Hi, I am in recent REA admit for Stanford’s class of 2022 and I have a few questions for current students:
SLE: What is SLE like? What is the work load like? How are the SLE dorms? Can you take lots of other courses/ is there time for extracurriculars? What is the SLE community like? Are SLE students isolated/ are the stereotypes true? Do SLE students still go to parties and other events? How many essays are there each quarter? How are you examined? What is the grading like? (I know that there are many SLE threads, but most of the ones I found were from quite a few years ago).
Techie vs fuzzy: So far the majors that interest me most are Communications, Psychology, History, STS and Symbolic Systems. Do people look down on you for taking a communications/ History/ Psychology major? Is it hard to find internship opportunities with Communications/ History/ Psychology majors? For symbolic systems, how hard are the Maths and Computer Science classes? I find human- computer interaction/ cognitive science really interesting but I’m scared that I won’t cope with the classes as I don’t currently do computer science and am only doing AS level Maths.The most sciency/ technical A level course that I’m currently doing is Biology.
Studying abroad: I’m really interested in doing a semester in Oxford (maybe studying History/ Classics while I’m there). However, I’ve heard its really hard to get into- how hard is it to get into? I’m also interested in doing Stanford in New York (in the winter quarter for media or spring for the global city). How hard is it to get an internship there? What is the experience like?
Student life: What is a typical week/ weekend at Stanford like? Do people go to San Fransisco a lot/ how many times a year would someone go? Is the ‘Stanford Bubble’ true? What are the weirdest and most unique clubs/ societies? Do people go to Frat Parties a lot? Do people go to Palo Alto a lot? Are RAs strict?
Take SLE only if you LOVE history, lit, philosophy, art. The program is outstanding, but you will work really, really hard. Your writing and thinking skills will improve dramatically. And you will meet other like-minded humanities students at Stanford (a small minority). As for the other questions, these are things you don’t need to worry about now (that’s the beauty of Stanford, you can show up and major in whatever you want!). Relax and enjoy the rest of high school.
Take a breath. Stanford is a wonderful school. SLE is a great program. The lectures/discussions take place Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays in the late afternoon into the evening. It’s a living/learning program house in East Flo Mo (Florence Moore) spread among three dorms. Most of the extracurriculars happen later in the evening, so you will have time for them. The only ECs that totally conflict are some sports (although lots of classes conflict as well).
Basically, SLE a Great Books course. There are some social events associated with it and it is a tight knit community – neither exclusive nor excluded. It’s a lot of work, but not an unreasonable amount. It’s a very well thought out program and people that do it really like it. If you are a humanities person, you should by all means consider SLE.
I didn't do SLE but a couple of my friends did. It's a tight knit community and a bit different from the standard freshman dorm experience. I'd say judging by the majors you are interested in you might really enjoy SLE. Like @LoveTheBard said, it's basically a great books course -- you'll cover a wide variety of material considered to be foundational to the humanities and Western civilization in general. If you're interested in western culture, and don't mind that you might be sacrificing some depth for time's sake (a given when you look at the reading lists for SLE), I'd say go for it. I was a fuzzy, decided I wanted the "classic" experience, and lived in a freshman dorm, and while I loved my community and made my best friends there, I sometimes wish I could have done SLE for its academic focus.
Don't worry about this now. You'll have ample time to decide next fall.
We do quarters and Oxford has terms (even shorter than Stanford's quarter). If you put time and effort into your application, you'll get in. No idea about New York.
The answer to pretty much every question is 'it varies.' Most don't venture to SF that frequently, but that's because there is so much going on at Stanford. Unless you are 21 you are kinda limited in what you can do in SF. And no, RAs aren't strict. They don't exist to police alcohol like they do at some schools (unless things have changed since I've been there).
Finally, I have to agree with the other posters. You don’t have to figure everything out about Stanford right now. Enjoy the last few months you have in high school, and, if you can, go to admit weekend where everyone who has the exact same questions as you is getting their questions answered as well.
@merovingian, you had posted a comparison Stanford, Harvard, I think, and how other schools are trying to be more like Stanford, but I can’t find that post, do you remember that, and how can I show it to my son. Thank you.
I met several parents at receptions whose kids decided to attend Stanford specifically for SLE, turning down other top colleges. But agree you should do it only if you love lit and history and love reading and writing about it. It strikes me as a little Yale in Silicon Valley with a tightly knit group. Unfortunately, my kid doesn’t love history or lit although he likes them somewhat. I have no idea what he will end up doing so I am glad Stanford is strong in all areas across the board.
After the Brock Turner case RAs are more strict on the alcohol policy, especially in freshman dorms. So moderate your drinking and don’t purchase large bottles of hard liquor.
@websensation Someone I knew interned with Lenovo for the summer in China through a stanford program. A lot of the study abroads offer internship opportunities.
