What is Stanford like?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS is thinking about applying to Stanford REA. We know it’s a long shot as an unhooked candidate (full-pay white male from W school), but it’s excellent for CS and he’s allured by the laid back CA culture and weather. Anyone have a recent grad?

Duck Syndrome is real. Don’t let the weather and expansive campus fool you that many students are stressed.

Different from HYP as it includes world class athletes along with very nerdy types and others in between.

Nevertheless, Stanford is very alluring with the opportunity to collaborate with brilliant minds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the campus is objectively beautiful but somewhat soulless. Just feels very corporate and overly manicured. I don’t get the Taco Bell complaints though.

I went to grad school there 20+ years ago (so zero knowledge about the current undergrad experience) but I'd say that's an accurate descriptor of the space. Honestly I was totally wowed by it when I first arrive - lemon trees out my window! blue sky every day!! mission-ish style architecture! But I rather despised Palo Alto and looking back on the campus I remember it as feeling rather sterile even then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any college that doesn’t get bashed on DCUM?

Yes. But I think with Stanford, for a lot of people who went there, there is a real sense of loss over what it had become. This is true to an extent of other elite schools as well; the current admissions process and the tenure process has homogenized the T10s so the personalities that made them distinct have noticeably faded. With that loss of individuality comes a sense of loss. For some schools, it is sharper than others. For instance, Stanford is a bland facsimile of what it used to be (alum here). Meanwhile my impression is that Princeton has better retained some of what made it unique. Yale on the other hand had also lost some of its character.

I agree that Stanford used to be like, the West Coast version of the University of Chicago/ Brown. But now it is not that.

I am laughing at the comparisons to Taco Bell architecture--that is exactly it! it has extremely underwhelming campus, sort of hot and dusty and very blah. USC has much better architecture.

You are an idiot. Have you ever been to the peninsula? I lived there for years and it was never “hot and dusty”. As for “blah” that only reflects your lack of taste.

Or, more likely, envy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is thinking about applying to Stanford REA. We know it’s a long shot as an unhooked candidate (full-pay white male from W school), but it’s excellent for CS and he’s allured by the laid back CA culture and weather. Anyone have a recent grad?

Duck Syndrome is real. Don’t let the weather and expansive campus fool you that many students are stressed.

Different from HYP as it includes world class athletes along with very nerdy types and others in between.

Nevertheless, Stanford is very alluring with the opportunity to collaborate with brilliant minds.

HYP has some world-class athletes.

Princeton has a recent Norwegian-American graduate who won a gold medal in pole vault at the 2023 European Indoor Championships. Another guy won an NCAA championship in wrestling this past year. And Bella Alarie was the 5th overall pick in the 2020 WNBA draft.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is thinking about applying to Stanford REA. We know it’s a long shot as an unhooked candidate (full-pay white male from W school), but it’s excellent for CS and he’s allured by the laid back CA culture and weather. Anyone have a recent grad?

Duck Syndrome is real. Don’t let the weather and expansive campus fool you that many students are stressed.

Different from HYP as it includes world class athletes along with very nerdy types and others in between.

Nevertheless, Stanford is very alluring with the opportunity to collaborate with brilliant minds.

HYP has some world-class athletes.

Princeton has a recent Norwegian-American graduate who won a gold medal in pole vault at the 2023 European Indoor Championships. Another guy won an NCAA championship in wrestling this past year. And Bella Alarie was the 5th overall pick in the 2020 WNBA draft.

Every school can claim a few famous alumni athletes, but compare them with Stanford's
Total National championships: 158
National NCAA team championships: 131
NCAA Team Championships since 2000: 55
Stanford scholar athletes who have been Rhodes Scholars: 12
Olympic medals won by 177 Stanford-affiliated athletes: 296
Individual national champions: 619
Individual NCAA champions: 541
Consecutive years with at least one NCAA championships: 46

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DS is thinking about applying to Stanford REA. We know it’s a long shot as an unhooked candidate (full-pay white male from W school), but it’s excellent for CS and he’s allured by the laid back CA culture and weather. Anyone have a recent grad?

