<ol>
<li><p>Is it safer to bike or to walk around campus? (Some of the pictures show a lot of interweaving bike traffic that looks pretty intimidating.)</p></li>
<li><p>How bad is life without biking at Stanford?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>The rain doesn’t bother me at all - but I am from Maryland and we get three times as much rain and it usually rains multiple days of the week (most of the year anyway).</p>
<p>I think the gym is pretty awesome, but it doesn’t have locker rooms which in my opinion is pretty inexcusable. I prefer taking an athletics class over going to the gym. The gyms we had at home were a joke, so I’m probably easy to please.</p>
<p>I have several upperclass friends - not as close as my freshmen friends - but no one really associates with grad students. They did show up in my classes, though.</p>
<p>The spread out campus isn’t an issue… with a bike it takes hardly any time to get anywhere. I walk pretty slowly, but a reasonable person can walk somewhere in a decent time. From my dorm to the Quad takes 3-6 minutes on a bike depending on the traffic and the exact location of the class… but don’t forget that it takes a few minutes to lock your bike and get to your classroom (for some reason I always leave those steps out of the calculation).</p>
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<p>I’m not a picky eater and we never ate particularly well at home so I’m probably not going to answer as objectively as some. I think the food is great! Stern seems to have some problems with getting things cooked and getting them served warm, but the other dining halls are usually very good. There are quite a few options and the food is usually pretty tasty. We have a lot of different kinds of food, so I don’t feel like it’s too repetitive. If you are a picky eater it will kind of suck because you will probably eat a lot of burgers and pasta. I don’t really go off campus to eat - it’s too expensive. Honestly I only eat at the dining halls because I have 19 meals/week; I haven’t really visited any of the cafes or eateries yet. I really like this Thai place in Palo Alto, though - about $10 a plate.</p>
<p>
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<p>I’ve only ever heard the opposite.</p>
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<p>I’ve never felt unsafe while travelling around campus, so I’m not sure. Biking is a lot quicker, and you learn traffic patterns pretty quickly - it isn’t all that intimidating. I have friends without bikes at Stanford. Clearly they don’t mind, but I wouldn’t like it - it would take forever to get anywhere, and if you’re running late, forget it. But it can be a good life.</p>
<p>the internet is pretty fast and wifi is pretty much in every building (and works outside a lot of buildings)</p>
<p>you really shouldn’t torrent through their internet. they have really good IT people and they can tell if you are torrenting really well. after a couple, they will decrease your internet speed (your internet through stanford is recognizable through your SUNet ID) and deprioritize your account. one way you CAN torrent is to torrent through your home computer and set up an IP-hidden tunnel to your laptop (some upperclassmen CS majors that i know do that)
with illegal music downloads, stanford is known for one of the highest fine occurrence rates in the country. with most internet companies, there is a decently difficult process for companies to get your personal information to sue you for illegally downloading music. at stanford, they do not put up a fight (to make sure students don’t do it), so it is more common for students to simply get letters in the mail from music companies saying that they are now responsible for a $50,000 fine. usually, because it is the first time, they have the option of paying $20,000 to avoid a lawsuit. just about every upperclassman i’ve talked to knows 1 person who has had to pay that 
[it’s not like its really common and dozens of students get it each year, but compared to outside Stanford, it is more common] most students don’t even try using things like frostwire, and now i only use youtube to mp3 converters while on campus</p>
<p>in terms of laptop policy, you are allowed to bring laptops to most classes. some professors have their own no-laptop-policy, and laptops are less common in discussion sections. </p>
<p>@clowiebear, many stanford students are trying to figure out the same thing</p>
<p>from what i’ve seen at Stanford, FA is great, but aside from that there isn’t much. there are a lot of grants and other opportunities, but most of them are only for service projects, individual research, or research with faculty (or other similar things).
