<p>Eating Club. Repeat after me: Eating Club.</p>
<p>mishpeesh: Everything in California at least has the appearance of being more laid back than practically everything in the East. It's a matter of regional style. I don't know that students at Stanford are really more laid back than students at Princeton, but I'm sure that superficially they look and act more laid back. </p>
<p>Here's a practical example: People in California in general, including Stanford, are much better about saying "Hi" and smiling when they come across a stranger. That's nice; it improves the environment. But are people in California actually friendlier than their brusquer Northeast counterparts? Not really; in fact my subjective feeling (as a Northeasterner who has spend a fair amount of time in California) is that the opposite is true, that it's actually somewhat harder to form deep friendships in California culture, because people are less willing to show strong feelings, to stop being "laid back". </p>
<p>The same is probably true in reverse about Princeton snobbiness. I'm sure that if you are prone to feel snubbed, you can feel snubbed at Princeton. At the end of the day there's probably about the same degree of snobbiness at Stanford and Princeton -- which is to say definitely some, but not all that much -- but it's more immediately visible at Princeton.</p>
<p>^^Some people sometimes confuse California "laid back" with being lazy. Stanford students are not lazy. They work very, very hard. Perhaps a better way to think of it would be casual, open, and friendly as opposed to formal, uptight, and brusque.</p>
<p>Answer this question: Would you feel comfortable taking your shirt off and sunbathing on a Princeton or Stanford lawn? Guys question, or girls with bikini swim suit top?</p>
<p>In the video which had been linked above, the Stanford students all talked about working really hard.</p>
<p>Stanford kids tend to play it cool about the fact that they are overworked. They work very hard though.</p>