<p>Hey-
Is anyone applying to the summer session 2005? I heard that it wasn't that competitive to get in but I'm still worried about the essay! Also, any summer session alumni-any info on your experience there would be helpful!(ie.courses,people,etc)</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I'm applying to the Harvard one, but all of the programs are pretty much the same. If you can afford it and havn't tried to kill someone, I wouldn't worry about it. I applied to the summer residential EPGY program, and it was not very competitive (although many people in my house were VERY smart). I've heard the precollege programs are the same.</p>
<p>i'm applying. :) just have to write my essay and send off my test scores. </p>
<p>and although i haven't gone before, if you have any questions about the area/weather i can answer them. (used to live 20 minutes away for 11 years)</p>
<p>techiedork-
How is the area? I heard Palo Alto wasn't all that great and the people are suck up. Are they? What about the surrounding areas,is they a lot of stuff to do or do you have to go to San Francisco?</p>
<p>How much does the Stanford Summer Session cost?</p>
<p>intelliot-
It depends if your commuting or residential. For residential it's around $8791 plus personal expenses! Here's the website:</p>
<p><a href="http://summersession.stanford.edu/index.asp%5B/url%5D">http://summersession.stanford.edu/index.asp</a></p>
<p>scholarships are available</p>
<p>stanfordgurl - </p>
<p>in terms of weather, it really can't be beat. there will be a few scorcher days, but only a few. palo alto itself doesn't have that much to do outside of the stanford shopping center. however, if you go further up el camino real, and in palo alto as well, there's plenty of shopping. plenty of day to day stuff to do (movies, stores, etc.) in palo alto and not too far away. for stuff like concerts, performances, etc, you'll have to go to SF. take the train. best way to get there. </p>
<p>in terms of the people, i never interracted much with anyone from palo alto. i lived a few cities north (belmont - it's nothing like a palo alto/atherton in terms of high-cost housing) and went to school in san mateo (a few more cities north of there). so i can't really give an opinion on that. </p>
<p>but in general, you shouldn't get bored. for some things you might have to go a bit farther than others, but it's very doable to rarely go to SF (i rarely did even though my mom worked in the city for a while)</p>
<p>*disclaimer: to do most of the things you will have to have either a car/friend who has one/take public transportation. but i don't know exactly how far stanford is from the shopping center, so you might be able to walk/bike there. it's been a few years since i've been in that part of the area, so i'm not quite sure about some distances/locations.</p>
<p>Stanford runs a freee shuttle into town. We rode it a lot when I was there last summer. You can take the Marguerite to town to watch a movie, get some food, or whatever but we had a lot of fun just playing frisbee and football on campus. The weather is always perfect and it just begs you to go outside and play.</p>
<p>Patrick-
How difficult was the work during the summer?Were you challenged enough?How is the summer atmosphere in general at Stanford?</p>
<p>I guess I didn't explain. I didn't do the Summer Session program. I did a different residential program so I can't tell you about the academics, but as far as life at Stanford during the summer I can help. I thought the atmosphere was great. There are undergrads and grad students there during the summer and they are all really nice and helpful. The atmosphere is very laid back and relaxed. That, and it was the first time I had ever experiences a Jamba Juice. The peach pleasure was a real bane to my wallet.</p>
<p>I attended the Stanford Summer last year, and the experience was really awesome. I got to meet with some amazing people that you would never expect to, and do talk to the Stanford students because they will give you a 'feel' of what life there is really like. A Stanford graduate who was my resident counselor was the turning of my life - we hung out a lot, and did everything together, gave me good advice and we generally a great time. The workload is actually a lot, depending on what courses you take. Generally, the humanities courses like Math and Science have a heavy workload. I took Matrix theory and its applications (an awesome course for math lovers) and Oceanography (which I find boring, but the professor teachers with passion). I would definitely trade the experience again for anything because it was really really awesome and inspiring! </p>
