Off-Campus Housing

I never even considered it. It can be cheaper, but it’s a pain to bike onto campus, and you can’t really get a parking permit unless you live on campus or want to pay a lot of money. The Dead Houses are the best off-campus option for many because they’re close, they have DSL, and they have a co-op environment, where you cook for yourself and live with a group of people.

Overall Experience

Stanford gives you great opportunities. The downside to attending Stanford is that it can feel competitive at times, and you might feel intimidated by that. The big thing to keep in mind is that many people are so smart and study so hard that they tend to be a little weird. But I have some great friends that are very down-to-earth. I am kind of bummed about the dating scene right now because I had a few girlfriends in high school, and now that’s not the case. But I am here mainly to learn, so I am happy.

Parking

There is a lot of parking, and from what I’ve heard about other schools, it’s pretty cheap, too. You can’t have a car as a freshman, but this makes you focus more on campus life. Later on in your college career, it might be nice to have a car, or at least to have friends with cars, so that you can get out every now and then.

Safety & Security

I feel very safe on campus. Campus is like a happy little bubble. Recently, there was a report of an assault on campus, but I have never experienced anything like that personally. Generally, the biggest thing we have to worry about is high school kids skateboarding around campus and trying to sneak into our frat parties.

Transportation

Public transportation at Stanford is actually really great. The University has Marguerite, a free shuttle that students can ride to nearby shopping centers, the Caltrain station, and supermarkets.

Weather

California’s weather is nice, especially when it is not too hot, but is still very sunny, and you get a nice breeze from the bay. It rains in the winter, but it doesn’t get too cold.

Academics

Most of the professors here are pretty good. I mean, a lot have done amazing things, and they really know what they’re talking about. Of course, you get the occasional dud who’s just old and boring and such, but there are definitely quality teachers here. All the professors hold office hours, so if you make the effort, you can definitely get to know your professor. They’re almost always available, too.

Athletics

Varsity and IM sports are both pretty big here, but varsity sports are particularly big. My family and friends are local, so I’m off campus too much to participate in sports very much, but Stanford offers classes for volleyball, and many other sports (though no basketball class, to my dismay), so even if you can’t play in an IM sport, you can still find athletic activities in which to take part.

Campus Dining

Dining hall food is pretty decent. If you’re in university housing (which most folk are for all four years), you are required to purchase your dorm’s type of meal plan. This can mean paying a lot for not much food if you’re someone who likes to eat at odd hours or misses meal times. But if you are a big eater who doesn’t eat out too often, you can do quite well. I’d recommend against Wilbur Hall’s dining if at all possible, as it’s on an á la carte system. At the prices they charge, big eaters fare pretty badly. The food is good, however, as the hall was recently renovated, and people with smaller appetites tend to enjoy it.

Campus Housing

Even though next year Stanford is rearranging dorms so that more freshmen will be able to live in an all-frosh dorm, I personally love living in a four-class dorm. I live in Roble, where the freshmen live in roomy, three-room quads. They are really nice, and Roble has so many freshmen, it is like the best of both housing options.

Campus Strictness

This is one area in which Stanford does very well: we get to have parties in our dorms with alcohol, and the police almost never come. RAs are not policemen, and are cool with us drinking, as long as we are responsible about it.

Computers

There are tons of computer labs and great computer support on this campus. There is an RCC (residential computer consultant) that lives in every dorm or house. He or she is usually like an extra RA (resident assistant) who can also fix your computer. My only complaint would be that sometimes our download times are slower than they should be. I heard Stanford used to have a T3 line but decided to get rid of it and go back to multiple, slower T1 lines, mainly because students were hogging bandwidth for media exchanges. On a side note, Stanford seems to be totally in favor of such media exchange programs.

Diversity

It’s been pretty good. My freshman year, I lived with about 90 people, and basically every roommate pair in our dorm was comprised of two people of different races. Expect to live with someone very different from you freshman year.

Drug Scene

Drugs are really not that big here; it’s kind of surprising that for a laid-back California school we don’t have a lot more people who smoke marijuana regularly. That is not to say that people here don’t do recreational drugs, but the drug culture is definitely not pronounced, and the use of hardcore drugs is rare.

Facilities

Facilities at Stanford range from excellent to atrocious. On the atrocious side of things falls Tresidder Fitness—the most conveniently located gym here. It’s in the student union, and it’s a really unpleasant place to work out—small with old machines that are not cleaned or repaired with any decent frequency. It’s almost always crowded, so you have to wait in lines to use certain machines. Also on the atrocious side is Tresidder itself. If you are over 21 then you can have fun drinking at The Treehouse or The Coho, but otherwise there isn’t much to eat, and there certainly isn’t much to do. Certain places here, however, are very nice and quite fancy.

Greek Life

Only about 15 percent of the Stanford Student Body is Greek. Some of the fraternities, like Kappa Sig, Theta Delta and Sigma Chi, throw a good number of parties, when not on probation. The rest of them just hog prime housing on campus. Stanford is one of the few universities that actually encourages Greek participation by taking housing away from Independents in order to house its fraternities and sororities. Most members of the Greek system at Stanford say they enjoy the camaraderie and social scene, but admit that the Greeks at Stanford are nowhere near as ‘hardcore’ or ‘gung-ho’ as their state school counterparts.

Guys & Girls

It is rumored that many years ago, a magazine declared Stanford to have the ‘ugliest girls’ of any college campus. Lately, however, the consensus is that the girls get better looking every year. My verdict would be that Stanford kids are generally the slightly nerdy, to quite nerdy, laid-back, and down-to-earth type, that is, if they can fit a particular type at all.

Local Atmosphere

We live close to Palo Alto, a relatively affluent town boasting clean streets and elegant restaurants. Most students complain that Palo Alto is too boring, though, and that there is nothing to do. While Palo Alto may not have the liveliness of a more traditional college town, it has its unique charms. I must concede that Palo Alto is not cheap. Meals cost about $10–$15, but most people do not mind so much because they eat in the dorms most of the time and come to Palo Alto only once or twice a week, due to the demanding nature of their studies. You may not find raging parties or cheap, hole-in-the-wall restaurants in Palo Alto, but you will find a safe and elegant setting to go to for a quick break from your studies.

Nightlife

Parties on campus are usually good with nice music and crazy dancing. Fraternities and sororities, dorms, student groups, and random people on campus throw parties. However, the bars and clubs are for students 21 and older. I have a few more years to start experiencing that scene.

Off-Campus Dining

We have fast food places like Jack in the Box, and nicer stuff like Max’s Opera Cafe. Whatever your dining pleasure happens to be, it will be here somewhere. I wouldn’t say that there is any one definitive place to which everyone goes, but there are plenty of good places in the area.