What do you like about Stanford?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
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<p>Hi, everyone, </p>

<p>What do you like about Stanford? I see a lot of chances threads here on this forum, and recently a thread asking about drawbacks of Stanford, but what is good about Stanford. In particular, what is especially good about Stanford compared to other colleges that someone could get into if that applicant is able to get into Stanford? </p>

<p>Feel free to tell me (us) about anything that you find appealing about the Stanford experience, inside or outside of class. I'm expecting to hear especially from actual Stanford students or recent Stanford alumni, not from curious onlookers like myself. What first got you interested in Stanford? What was a pleasant surprise after you got there?</p>

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<p>Well I can't speak in depth about what's great at Stanford because I haven't attended there yet (wait a few months and I'll tell you) BUT I do know why I applied. Obviously like pretty much everyone who even thinks about applying to Stanford one of the things that initially sticks out about Stanford is its broad strengths in pretty much everything. This means that unlike other places you meet geniuses in almost every field which makes a great student body. I couldn't visit Stanford but my friend did and he came back with nothing but praises. He said the tour guide was really nice and so was everyone he came across. Also Stanford is a happy place and pretty much all its students are happy (according to Princeton Review). The weather there is great and something really important for me was the fact that they have great undergraduate research programs. Also Stanford is really beautiful and that matters if your planning to live there for at least four years. Initially my first choice was MIT but actually now I'm truly glad I got rejected from there because I see now that Stanford is a better choice for me.</p>

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<p>oh man...i'll just list the basics and you can tell me if you want me to elaborate...</p>

<p>cultural atmosphere---there are SOOOO many groups on campus dealing with culture and music, arts, dance, you name it. i love it that every week there is a show you can go to and be entertained. also, the diversity of the student body is very unique.</p>

<p>athletics---we don't suck...except at football. we've won the directors cup 12 years in a row. and it's awesome b/c the school is small enough to where you meet a lot of the athletes and get to actually cheer for people you know during the games/meets. i will say that for being so good at athletics, we lack the sheer craziness of other school in terms of spirit....i blame the football team. </p>

<p>academics---frosh classes can be boring, but upperclassmen have told me of classes that have changed there life and professors are ridiculously famous in the academic world. meeting with prof's is encourage and they are very willing to help. it's a great environment to be in b/c stanford offeres many oppurtunities for help if you need.</p>

<p>weather---besides the rainy winters, it's perfect. high of 85-75, low of 55-65 with sunshine most of the day....pretty sweet.</p>

<p>san fran is nearby</p>

<p>famous people come to visit all the time. this year we had the creator of family guy, mos def performed, the president (haha...that was fun), cameron diaz, founder of yahoo and google, along with a lot of other people i can't remember right now.</p>

<p>campus----is gorgeous!!! there are so many random places to chill and relax by yourself or study, and many people don't even see them b/c they just find more popular ones. people say it big, but where you'll be going for classes is in a relatively central location. seriously, people exaggerate sometimes. longest it should take you to get to a class...(lets say you live on the far east side and you're going to the chem buildings)...is 2-3 min on a bike going realtively slow/normal speed. if you gun it, as i do, then it takes you 1 min to get everywhere.</p>

<p>food----freshman will all have to choose from the 10 meal/day, 14, or 19 mean/day food plan. i suggest the 10 mean/day b/c you get more cardinal points to use at other food places on campus like Olives (which is awesome), Subway, and other places. people complain about dining hall food getting old, but there are 5 diff you can go to (Manzanita, wilber, stern, flomo, and lagunita). each has a diff theme, and all have enough variety for you to satisfy yourself.</p>

<p>extracuricular stuff--from sports to volunteering, there's just way to much ish at stanford that you can procrastinante with. it's really awesome though an i guarantee you you'll find something fun to do.</p>

<p>stanford isn't as cut throat as others school are. people usually help each other pretty often and A LOT of people complain about "doing horribly" or getting raped by exams. the funny thing is, a lot of them don't get "owned by these exams. and a lot of time people make it seems like they didn't study that much when, let's face it, we are all stanford students and therefore can't help studying a little. they say stanford students are like ducks...calm from the top of the water, but paddling like mad underneath. i think it's true. at least we're not like harvard sharks or something...haha.</p>