personally, i come from a pretty middle class family (~80,000), but at stanford, the classification of income is very different from the real world because the majority of students do come from wealthy families. the thing i love though is that it isn’t a big deal in most social circles. sure, you might not be able to go out to expensive restaurants 2 times a week like some people do, but that’s part of the learning experience. </p>
<p>at stanford, there is always some place with good food. if your own dining hall isn’t the best (like stern), you can always walk/bike to flomo or ricker to eat, and their meals are almost always pretty good. i live at wilbur, so i don’t usually make the effort to walk elsewhere for dinner, but i try to eat at other dining halls for lunch if my classes are closer to there</p>
<p>as for biking, just be careful. accidents are common but are rarely serious. there are often stanford cops giving tickets to bikers without bike lights, etc. and beware, if a car hits you, it may be your fault if you weren’t following biking rules lol. my bike was stolen 2 weeks ago, so i walked everywhere. it is really time-consuming to have to walk 20 minutes to a class instead of bike for <10 but it isn’t awful. one problem is that stanford schedules class with 10 minutes between, so if you have a 10 AM class and 11 AM class, you will have to leave the first early or be late to the second one unless they are close</p>
<p>A few questions here:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Is there anyway I can park a car somewhere even though I am a freshman? I live with my mom and she doesn’t drive… so If I can’t get to my car, I might either have to sell it or park it somewhere for a whole year before I can get my parking permit on stanford (its an old honda, and I sorta like it lol… kinda don’t want to sell it)?</p></li>
<li><p>How difficult are the classes there (for intro classes and etc)?</p></li>
<li><p>Anyone got experiences with undergraduate research? If sow, how did you get the position, what are you doing, and how did you come to decide on that topic?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>@applicannot and NJDS
Thank you! I was just wondering, since this one college I visited served some miserable potatoes and pizza for dinner every single day.</p>
<p>Hey guys, I’m a freshman too and love answering questions so fire away! </p>
<p>Some thoughts based on what I’ve read so far. </p>
<p>Would I have chosen Stanford again if I could go anywhere?
YES. DEFINITELY. Frankly, I applied to Stanford because it seemed like a great school and a good fit for me, but it wasn’t my dream school. After getting rejected from my dream schools but getting into Stanford, I started looking into Stanford more closely and then realizing how perfect it was for me (well rounded academically but with strong science/engineering/CS programs, 2 years to declare your major, not too close but not too far from home
the list goes on and on). I’m so glad I ended up coming here! </p>
<p>About the quarter system:
I like it because I get to take more classes. HOWEVER, it’s pretty fast paced, especially in intro math/science classes. As others have said, you need to be on top of your game. I took Math 51 and Chem 31A this quarter and they were doable as long as you didn’t fall behind and actually went to office hours. I think for most freshmen who have trouble in these types of classes, it’s because they didn’t keep up with the work (it happened to me in October or so
that wasn’t fun). </p>
<p>GERS:
applicannot explained the GERs really well. Although you could theoretically get them out of the way freshman year if you wanted to, don’t stress about them. You’ll probably knock most of them off naturally as you progress through your courses/major. For freshman year, focus on exploring new areas and completing your required preqs if you have any, especially if you’re pre-engineering like me (WHOLE 'nother ball game in terms of scheduling compared to more fuzzy classes). </p>
<p>The one class I wouldn’t have taken is, surprisingly enough, my introsem. Everyone else whom I know who’s taking an introsem loves them, but mine was poorly organized and really badly done. </p>
<p>Best part about Stanford?
I agree with applicannot on this one - the people here are pretty darn amazing. Don’t judge people too quickly because like s/he said, there really is more to them than what meets the eye. </p>
<p>@azuabi - 1) haha, if you’re like 90% of SoCal people, you’ll probably think it rains a lot. And I mean in comparison to SoCal it does .but it’s really not that often. You’ll be okay :)</p>
<p>3) Getting places isn’t an issue at all if you bike. You can still get places on foot but it takes considerably longer. Walking from my dorm to the chem building would take about 20 minutes during rush hour, for example, but it’s a 5 minute bike ride. </p>
<p>4) Whaaaat? The gym’s really nice! Except for not having locker rooms. </p>
<p>5) I know a bunch of coterms through cultural groups and whatnot and they’re all really nice. Don’t know about grad students. </p>
<p>@4thfloor - Biking can be somewhat intimidating during rush hour (my term for the 10 minutes before the hour from say 10am-2pm) but you’ll figure out the less populated routes pretty quickly. And you just need to be careful. I’ve had a couple of near-misses though.</p>
<p>General question again, one of my good friends who is super smart wants to attend uci (university of ca irvine) which is pretty low ranked compared to her potential. Her reasoning is that it’ll be easy to ace classes and have a high gpa to get her into a top grad school. Which makes me wonder is choosing a top school like Stanford a mistake? Surely, even though I’m no genius and won’t have a perfect gpa, I should have a better shot at top graduate schools right? </p>
<p>Am I missing something?
