<p>I would like to hear comments from current/ past students (or parents of current/ past students) about the type of kids that go to Stanford. Can you make any generalizations? Are many of them laid back? Geeks? Nerds? Friendly? Egotistical? Bookworms? Serious? Competitive? I'm trying to determine if Stanford is a good fit for my son. He was recently accepted.</p>
<p>D is a freshman at Stanford and loves it. She is a math nerd, according to her, but I would disagree. She is good at and enjoys math and the sciences but also is interested in the humanities. </p>
<p>Her observation is that every stereotype exists on campus: the jock, the preppy, the nerd, the cheerleader etc. It’s just that they all happen to be very intelligent (and ultimately pretty deep). She has made the transition to college easily and enjoys the social scene, and it sounds like there is a very active social scene. She is astounded by the number of clubs and service organizations. She has nothing but good things to say about her experience so far. In her words, on a scale of 1 to 10- Stanford is a 25.</p>
<p>Not every stereotype is on the Stanford campus. I have yet to meet any imos or people who do hard drugs while here. Im sure that there is a token imo and druggy somewhere though.</p>
<p>What is an imo? An emo? I’m a freshman and it feels like most stereotypes are represented on campus. Goths not so much though (only one I’ve seen is my math TA haha). Also something I’ve noticed…it feels like there are very few overweight people here. Maybe 1 or 2 overweight people in my dorm of 100 frosh.</p>
<p>We just visited this past weekend and met mostly members of a certain sports team. The kids seemed healthy (we also noticed the absence of overweight students on campus), friendly and social, helpful, and the most notable thing: everyone was really, really happy to be there. We saw no goths or emos either. Attire was casual, didn’t see lots of girls dressed up or heavily made up.</p>
<p>Most are good ones and there are real bad ones.</p>
<p>just search with google: Stanford Wakes</p>
<p>Woops, typed that too fast, meant to say emo. I have also noticed the overweight thing as well.</p>
<p>And the statistic for athletes is one in seven students participates in varsity athletics.</p>
<p>So basically there are no fat people on campus? Cool?..haha I’m not sure is that supposed to be a good thing?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Kinda sucks for me.</p>
<p>It just means most people have played a sport, either competitively or recreationally, at some point in their lives. Also, a lot of people frequent the gym to stay in shape. Plus, especially during the great weather during the spring and fall, there are lots of outdoorsy people and lots of outdoorsy activities to be done.</p>
<p>Well, </p>
<ol>
<li> I’m overweight (at best)</li>
<li> I prefer overweight women</li>
</ol>
<p>I’m sure I’ll survive. Actually, I didn’t mean it as a bad thing. I’m happy Stanford is not an overweight school because I’m actually trying to lose weight. Once I get out of a low-income household ( = the crappiest, cheapest food) and hopefully out of this depression rut, I’m ready to shed some of the extra baggage. I’m hoping Stanford will help, at very least I refuse to gain any weight and thankfully haven’t in a few years. At least at the dining hall I’ll have healthier options, whereas at home that’s not even conceivable. And I’ll have access to a gym and/or decent weather, which I also lack here.</p>
<p>There’s definitely a bit of a California-people-should-be-fit undertone on campus. People work out a decent amount, run a bunch. I personally like jogging and run ~40 miles a week, although that’s a good deal more than most students. Athletes put everyone to shame though :P. The dining halls make a big deal about having healthy options at all meals, as well as all organic food.</p>
<p>But yes all kinds of people exist on campus. There are definitely druggies (naive to think there aren’t) but its not pervasive by any stretch of the imagination.</p>
<p>BigMike, I am very glad to hear that the dining halls emphasize healthy and organic options! Have you noticed any recent change in the quality of food offerings as the result of budget measures? I really hope excellent food is immune from the budget ax.</p>
<p>Speaking of which: are there any areas in which budget cuts necessitated by endowment losses have perceptibly impacted the quality of student life across the board?</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>@zenkoan you’ll be happy to know that the stanford dining meal plans cost way to much to be affected by changes in stanford’s endowment 
lol. But no, the dining halls have been marching steadily along the more healthy/organic (now completely organic) path the whole time I’ve been at stanford.</p>
<p>I think you could go through stanford without noticing where the budget cuts are really being taken. certainly hasn’t affected my life any. a lot of students complained about the community centers having less money/staff, but I had felt like there was some dead weight in those areas anyway. Student group budgets have been affected, but I dont think they’ve been affected to the point that they can’t function. one of the bigger things is that the interdisciplinary studies for the humanities program disappeared. although if you did want to do some interdisciplinary work there, im sure you could still do it, just would take more initiative on your part. I know that the admissions office hired half has many students as usual due to budget cuts, and I imagine that a lot of other departments/offices on campus did the same.</p>
<p>but really, my day to day hasn’t changed much so its all meh (for me)</p>
<p>Thanks for the info, BigMike. I’m happy to know student life at Stanford apparently isn’t bearing the brunt of budget cuts. Seems like all of the top schools that took big endowment hits this past year probably also had multiple layers of non-essential administration that went on the chopping block, and that may be a good thing in the long run.</p>
<p>The only thing I’ve noticed is that Overseas Seminars (3 week classes overseas during the summe) have been completely cancelled. Dean Bravman (vice provost for undergrad education) told me that they probably won’t be back while I’m here at Stanford. It was a pretty big bummer since I’m a techie and I’m pretty much only able to study abroad during the summer.</p>
<p>Why is that, llpitch? Couldn’t an engineering major, e.g., do a quarter or more abroad at another time of year? Is it because the courses at the other schools wouldn’t transfer back to Stanford, and then you’d get out of sequence?</p>
<p>I COULD do it if I REALLY wanted to, but I’d rather not mess with it. There are some engineering courses abroad but in Germany/Kyoto and I don’t know those languages. Or I could save all my GERs and do them abroad, but I’d rather do them here.</p>
<p>[stanford</a> wakes - Google Search](<a href=“stanford wakes - Google Search”>stanford wakes - Google Search)</p>
<p>[Stanford</a> Campus Atrocity and Miscarriage of Justice’s Blog - Windows Live](<a href=“http://stanfordwakes.spaces.live.com/blog/]Stanford”>http://stanfordwakes.spaces.live.com/blog/)</p>
<p>Tragic indeed…</p>