<p>i love stanford b/c i feel comfortable there. lets say stanford for some reason didn't allow any of my friends or people i knew back this year, i would still feel comfortable. it's hard to explain.</p>

<p>hmm...that's about it for now...i can't think of anything else.</p>

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<p>yes, the food is very good.</p>

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<p>Dude! What's good about Stanford? It's ****ing Stanford! </p>

<p>:D</p>

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<p>^^^yeah that was probably more effective than my post. haha</p>

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<p>Entrepreneurship is one of the things that has become a stanfor signature career path if we check the recent history...and there is a lot of promotion by the faculty for it...</p>

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<p>


</p>

<p>Thanks. Are you a Stanford student? Could you please be a little more specific?</p>

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<p>You might also check out the featured "Why Stanford?" thread available at <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=105291%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=105291&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

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<p>I don't go to Stanford... it's my dream school.</p>

<p>Hopefully, I'll be there next fall...</p>

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<p>har har at the ducks analogy.</p>

<p>harvard sharks <em>looks around</em> never heard of that before...</p>

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<p>i was serious about that ish. stanford used that analogy like 83 time during orientation. and you haven't heard that before b/c i made it up. </p>

<p>get into college and then you can hate. haha.</p>

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<ol>
<li><p>The pleasant surprise for me was the famous "Stanford chill" atmosphere. Everything's very relaxed (well, except maybe the night before quantum physics homework is due, but that's another story...), and there's no unhealthy pressure. Not that slacking off is encouraged; it's just that there's no emphasis on being the best, or the most on top of everything, or anything like that.</p></li>
<li><p>On a related note, competition is nonexistant.</p></li>
<li><p>IMHO, the duck syndrome is either highly overstated, or a bad spin on the actual situation, or possibly both. The duck analogy sounds like you're actively disguising (or feeling compelled to disguise) exactly how stressed you are or how hard you're working. The correct reading of the analogy is that it's simply not visible to most outsiders. Students are plenty open with each other about stress, workload, and all that.</p></li>
<li><p>This has been mentioned before, but the professors I've had so far are amazing. My physics prof fall quarter practically wrote the book on string theory. Spring quarter, math prof just exudes genius on a daily basis, and even more so if you go to his office hours. And winter quarter math prof was by far the friendliest; his office hours right before class would usually draw half a dozen or so students, half of whom came just to hang out, socialize with him and classmates, and hear him talk about whatever math he happened to talk about. And then, of course, I've had two or three who were kind of off-the-wall, in good ways.</p></li>
<li><p>The students. I have to hand it to the admissions office; they seem to do a good job, although I don't know how they do it. Stanford students are just awesome.</p></li>
<li><p>And I have to say it: the Band. In addition to being loads of fun, you'd be surprised at how easy it is to further your musical development with the LSJUMB. In just my first year, I learned a new instrument and picked up the basics of arranging.</p></li>
</ol>

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<p>The band seems awesome in many ways, but they lack one crucial (but not necessarily essential property)- sounding good. :)</p>

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<p>^^they're fine...don't hate. i'm not in Band by the way.</p>

<p>


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<p>true true. but you have to admit there are quite a few that do purposely mask what they've been doing to get ready for a test or how much they've been studying. i can recall many time right before an exam when some idiots would be yelling across the room to each other "i'm gonna get raped by this test" or "i didn't study at all man" or "maybe i shouldn't have gotten wasted last night...har har". c'mon, you have to admit there are students like this at stanford...and everywhere for that matter. but i still agree with you.</p>

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<p>I'm not hating- I have a good friend in the band. However, after two shows, I'm aware of what they sound like, and when compared to bands like UCLA's, Berkeley's, and USC, sound quality just doesn't look like one of Stanford's strengths- but this is not bad, and it seems to make sense considering how much less they practice than other bands, and how much time they spend on other things (such as creating some great skits). :)</p>

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<p>are you saying our band practices less than others b/c they're busy making costumes and skits? proposterous i say. haha.</p>

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<p>They practice less because one isn't required to go to practices and they schedule fewer practices than other bands!</p>

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<p>We don't sound as polished, clean, and precise, no. We do, however, put our hearts in the music like no other band I've ever seen. And I'd like to think that shows in the music, at least a good chunk of the time.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the interesting information about Stanford. I'd like to hear more, as there are young people on the math team I coach who are very likely to apply there over the next several years.</p>