Stanford University Top Questions

There's just SO much going on all the time... you can be whatever kind of person you want to be and have a great time. All kinds of social scenes and a beautiful campus.

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I enjoyed my freshman your greatly! It was one of the most amazing times of my life. The delicate balance between Social life and Academic life is perfectly weighted and gave me the opportunity to discover more about myself and develop to the person I am now. Great times, you should definitely consider it!

One really special aspect of Stanford that I think bears mentioning is it's location in Silicon Valley. While Stanford has no undergraduate business program, there are vast resources here for students wanting to start his or her own company. If you need advice or want to learn about business, the GSB is right on campus and some classes are open to undergrads, if you are hoping to get funding for an idea, there are a million venture firms next door on Sand Hill Road. Also, the strength of the engineering program here makes it easy to find manpower for any idea you want to implement. There are also a lot of classes and programs here that support entrepreneurship, including: The Stanford Product Realization Network BASES (Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students) lots of Management Science and Engineering Classes on innovation and entrepreneurship Stanford Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Seminar (check out the website, they bring in awesome speakers) At Stanford, there are great opportunities and resources available for anyone who wants to take what they've learned in the classroom and apply it in a business venture setting, whether it's for profit, not-for-profit, social entrepreneurship etc.

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The weather's great year-round and 280 is the greatest highway ever

I was extremely satisfied with virtually all aspects of my experience at Stanford, and wouldn't trade a minute of it. In fact, if I could change any one thing, I would have stayed longer.

Yes, Stanford has Freshmen and Sophomore Seminars, to encourage faculty-student interaction and small class sizes. But the number of open slots for students is extremely limited, and most professors don't participate. Thus the vast majority of undergraduates miss out with one-on-one faculty contact, even though 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the student body pays the full tuition. Also, don't get me started on the undergraduate "advising system", which is a joke! Currently 78{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the faculty do NOT participate in advising undergrads. Many of the remaining advisers are upperclassmen trying to pad their resumes, or graduate students who are alumni of other universities and who are also trying to pad their resumes . You will not get good advice from these people, because they do not really have a track record to demonstrate the validity of their advice. It is the "blind leading the blind." My own experience was a nightmare. Once I had declared my major, I chose a particular faculty member to be my adviser; he was the only guy in my field of interest. When I went to get my study list signed by him, he flatly refused, saying "I don't advise undergraduates." I was furious, but what could I do? I ended up signing the remainder of my study lists on my own.

This place is small enough to feel like home after your first few months. Living here really is like being at "Camp Stanford" (if you're a happy optimist) or like being trapped within the "Stanford Bubble" (if you're a negative, anti-social pessimist).

The underground gay scene is nearly as big as the out gay scene- Craigslist and Boredatstanford are big facilitators for closeted sex, and hooking up in Green Library is definitely not unheard-of. It can be really hard to get laid, for everyone but especially for gay men because the out gay scene is uptight and gossipy, so even out gay men end up looking for sex online. It's too bad but the way it works out.

Beautiful place. Wish I'd taken better advantage of it. Now that I'm off to graduate school, I have to figure out whether I want to go back (admitted, but unsure). Obviously, it is what you make of it. Make the most.

I've seen a lot of weird stuff at Stanford, from people tying dolls/teddy bears to their bikes, to people protesting naked, to people coordinating their singing in the shower. I've also met some amazing people who are doing things I would never have thought of. On the other hand, I've met people who are too caught up in school and their future careers and have forgotten to have fun along the way. There are definitely some people here who could loosen up a little, but there are some who are having a good time.

I love surveys. Thank you so much for this.