<p>What are the good and the bad about everything and anything at Stanford, excluding stuff like weather and location?</p>
<p>for current or past students, or if you know the school well enough, want informed responses. Also, totally random, but would you say there is grade inflation or deflation or neutral?</p>
<p>Also, it seems to me that stanford does not have much of an intellectual feel, I don't picture many intense philosophical or political discussions, i don't see the UChicago attitude. Also, it seems people segregate into their own ethnicity as seen in the different kind of dorms for different races. This is different from schools that randomly assign you into a dorm or residentia college, and the colleges do not have certain themes. These things worry me about Stanford and are the things holding me back. Please correct me if I am wrong, I have a big decision to make and I want to be well informed.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>No, Stanford is smart but does not participate in the in-your-face political pandering of a Columbia or UChicago-not that those are not good schools, they just promote a different atmosphere. Look up the duck analogy for more information.</p></li>
<li><p>People are not segregated by their own ethnicity. Stanford, like many colleges, attempts to pair you with a roommate that either matches you or contrasts you in order to create a good "mix" of types of students-i.e. so you don't get a floor of all Scholars or all Athletes or all Scholar-Athletes. A Caucasian person can live in the African <b> studies </b> dormitory if they so choose. Each "culture" themed dorm is not segregated. Furthermore, some residential halls do have certain themes, they're just not all available to freshmen. </p></li>
<li><p>As to grades, I have no idea.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Mind you, take all of these with a grain of salt. These are things which I have perceived or seen, but I may very well be wrong. I am not a representative of Stanford or its associates.</p>
<p>Most of the dorms are mixed. The "cultural" dorms have no more than 50% of thestudents of any given ethnicity, they are not "segregated" at all.</p>
<p>There are plenty of intellectuals at Stanford. They just act a bit less full of themselves, at least on the surface. There is also much less whining about the workload. That is not because there is less work - it is just a part of the campus culture to act "laid back".</p>
<p>If you're a minority student can you choose not to be in a cultural dorm?</p>
<p>yes, undisclosed, you can, tu peux, kayo puede, si se puede (sc on the last two Tagalog and Spanish?) etc. And, as I said, if you are a non-minority, you ** can ** choose to be in a cultural dorm.</p>
<p>you are never just "placed" in a "culture" dorm. You have to request it if you are interested (and you may or may not get it).</p>
<p>I don't think that is accurate. A friend's son did end up in a culture dorm his freshman year after specifically not requesting it. It wasn't a good experience.</p>
<p>That is surprising. Our experience is a bit dated (4-5 years), but they used to be pretty good about following the preferences... I hope your friend's son had better luck in the following years.</p>
<p>would someone who is down to earth but intellectual fit into the laid back culture</p>
<p>Would I be able to find workaholics with obsessive recreational habits?
[Not that I would specifically like to see such people; I don't want any particular type of crowd in order to fit in, but I'm just curious.]</p>
<p>Sorry about continuing the topic change.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I don't think that is accurate. A friend's son did end up in a culture dorm his freshman year after specifically not requesting it. It wasn't a good experience.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Hmm, interesting. Let's see what they do this year. I've always heard that they were quite good about placing students in dorms where they "fit."</p>
<p>Now to GeekNerd, yes of course. There are hummingbirds as well as ducks at Stanford. There's actually a fairly interesting article about it in Stanford Daily found [url=<a href="http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2007/5/16/naturalPhilosophyInDefenseOfStanfordDuckSyndrome%5Dhere%5B/url">http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2007/5/16/naturalPhilosophyInDefenseOfStanfordDuckSyndrome]here[/url</a>]</p>
<p>LSJUMB
San Francisco
The Lake
The incomparable LSJUMB
Women's basketball
Skinny dipping at night
Coed dorms, showers, rooms (with friends, not lovers)
The Coffee Shop
All courses taught by Professors except labs (ie chemistry taught by Linus Pauling)
The LSJUMB</p>
<p>To the OP: what cons???
But seriously, the only things I didn't like about Stanford (I enrolled yesterday anyways, but I do love the university) are the large number of entering premeds and the cultural theme houses.
the premed thing isn't the university's fault; however, having theme houses might lend to some racial "splitting" of the campus community...oh well...for both of those things, they are optional...so
NO CONS!!!</p>
<p>I HATE the idea of culture theamed houses, it is like separate but equal idea. And if I am premed there, I will fail.</p>
<p>Cons for me:
-too far from home
-girls are lacking(from what I can tell)
-admit weekend is a bluff
-You can only get in your own dorm...I know that's random but most colleges I've visited have cards where you can get into your own dorm and most others until 2am. Stanford still has metal keys...I mean step up the game Stanford.</p>
<p>columbia had key cards, like at a hotel! And what do you mean by Admit weeked is a bluff, does it not represent the school. Please explain further, because that is when I am going to guage whether or not I want to go to Stanford.</p>
<p>Girls are lacking? </p>
<p>No offense but that one seems silly. Forget the pretty even male, female ratio, you only need one girl at a time. Two if you're a douche. As horny as we can all get, I doubt any student has the stamina to be dealing with girls as multi-thousand ratios. </p>
<p>When you want eye candy.....well there's this new internet thing called 'porn' but shh it's being kept on the down-low. :)</p>
<p>Stanford might have metal keys, but they do have a Intercom system to gain access to a dorm building via calling a room and having them open it for you or by typing in a code-much like a gated community. Actually, it's the same console.</p>
<p>Furthermore, why is everyone caught up in this Cultural housing thing? There are plenty-like a majority-of minorities who never stay in a Cultural house. They are merely a place to gain friends who share similar interests like the Vegetarian House or the Jewish House or etc.</p>