Unfortunately, Stanford doesn’t have a study abroad program in China at the moment, so there are no longer associated internships. However, it sounds like they are looking for another location and are hoping to resume the program during the 2018-19 academic year.
@Mom2jl I really hope Stanford sets up a study abroad program in China at another location quickly because it was a factor in our deciding to attending Stanford. I even asked this question to some Associate Dean during some Stanford event and they assured me that they would have the China program up and running at another location.
I never understood why study-abroad programs are big deals at the most elite colleges (Stanford is certainly one of them). Why waste time studying abroad at a lesser college, other than having a good time for the kid? For the amount of tuition you’re paying, the kid can have many more cultural immersive experiences.
One question for current Stanford students or parents regarding how much time non-STEM students have to pursue non-academic activities. It seems as if certain STEM majors at Stanford are very time consuming and can be overwhelming effort or time wise at least for some students, but is that true for some non-STEM majors such as Economics, languages or International Relations? I know for IR classes require a lot of writings frequently (I heard from the interview with Condoleeza Rice). Therefore, my question is how many hours per day of free time does a non-STEM student have to purse non-academic activities during both weekdays and weekends? I know the answer must vary depending on majors and students, so I am asking for your honest opinions. The reason I ask this question is I am not sending my kid to Stanford to just study academically but to have enough free time to attend interesting lectures in various topics, even volunteer for official tours or for other non-profits nearby, get involved in student body representation, attend some sports and theater events and try to exercise etc. but I wonder if non-STEM Stanford students have enough time? I know I did at Cornell but that was because I didn’t put that much effort into studying, i.e., my goal was to graduate in 4 years because I didn’t like any college life in general because I am the kind of person who gets more excited about learning from real life experiences than books. If I had to choose a college life for my kid, I rather have him just get decent grades, take various courses he finds interesting without regards to grades and have a satisfying experience at Stanford, rather than get great grades and have a so-so experience at college. Of course, I realize it is possible to have both or have neither . . .
How is Stanford’s Language Center or language program? I know it’s good but not sure how it compares to other colleges. In particular, Chinese and Spanish. Thanks in advance.
Also interested in hearing about language. Son is leaning towards taking his 3 quarters of language in 2018-209. Spanish would be a no brainer for him, but he’s interested in Mandarin. We had spoken with one of the Mandarin profs about this and she assured us that they “have a system” that’s successful if the student commits to it. Son is still cautious about the time commitment. Seems the class itself is everyday M-F, so once you add in out of class practice the time requirements are high…
@Rivet2000 - I believe all language classes (at least those in the initial sequences) meet five days per week. I seem to recall that was the case for my ds, and he has taken two languages at Stanford.
“Why waste time studying abroad at a lesser college, other than having a good time for the kid?”
Wasting time studying abroad at a lesser college? My kid improved his Mandarin language to a level in 6 months which he might have achieved at Stanford by studying longer than 4 years and a greater cultural understanding by living in the country with a host family. My kid and I considered such a study abroad opportunity even more important than studying at Stanford for one year that my kid took a gap year.
So, while I agree that one Quarter’s study abroad at Stanford might not be so immersive program, it nevertheless helps to improve your language and cultural understanding. Therefore, I respectfully disagree to this extent.
@Hoggirl
What languages did your son take? I want to take a language at Stanford too, but I’m not sure which and whether it’s doable or not. Did he have prior experience/lessons in the language? And how hard was it to succeed/master the language (did he become fluent)? Thanks in advance!
@InternAtTheNSA - he took Spanish in high school and scored a 4 on the AP exam. That would have exempted him from taking any foreign language at Stanford, but because of what he thought he wanted to major in, he needed to continue with his foreign language, A placement test is required once you arrive on campus. I think he placed into the third course for the first year sequence of Spanish. I think he also took some sort of course that was conversational that was credit/no credit - a class that is basically designed to keep up the skills you have. He decided to pursue a different major that didn’t require additional foreign language. He later got interested in and took German, and he is actually getting a minor in German Studies. I’m sure he’s forgotten much of his Spanish as he hasn’t had it since his freshman year, but I imagine the German is fairly strong, especially since he did his study abroad in Berlin. I doubt that he is “fluent,” however. He does read books written in German. HTH
@InternAtTheNSA, my son took Japanese at Stanford. He had taken Spanish in high school, so Japanese was completely new to him. He started taking it the first quarter of his freshman year because he had decided he wanted to study abroad in Kyoto and the program at the time required at least two years of Japanese. He loved it and became reasonably fluent. He studied abroad during the spring quarter of his junior year and lived with a Japanese family while in Kyoto. He stayed for the summer and did an internship in Tokyo as well. Japanese is a pretty hard language, but he enjoyed it and did very well.