<p>Senior0991, it is in fact true of the large number of Stanford students I know. Apparently you know some less-aware people. I find more engaged, brilliant classmates around me than I know what to do with. I’m fairly good at initiating conversations on many topics, and always find lots of people eager to converse/debate things (too eager, sometimes, as I wind up compromising on sleep too often as a result).</p>
<p>^about political awareness and current events…
im going to take a middle stance.
I think there are a lot of people who are aware of current events and world affairs and politics compared to the average college, but i think a lot of us expect more out of stanford students than the average college student, so in that regard, i personally am sometimes disappointed. </p>
<p>also, i think a lot of students think they have political affiliations, but few are actually politically active. if you were with us trying to get voter registration in the fall, it was pathetic. honestly, it was easier in downtown philly than at stanford.</p>
<p>A person I know just received his acceptance under REA from Stanford yesterday. What does it mean? The site says notification by Dec 15 or if deferred by April 1. He’s a full paying foreign student. Do they have different admissions plans? What gives? Could it be he was first deferred Dec 15 under REA, then someone who was accepted under REA dropped out (crazy fool), and this person was the next best qualified, so they accepted and notified him earlier than April 1, i.e. yesterday Feb 18, 2011?</p>
<p>your friend must not understand the notification or you must have miscommunication with your friend. all REA decisions were emailed on dec 10. if he got something on feb 18, then it may have been a likely letter for RD (but i highly doubt they would ever give a likely letter to someone who was deferred). ask your friend for the truth if it matters because the story is not making sense.</p>
<p>No, there is no misunderstanding. It’s posted on his proud Dad’s FaceBook with quite some detail. It would be the biggest lie ever told to too many people. I also need to clarify - he’s not a foreign student, he’s an American expat at school abroad. Also, I know absolutely that he applied EA to another good school and was accepted. Maybe that has something to do with it? Could these 2 schools have had a tug of war? I know Stanford defers REA’s and they will learn the decision “by” April 1st. Doesn’t it stand to reason the Admissions Office will inform some applicants earlier?</p>
<p>No, there is no misunderstanding. It’s posted on his proud Dad’s FaceBook with quite some detail. It would be the biggest lie ever told to too many people. I also need to clarify - he’s not a foreign student, he’s an American expat at school abroad. Also, I know absolutely that he applied EA to another good school and was accepted. Maybe that has something to do with it? Could these 2 schools have had a tug of war? I know Stanford defers REA’s and they will learn the decision “by” April 1st. Doesn’t it stand to reason the Admissions Office will inform some applicants earlier?</p>
<p>Oh, and just to be very clear. The other EA school was a top tier private U.S. university.</p>
<p>I got a “likely” letter from Stanford, and I’m wondering as to the veracity of this letter, and I want to make sure if I really did get in. Can you please clarify the aforementioned questions for me?</p>
<p>@gladitsover. yes i am telling you there is a misunderstanding or a lie.
aside from likely letters and RD athletes, there are no decisions that are sent between dec 11 and the last week of march, when deferred students get their decisions.
schools do not have “tug of war” games like that. possible explanations among others:
he was actually admitted in REA.
he was actually rejected in REA.
he never applied REA and got a likely letter for RD
he never applied to stanford
he was deferred and is just BSing that he randomly got in
usually unlikely but i guess its possible: he was deferred and got a likely letter for RD pool (from the sound of it, this seems to resemble the current situation, but it would be the first time ive heard someone get a likely letter after being deferred)</p>
<p>@lovelybones: congrats on getting a likely letter! it is absolutely amazing
basically its considered something like expect an acceptance letter. you are admitted unless you really really screw something up (aka dont fail a class, get expelled, or get sent to jail…)</p>
<p>NJDS, Thank you for the time and attention in your replies to me and lovelybones and for explaining all the possibilities in a clear and thorough manner - very logical, and no doubt correct, as I would expect of someone associated with Stanford.</p>
<p>I think there are some smoke and mirrors with the propaganda announcement. Hence why it’s confusing and smells. Ergo my inquiry. It’s probably either the last possibility or he got a likely letter for RD, but he’s not an exceptional athlete or special talent. It’s just that the claim is being made under the EA (which means REA) acceptance umbrella, which means misrepresenting the truth, i.e. lying.</p>
<p>Anyway, THANK YOU!</p>
<p>And congratulations to lovelybones!</p>
<p>bump for the class of '15 who just got accepted (congrats!).</p>
<p>be glad you aren’t gonna be Penn’s class of '15 because then you’d be in the Penn’15 club, amirite?</p>
<p>lolll @ Penn’15</p>
<p>I recently was admitted to Stanford, as well as Penn and numerable other great institutions. I was WL’d at Harvard.</p>
<p>To me, this choice really comes down to those three schools (although I’m waiting for Princeton to mail me). I may or may get off of the Harvard waitlist, but Stanford and Harvard have always been my top two choices and I have a couple questions that I can’t seem to find a really good answer to on the internet. I’ve visited and will be revisiting all three campuses, so here goes.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How hard is it to get into San Francisco? How does the bubble mentality affect you?