<p>For transportation, you can easily take the marguerite which will bring you around the Stanford campus (the stanford mall is actually a nice place to shop). Do get a bike there because stanford is such a huge ass campus, so you won't be able to reach your classes in time when you're in a rush. Don't rent the bike off the bike shop because it will cost you about $180 for two months. I did buy a bike at wal-mart that costs $60 althought the brake was screwed up after riding it several times. And if you're going to San Francisco, the CalTrain would be the best transportation for you - it only takes 45 mins to get there.</p>
<p>And beware because this time round you probably will get certain restrictions from going out; in fact, MORE restrictions. This is because some of the people in the programme weren't coming back in time. So everytime we wanted to get out of the campus, we had to sign out at the dorm office. Don't ever get caught for doing anything stupid - two girls got kicked out because they stole bikinis at the stanford mall, and another girl got sent home because she was caught having shower with her boyfriend (not a stanford summer resident). </p>
<p>You will have a great time for sure, and will find plenty of things to do around there. You WILL love the campus. Best of luck! You're welcomed to ask me any questions :)</p>
<p>tenniscraze, do you know anything about the scholarships offered?</p>
<p>I think I briefly looked at it, and it is only offered to students living in the United States. Just go to the summer session website and look under 'scholarships' for high school students.</p>
<p>I guess you didn't apply for it. Do you know anyone who did?</p>
<p>Yep, a friend of mine (who's mexican) living in the US applied for the scholarship. As far as the amount of money given, I am not sure how much he got. I think the thing to remember is that the scholarship is not really merit-based - they look at your financial situation most importantly. And apply early. (At this time of the year, I don't think a lot of people would've sent it ALL parts of their application) So if you want to be considered for a scholarship, apply now.</p>
<p>tenniscraze-
About how many people attended the high school summer program? Also, how welcoming was the community of Palo Alto? What types of field trips,etc. did the program offer? How much independence do you have there? (Are you treated like a college student or a high schooler in precollege?)</p>
<p>There was about over a 100, close to 150 who attended the programme last year. I am not familiar with the community of Palo Alto but my experience tells me that it's pretty welcoming there. There's lots of good restaurants in Palo Alto actually such as the cheescake factory, plutos, and a lot of italian/french restaurants. So in terms of food, it's actually a pretty exciting place to be in. The field trips, as far as I can recall, were plenty - Santa Cruz Trip, Bowling, Movies, Superbowl, scavenger hunting, etc etc etc etc. I assure you there really were a lot of activities every weekend, and you can sign up for them at the office before places run out - it's pretty exciting! In most ways you are treated just like an ordinary college student because DO NOT ever expect you can hand in late homeworks. Most of us have to work our ass off to get our grades and you can certainly be tutored if you have any homework problems. Tutoring is free of charge and will be held in the Lagunita office - you should definitely go because they have really amazing tutors there who are actually Stanford students. There's hardly any way that I would imagine us being treated like high schoolers. Unfortunately, those times only happened to some of us when we didn't return to the dorm before curfew - this indeed became such a problem that they forced every single one of us to sign out at the office if we plan to be outside of the campus. The experience I get there was really enriching. You get a 'feel' of what it's like to be a Stanford student, literally, for two months - you won't be disappointed :)</p>
<p>Hey guys. I went to the discovery program, which is the soph. year program that Stanford offered for the past few years. Its not offered this year, but its the same concept, just shorter. If you are considering Stanford at all, do it. Stanford summer programmes are unlike any others. They are, for lack of a better word, delicious. Beatiful campus, beautiful people, beautiful weather, beautiful academics. You make long term friends, and have lifetime experiences that you wont forget. Though this is true for many summer programs. You never really interact w/ Palo Alto people. but the kids who go to the programmes are just like you. Overachievers, yes, but they know how to have fun, and they still want to have fun. I learned a lot of the social/hmwk balance, and I milked the social cow dry, but still got A's. Im me for more, I guess... Maybe I'll even see you there?</p>
<p>Do the students in the summer session have to pay for books? Or are they paid for by the school?</p>