ve known a lot of people who have gone to Stanford. Very few of them have regretted going to Stanford. I’ve met a few people who turned Stanford down. Most of them have regretted that decision.
With regard to athletic recruiting, a significant difference is that Stanford can essentially do whatever it wants - it’s not restricted by Pac 12 rules, and in fact some of the Pac 12 schools (not Stanford of course) will accept athletes as long as they can meet NCAA academic minimums.
With the Ivies, they have agreed at a conference level that as a group, athletic recruits have to be within a certain distance (one standard deviation) of the overall student average on the Academic Index, and also there’s a minimum standard that no recruit can be below. So individual schools have some flexibility in individual cases but have to hit their targets.
There are certainly a lot of great students among Stanford athletes, but there are also some that Ivies would not have been able to admit. The corresponding reality, of course, is that Stanford gets better athletes, at least in football.
I don’t say this to be critical of Stanford or its athletic programs as I am a big fan of both . . . just being realistic about how athletics works at Stanford. And at Duke, Northwestern and other top academic schools that compete in P5 conferences.
Its Mike Montgomery, of course. My bad.
DH went to Stanford, we live on Stanford land and have for 33 years, so I think i know what goes on here better than someone who lives on the EC. We were here when all the admissions changes took place.
If you want to pay attention to old data from a survey done in 2002, be my guest,
I was refuting the relevance of the shopping center to UG life at Stanford , because there is none.
Next time, read a thread before taking swipes at someone who HAS been defending how great a place Stanford is.
@GrapePocky - you might look for posts by @gravitas2. S/he no longer posts I don’t think, but had a child at Stanford and at an Ivy (I’m not sure which one) at the same time within the last couple of years. The elder (who was at the Ivy), has graduated. They are a West Coast family, and the impression I got was that the elder was eager to finish up his/her time on the East Coast and get back to CA. From @gravitas2’s posts, I got the sense that the vibe/atmosphere was quite different.
That’s been my experience as well. I know of one recent grad who loved attending Princeton but came back to California as soon as possible. And I know quite a few other current students at top East Coast colleges who relish their breaks in California and clearly plan to return after finishing their education. I’m sure there are plenty of East Coast natives attending colleges in California who intend to go back East after graduation, but I’m guessing it’s a lower percentage. The weather and laid-back atmosphere just make California an easier—and, for many people, more pleasant—place to live (spoken by an East Coast native who’s spent many years living all over the country and now never plans to leave the Golden State!).
I was trying to point out the differences between Stanford and its east coast counterparts like the OP had requested. So far I had pointed out the upscale shopping mall complete with Tiffanys and five star steak restaurant, the golf course complete with country club like club house, and a school with less diversity than some of its east coast counterparts. Some of the other posters had also mentioned the Stanford Industrial Park. This cozy relationship between a non profit school and industry is costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars each year and that allow some of the richest corporations in the world to get away with paying little tax. The east coast has no comparison to this.
https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/evolve/pages/109/attachments/original/1353364812/Silicon_Valley_Report_March_2012.pdf?1353364812.
Menloparkmom mentioned residential housing tracts at Stanford. These are two to 4 million homes that can come with financing assistance from Stanford. The east coast has no comparison to this
https://fsh.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/CHS.php.
Stanford really has no academic standard for its athletes.
Christian McCaffrey had a 24 on the ACT. How many males at MIT or Harvard had that score? Lets not forget the easy class list at Stanford with such classes as “social dances” or “interpersonal relationships” This is certainly different from its east coast counterparts
http://www.stanforddaily.com/2011/03/09/1046687/
I am not saying that Stanford is not a good school. It is the ground zero for the elite class on the west coast. It is the Beverly Hills of colleges. So if the OP doesn’t have problems with this they will do just fine.
“mentioned residential housing tracts at Stanford”
say WHAT? Good grief. Can you even read clearly ? Or are you utterly blind to anything I have written that does not jive with your highly negative, biased point of view?
I mentioned ON campus housing for Stanford STUDENTS .
not “residential housing tracts”
“new buildings everywhere to house the classrooms and the homes and housing for its 8000 UG students and 15000 graduate students.”
SO DONT PUT WORDS IN MY MOUTH.
and btw- all top colleges either provide or help incoming faculty find housing .
unbelievable… 
8-|
@menloparkmom as a senior poster you should try not to make it personal.
Here is what you mentioned
“we live on Stanford land and have for 33 years” I am not blind as you inferred
I don’t have a highly negative point of view. I am just commenting on the way I see it.
The cozy Stanford land arrangement with industry is costing local governments tens of millions of dollars. You should read the above link
Ive put you on ignore, so I dont have to read your biased , irrational rants that have nothing to do with what its like to be a Stanford student. 
Dont you think its time you consider moving back to the east coast, since you are clearly so unhappy living right here in Calif…