-> Basically, I always liked that at Harvard, you could get into Boston really easily by the subway and this is one of the major things that I am questionable about for Stanford. I don’t know if I am going to like the bubble mentality. I may love it, but I feel like its one of those “you don’t know till you’ve tried” things. I hear that you can bike to the train station and get into SF really easily in about forty five minutes? Anyway, feel free to share your thoughts on the bubble aspect of Stanford.</p></li>
<li><p>Academic Freedom.
How much academic freedom exists? To elaborate: I’m not sure what I want to do with my life. From what I could tell by checking on Stanford’s website, its pretty easy to get a major and a minor and you can double major if you want to take that challenge. But I might want to do something where I study multiple disciplines - science as well as business, for example, even if I have to pick one to extremely concentrate in - basically, I don’t know what I’m doing with my life, and I want to know if thats okay at Stanford.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’m sure that Stanford will be an excellent place to explore =D I feel the same way. I’m so glad we could relate. </p>
<p>In response to your question about San Fransisco and “the bubble” at Standford, here’s a response from avenlea (of course we all have different preferences when it comes to fun but I find her/his words comforting): </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I wish there were specifics and details of activities to support the response above. Does anyone mind elaborating? I’m sure there are specifics and details =] I heard that at Stanford students can go hiking, biking, trailing, etc. I’ll have to do more research but I’m sure Stanford has a lot to offer.</p>
<p>San Fran is about 45 mins to an hour away by train/bus/car. It’s not hard to get into the city if you want to (especially if you have a car). The bubble is okay. I appreciate it. I think it is easy to think I’d want to be roughing it in a city (and believe me, I am definitely a city person) but it’s nice to not have to worry about that sometimes and feel safe and stuff on campus. There’s enough to do on campus, and a lot of the time I’ve found that I have a lot of schoolwork/social activities to do anyway, that makes it less easy to go into the city super often. I go a few times a quarter and get dinner in Palo Alto/Mountain View/Menlo Park etc frequently. A smattering of things to do for fun at Stanford: hiking/outdoorsy things (the dish and lake lag are nice and there are tons of beautiful outdoor spaces), sunbathing (saw a lot of this today yay spring), club activities, parties (if you’re into it and willing to make your own fun sometimes) etc… And once you make friends then just doing things with them is great. And I’m probably a bit biased, but studying takes up quite a bit of my time anyway so I am usually not searching for ways to fill my free time. </p>
<p>And one of the reasons I came to Stanford was the academic freedom. Some of the other schools I applied to required you to choose a certain school or major upon entering or even when applying, and I was definitely not ready to settle down like that right out of high school. It is totally okay to not know immediately what you want to do, but if you have the idea that you might want to do something super demanding (eg. double majoring in 2 engineering disciplines with premed or something crazy like that) you will want to start early. If you’re a little more flexible, you definitely have the ability to explore, and it is recommended to do so because there are so many great things to do here that it would be a shame to miss out on discovering a new passion. It’s pretty easy to have a major and minor and you can even self design a major or concentration within a major if you really want to and can’t find one that works well for what you want to do.