Thanks <3333</p>
<p>weather sidenote: fall is pretty nice (especially this fall, which was absolutely gorgeous) and spring is beautiful but winter sucks.
i’ll admit that where i am from it doesn’t rain a ton so i’m totally biased, but if you think the rain isn’t bad in Stanford (especially you frosh), definitely wait until winter quarter. and it’s not that it rains a ton, it’s just that it rains a little bit frequently and consistently. which is gross and annoying. it’ll like drizzle everyday for 4 months sometimes. recent weather patterns seem to indicate that this winter won’t be as bad as the last but who knows. this past year was kinda terrible. just gray and chill and drizzle for months, i felt like i’d never see the sun again
and the campus is so big that you have to walk/bike to class in rain and get all wet and arghhh. winter weather is really one of my only gripes about Stanford though so that’s not bad. you’ll hear people complain about winter quarter a lot, in general.</p>
<p>also, honestly i think the gym’s pretty small but it serves its purpose. i go at off peak hours, otherwise you may have to wait for a cardio machine. anyway, you’re at Stanford - there are gorgeous outdoor workout spaces in good weather, lots of nice running routes, and other places you can work out in various ways instead of Arillaga (if you’re not too intimidated to try the other places), etc</p>
<p>How do I convince my parents to let me go to Stanford rather than State school, which is cheaper and closer?</p>
<p>We won’t qualify for financial aid; worst-case scenario I get into the Honors college at State and am offered money (but not a full-ride).
What can I tell my parents to convince them that they and I will get a better deal out of Stanford?</p>
<p>THANKS for any advice you can give.</p>
<p>Clowiebear, what’s your intended field of study?</p>
<p>One thing I didn’t realize before I got to Stanford is they have the coterm (short for coterminal) program, where you apply for a Master’s degree near the end of your undergrad and stay for 45 more units to get a master’s. I did psych undergrad, and I’m now doing ME for my master’s. </p>
<p>Two degrees from Stanford in 5 years? sounds like a good deal to me.</p>
<p>The coterm program was initially set up so that you could get a master’s during your senior year if you were smart and finished everything in your undergrad major by the third year. Thus you would graduate after four years with both a Bachelors and a Masters at the same time (hence coterminal). It’s turned into a procrastination tool for starting real life. I’d say a third of my friends from my graduating class are coterming.</p>
<p>Is getting accepted into the coterm program difficult? Not really. I’ve only heard of a few people that didn’t get in (across lots of deptartments). So there’s one route to grad school, and the requirements for it aren’t difficult (GRE/GMAT, transcript, essay, two letters of rec)</p>
<p>I didn’t think I was gonna go to grad school until junior or senior year, and so far it’s worked out. I only have to stay one more year and take 6 classes (a somewhat light load).</p>
<p>To answer your question about what you should do to get into grad school outside stanford, you’ll have to tell me your field of study. It varies wildly.</p>
<p>Also, I highly disagree with your friend’s mindset of going to UCI and acing everything (and please send this to her). If she wants to go to grad school, especially if she wants a PhD, then she wants to learn and be challenged, so why would you not challenge yourself for four years in preparation for that? I don’t doubt she’ll get into a good grad school either way, but why not enjoy your undergrad life, challenge yourself and learn, and really understand what it’d be like to go to grad school. Did she take super easy classes in high school to ace those to “be really smart”?</p>
<p>LNSebastian, I hate when I hear these kind of situations. It’s the unfortunate plight of the slightly upper middle class. Can I ask what State school we’re talking about? because if it’s Berkeley or any of the other top UCs, ignore what I’m about to say.</p>
<p>it’s really hard to convey that the value of the Stanford experience is worth $200K, but it is. People will tell you, “You’re smart, you’ll succeed at a state school just as well. The jobs you’ll get afterward will be the same.” But that’s really not where the value is. As cheesy as it sounds, college really is just about the people you meet and how you grow as a person during it. The people you interact with on a daily basis shapes who you become, and I would argue that if you are more similar to the people at Stanford than at State School, then you will be a much happier at Stanford. You experiences will be fuller, and your growth will be exponentially larger. </p>
<p>If your parents are just about the numbers, and if you happen to be an prospective engineering major; read my above post about the coterm program; tell your parents you’ll get a master’s degree in 4 years (very possible - you just have to plan right and can’t deviate), and you’ll be paid this much or more afterwards:</p>
