<p>So here's the deal: I'm going to Admit Weekend one day early, on Wednesday at around noon so I can get the feel of the campus when it's NOT all flashy (sometimes I think Prefrosh weekends are just sort of a show). When should i leave? </p>
<p>I can leave Friday evening, in which case I'd miss the Friday night activities, OR I can leave on Saturday morning at a 11 o'clock flight, but this entails waking up at 6 AM. I'd get home at 1 PM after only 2 hours on the plane to catch up sleep. Now here's the deal with coming in on Saturday: I have Prom Saturday night. If I get in at 1 PM on Saturday, I'll be kind of exhausted because Friday night is sure to be late, so I'll be relatively sleep-deprived.</p>
<p>So what do you think? Does the advantage of staying one extra night (I'm already staying two nights, btw) outweigh the downside of being kind of exhausted for Prom?</p>
<p>P.S. The things I want to see at Stanford are: academics, "intellectualness," student culture, and social life. Keep in mind that Friday is only the weekend night that I'll be seeing. I just went to Duke and was really turned off by the Saturday night drunkeness I saw, so if I hadn't spent a weekend night at Duke I would have right now an artificially good perception of the college.</p>
<p>Just keep in mind that you aren't getting a complete picture of social life at Stanford anyway on Admit Weekend, because the campus is completely dry that weekend. You might come away thinking that nobody gets drunk at Stanford. You will see how social people are in everyday situations, but you aren't going to get an accurate depiction of the nightlife.</p>
<p>So Friday night doesn't really qualify as a "weekend night?" I wanted to see the drinking scene, since that's sort of a big deal to me, and if people have fun without getting wasted.</p>
<p>That's why I want to see it on Wednesday too. And a large part of it isn't seeing the social life myself, but also talking to random students (not affiliated with Admit Weekend) who can attest to it.</p>
<p>There are some people who do get wasted pretty much every weekend, but there are a lot of people who don't. You can go to parties and have a good time without drinking, no one will pressure you to drink. If you aren't so into the parties there are always random events on campus, plus just lots of people hanging around the dorm and having fun. In my dorm, there's a group of people who often watch movies, play mafia, play card games/word games/etc., or just hang out on the weekend. </p>
<p>Just to be fair to Duke... realize that it is possible that you happened to spend the night with someone who drinks more than most students. </p>
<p>You might be a bit disappointed with Stanford in the "intellectualness" department. I wouldn't consider this an especially intellectual environment. You are not terribly likely to overhear people talking about economic issues or politics or philosophy or the meaning of life, etc. over dinner. You can find people who will talk to you about that stuff of course, but you're likely to find many more who, although they are probably interested in many of those issues, tend to talk about other stuff out of class.</p>
<p>Yes, I am 100% sure the campus is dry that weekend. Well... I am 100% sure that no one will give alcohol to profros. There are serious consequences (getting kicked out of Stanford, losing housing, etc.) for anyone who gets caught giving alcohol to profros. The campus is dry to ensure that profros, all of whom are under the age to 21, won't illegally be given alcohol, get into trouble, and get Stanford into a big mess. If you can't handle a single weekend without alcohol, maybe you shouldn't come here.</p>