If you’re interested in science and business you should check out Stanford Management Science and Engineering (MS&E). It has elements of both and might be something you’d be interested in darkdwarf. (ps Stanford doesn’t have an undergrad business major - most people who want to do business major in Econ, MS&E, etc or just do another major and have that as a great base of skill so they can maybe go on to start a business or get an MBA, etc.)</p>
<p>I appreciate the heads up on that program, and I’ll be sure to check it out.</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, I was creeping upon the Stanford wikipedia page and I read something about steam tunneling being some kind of a tradition at Stanford. Anyone want to give me the heads up on what that specifically means and if its true?</p>
<p>^I’ve never done it but there are steam tunnels that run throughout campus, and it’s common (mainly for freshman) to go touring through those once. </p>
<p>As far as your concern about what you want to study, that shouldn’t be much of a concern. Some people will know right away what they want to do with their 4 years (and maybe even life) and that’s okay. Most people don’t have much of a clue. And Stanford very much caters to this philosophy. Like a previous poster mentioned, interdisciplinary majors like MS&E, SymSys, biowhatever, and so many more are one option. Getting a minor or two is another. I know in the engineering department, you can also create your own major. I’m not sure if other departments are similar or if that major carries much weight in anything, but the option is there at least. There is a pressure here to be techy or fuzzy, but if you can look past that arbitrary label the whole university is yours to explore (some classes have applications or auditions or will only take majors or upperclassmen, although this has never kept me out of a class I “needed” to take).</p>
<p>Regarding SanFran, it’s there if you want it but the majority of students I don’t think will go for social purposes more than once or twice a quarter. Some do frequent it though, but you’ll have to get in the right crowds. I’d say it’s about 1.25-1.5 hours away by train, including walking time to downtown (commercial district is about 15-20 minutes away on foot, tourist things are everywhere from two minutes to the Giants’ stadium to maxing out at probably a 2 hour walk to the ocean edge of Golden Gate Park). Given how much stuff students have going on already, unless your day is free it’s generally only a weekend thing to go to the city. In summers though it’s very common for students to go to SanFran. Students often work and live there, work there and live on campus, have friends who work/live there, or just have more free time.</p>
<p>Kisho-</p>
<p>I will elaborate on this part of the quote: “Kids will find a way to party and do fun stuff no matter what.” </p>
<p>That’s definitely true. I think one of the main reasons students don’t visit SF too often, for instance, is that campus is so diverting. The party scene is just one example. Another is that the great weather allows for a lot of outdoor activities, which is aided by the beautiful areas throughout and adjacent to campus. Athletic classes and IM sports are there if you want to take advantage, and there are countless successful varsity teams to go watch play. The library has an enormous collection of movies. You can find clubs of almost every kind, ranging from activism to juggling. Theatre productions, open-mics, student recitals, Acapella shows, you name it. Stanford will also host events, bringing in professionals of every kind to perform and discuss their trade (a recent example was James Franco, who talked about a short film he adapted). Dorms, especially those with freshman, will plan events and trips. And of course sometimes just hanging around the dorm chilling is the most fun one could have.</p>
<p>I agree with Senior0991 on the social things to do. That was a very nice description.</p>
<p>I went steam tunneling when I was a freshman, but I’ve heard that they’e gotten more proactive about bolting the tunnels closed since then (no idea if this is true or not). Basically, you find/know someone who knows how and where to get into the tunnels and “break in” one night (I’m not advocating, I’m just describing). It was a cool thing to do so I can say I’ve done it, but honestly the tunnels are dark and narrow, a little gross, and kind of not that interesting. I think that in the future in might be harder to get into them so thank goodness there’s lot’s of other fun things to do.</p>
<p>What is your favorite thing about Stanford? (Most will reply with “the people,” so why don’t we all try to be a little original and come up with another response, even if it’s the second most favorite ;))</p>
<p>What is your least favorite thing about Stanford? </p>
<p>How much of a grade drop is required/needed to get a rescidance from the school? </p>
<p>What kind of activities to you participate in besides studying and partying? How well are you able to balance all of those things in your life?</p>
<p>What are your feelings on Stanford’s policy of not letting you know your roommate before getting on campus? Do you think this anonymity was effective, unnecessary, or a hinderance? </p>
<p>Soooo excited to get to Stanford in the fall!!! I can’t stop smiling :):):):)</p>
<p>I’ve heard Stanford is more pre-professional than intellectual. Obviously there will be some students who lean one way and some who lean the other, but if some of you could expand on the general atmosphere in this regard it would be great. Would a fairly intellectual person feel comfortable? Or would s/he have to find a niche within the larger community of more intellectual people. (Sorry, I hope this makes sense!)</p>
<p>What’s housing like? Are the rooms pretty nice? How about the food?</p>
<p>How big are frats/sororities on campus. What would you say is the size of most parties–huge, or like 50 people, or even smaller…?</p>
<p>Thanks so much! :D</p>