<p>[Career</a> Development Center - Salary Statistics | Student Affairs](<a href=“http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/cdc/jobs/salary-grads]Career”>http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/cdc/jobs/salary-grads)</p>
<p>So Bachelors + Masters for 200K from a extremely prestigious university? Maybe that might convince them.</p>
<p>@ajimmykid: sorry, but the point where people don’t qualify for stanford financial aid isn’t really “slightly upper middle class”. stanford commonly provides financial aid to people with income over $150,000 (and families close to $200,000 with circumstances like a sibling in college). according to the US census bureau in 2004, the lower limit of the top 5% households in the country was $157,176. students with about ~$88,000 household income, which is the lower limit of the top 20% of the country, receive ~$40,000 in financial aid.</p>
<p>at stanford and most of its peers, there is noticeable distortion of socio-economic circumstances. personally, i fall into the top 20% (~90,000), and my family has been able to live relatively comfortably, with constraints where necessary. i have never felt low-income until i got to stanford and I was labeled “low-income”. economically, stanford is very far from representational of the US, so be aware of that when categorizing certain people as lower/middle/upper class, etc.</p>
<p>
That’s no fun! If you like extreme sports or driving really fast, do the populated routes at rush hour as fast as possible without crashing (assuming it’s nice out). It’s like driving on a crowded but fast-moving highway. Swerving in and out of people, cutting people off, stopping abruptly to avoid something and then accelerating quickly so the guy behind doesn’t hit you, yelling at someone for being a crap biker, etc. It’s like a high. I crashed hard once though, but it’s cause it was the easiest part of the race and I wasn’t focusing. </p>
<p>
- It’s not fun. But rain here means snow in Tahoe yay! Biking in the rain sucks the most. So I just walk everywhere. Time consuming but peaceful.<br>
- It’s pretty chill the first 2-3 weeks, then expect a lot of stressful weeks after that with a couple really easy ones sprinkled in. I like it though. I can take less classes per quarter but more per year then my friends at semester schools. Makes it easier to focus on what you have and almost everyone can fit in at least a couple random cool classes.<br>
- IHUM (3), then the rest is up to you. If you’re a techy, you can probably expect at least 5 more lectures. PWR isn’t a lecture (1), and the rest is up to you.
- I know a few upperclassmen and they are cool, although most of my friends come from my year.</p>
<p>@ajimmy: yea i think something like 30% of the graduating class of 2010 either chose to continue with coterms for a year or received their coterm in their 4 years. a lot of the people who don’t coterm (who i’ve spoken to) choose not to coterm only because a coterm is not available in their department of interest (e.g. there are no MPH or other health-related co-terms). </p>
<p>i agree that there is a lot more to undergraduate education than getting into grad school. the kinds of other resources that are available at places like stanford are amazing. there are so many research opportunities available (which also help to get into grad school), amazing faculty to work with, large amounts of class options, special seminars, academic programs like BOSP and SIW, and so much more. there are so many other benefits to attending a well-endowed (lol, i had to laugh at that even if it is childish, but no i’m not making a statement about the male population at stanford) private institution. but even if your primary goal is to get into grad school, these opportunities will definitely help, even if classes are harder (and many are definitely harder)</p>
<p>OK, this hasn’t actually been asked by anyone, but a lot of the responses form Stanford students seem to assume that the incoming freshmen will be taking an IHUM. There is another option: SLE. I cannot recommend this highly enough. You read way more, get way more personal attention in respect to your writing and the atmosphere in FloMo is amazingly friendly and intellectual. Any and all prospective freshmen should really look into it!</p>
<p>^i didn’t take SLE, but most people that took SLE loved it.
but most of the people who didn’t take it are glad they didn’t. </p>
<p>there are a few things to consider:
- i really would not want 9 units in each quarter taken up. it really limits what other classes you can take in freshman year to explore your interests. and from what i hear, it is a lot of work, which further limits your other class options
- personally, i think FloMo is really different socially from Wilbur/Stern, so if you are looking for a “freshman experience”, SLE might not be right for you. (to be more blunt, its a little boring sometimes-and that is the opinion of people who live there, not me as a visitor, although i do agree)
- SLE is a great program that helps develop your reading and writing skills</p>
<p>@ajimmykid- thanks so much for your help.
The State school is University of Texas-Austin, which is a very good school but not on the level of Berkely.
I’ll be sure to mention the coterm program as an option because my dad did a similar thing for his master’s and PHD. </p>
<p>Another stupid question. this is going to sound really obvious but I haven’t been able to find it anywhere. What university is the ‘Cal’ that Stanford plays the Big Game against? Is it UC-Berkeley or what? lol sorry</p>
<p>^UC Berkeley. Also known as California, hence Cal.</p>
<p>Maybe since I’m not “in” the class of 2015 officially yet (though hopefully), this may be a bad idea, but I have a couple questions.</p>
<p>I have asked a couple people this question before while visiting Stanford, but I haven’t heard enough to reasonably understand the answer. Anyway, if, say, someone’s weakness is in the Mathematical subjects (and possibly even including the sciences - Bio/Chem/Physics), then how likely is it that a fellow student - be it a roommate, dorm mate, or friend - will try to help you? Are students generally helpful to those in need? (and yes, I know that there aren’t issues like this on a large scale seeing as how most students took AP Calc in HS, etc) In regards to that question, I’ve read under the student section of the Stanford website that there’s a tutoring system available for free to students. Do any of you have experience with this, or have heard about it?</p>
<p>How’s the noise level in the dorms? Obviously people party, but is it usually pretty isolated? If you’re trying to study or sleep around 12AM or so, can you hear people thumping around?</p>
<p>As far as professors ago since you’re on that topic, what are office hours like? again, how is it specifically for Math and Science professors - Do TAs tend to be the ones who help out at those times? Do professors really spend their time waiting for students to come by?</p>
<p>– Quick Comment –</p>
<p>Though not a student myself, the last time I visited campus, I had trouble crossing one of the major bike intersections. It was obviously rush hour (around 12PM I think?) and in between the clock tower and Main Quad I guess? There really weren’t too many breaks in the traffic, so it took awhile until I plucked up the courage to just run across. It’s definitely intense. But you have to think about it, most students do bike, so obviously it’s a useful way of transportation about campus.</p>
<p>^
Help:
You can always get help. Maybe not a roommate, because he could be a jerk (rare, but it happens) or may not know enough or may not have enough time. But generally you’ll have a hallmate, or at least a dormmate, who’s in your freshman intro class and could help you out. Most people will help you out if they can, even if they are struggling with other things themselves. </p>
<p>My freshman dorm had two tutors (writing and math). They helped me a bit, but the math guy was better at theoretical and I needed help with applied. My problem was that not many people took the same classes as me freshman year, and the ones that did in my dorm generally knew less than me. If someone came and asked me for help though I’d help them out. And when people were able to help me out they did. </p>
<p>If dormmates can’t help you, then TAs, the professor, or your book definitely can. There’s really no excuse to need help and not receive it at Stanford. </p>
<p>Also don’t worry about needing or getting help in a class. Everyone needs help at some point in some class, and if they say otherwise they are lying to you/themselves. Even the students who get A-plusses go to TA office hours (actually a lot, if not most, of them do; office hours are filled with star academics). </p>
<p>Noise:
Depends on the dorm and day. Mine was rarely a problem. Other dorms, of the school nights maybe on a Wednesday or Thursday night it might get pretty loud (generally not at the end of the quarter though I’m guessing). If you want to go to sleep at midnight (which I’m willing to bet will change), then a 4-class dorm might be your best bet. Studying is probably less of a problem because the all-frosh dorms are near the libraries. I wasn’t in an all-frosh dorm, so take my response with a grain of salt. </p>
<p>Office Hours:
All my techy classes so far have had professor office hours. These are generally less common than TA office hours, and I’ve only been to one once so I don’t really know how it works. I imagine they sit there waiting for students, or working on whatever if no students are there. When I went in to the professor’s OH one time she was really helpful and I didn’t get the impression at all that I was a bother or wasting her time. But I mainly stick to TAs because they grade stuff, they can offer a different perspective from lecture, it’s a more relaxed atmosphere (I’m betting), and they have more OHs. </p>
<p>Biking:
I’m pretty sure you are referring to the Circle of Death. Tight turn radius, 4-way heavy traffic, on an incline, with walkers like you complicating things. It’s a thrill. You have to be on your toes walking across it. My goal when walking at rush hours is to walk straight across it at a constant speed without looking to either side of mine (like Jason Bourne would do). Bikers have the right of way- maybe not officially, but they do. </p>
<p>Biking across is where you can’t hesitate to act. If you see an opening and the guy in front isn’t jumping, you can’t wait for him. And you can’t let an incoming rider push you off course. You can’t stop at any point. If you stop before you won’t have momentum (or the confidence) to start up again in time and if you stop during you’re screwed and you’ve ruined everyone else’s circle. You’re really on your own. Everyone else, even the friend you’re riding with, is looking to kill you.</p>