Duck Syndrome is real. Don’t let the weather and expansive campus fool you that many students are stressed.

Different from HYP as it includes world class athletes along with very nerdy types and others in between.

Nevertheless, Stanford is very alluring with the opportunity to collaborate with brilliant minds.

HYP has some world-class athletes.

Princeton has a recent Norwegian-American graduate who won a gold medal in pole vault at the 2023 European Indoor Championships. Another guy won an NCAA championship in wrestling this past year. And Bella Alarie was the 5th overall pick in the 2020 WNBA draft.

Nathan Chen, 2022 Olympic gold medalist in figure skating - attends Yale.

The Silicon Valley is pretty much the opposite of “laid back” and Stanford is not immune to this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Taco Bell founded 1962.

Stanford main quad built 1887-1906.

Stop saying Stanford is like Taco Bell, dummies.

Among other things it shows you’ve never actually been there.

+1

It probably also shows they spend way too much time eating fast food and that's how they "know" the broader world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any college that doesn’t get bashed on DCUM?

Yes. But I think with Stanford, for a lot of people who went there, there is a real sense of loss over what it had become. This is true to an extent of other elite schools as well; the current admissions process and the tenure process has homogenized the T10s so the personalities that made them distinct have noticeably faded. With that loss of individuality comes a sense of loss. For some schools, it is sharper than others. For instance, Stanford is a bland facsimile of what it used to be (alum here). Meanwhile my impression is that Princeton has better retained some of what made it unique. Yale on the other hand had also lost some of its character.

I agree that Stanford used to be like, the West Coast version of the University of Chicago/ Brown. But now it is not that.

I am laughing at the comparisons to Taco Bell architecture--that is exactly it! it has extremely underwhelming campus, sort of hot and dusty and very blah. USC has much better architecture.

You are an idiot. Have you ever been to the peninsula? I lived there for years and it was never “hot and dusty”. As for “blah” that only reflects your lack of taste.

lol, i was living in santa cruz at the time and visited a friend at stanford...compared to the lush, incredible uc santa cruz campus with views of the ocean, all the magical little residential colleges, the redwood trees with banana slugs snoozing on them, the surfer culture and boardwalk in town...gosh yes stanford seemed dusty and blah and as other PP said, "soulless and corporate."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any college that doesn’t get bashed on DCUM?

Yes. But I think with Stanford, for a lot of people who went there, there is a real sense of loss over what it had become. This is true to an extent of other elite schools as well; the current admissions process and the tenure process has homogenized the T10s so the personalities that made them distinct have noticeably faded. With that loss of individuality comes a sense of loss. For some schools, it is sharper than others. For instance, Stanford is a bland facsimile of what it used to be (alum here). Meanwhile my impression is that Princeton has better retained some of what made it unique. Yale on the other hand had also lost some of its character.

I agree that Stanford used to be like, the West Coast version of the University of Chicago/ Brown. But now it is not that.

I am laughing at the comparisons to Taco Bell architecture--that is exactly it! it has extremely underwhelming campus, sort of hot and dusty and very blah. USC has much better architecture.

You are an idiot. Have you ever been to the peninsula? I lived there for years and it was never “hot and dusty”. As for “blah” that only reflects your lack of taste.

lol, i was living in santa cruz at the time and visited a friend at stanford...compared to the lush, incredible uc santa cruz campus with views of the ocean, all the magical little residential colleges, the redwood trees with banana slugs snoozing on them, the surfer culture and boardwalk in town...gosh yes stanford seemed dusty and blah and as other PP said, "soulless and corporate."

lol, i was living in Rio de Janeiro at the time and visited a friend at santa cruz...compared to the diversity, music, life and views of the atlantic, all the incredible food and peoples from all over....gosh santa cruz seemed blah like another overpriced bs college for monolingual americans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there any college that doesn’t get bashed on DCUM?

Yes. But I think with Stanford, for a lot of people who went there, there is a real sense of loss over what it had become. This is true to an extent of other elite schools as well; the current admissions process and the tenure process has homogenized the T10s so the personalities that made them distinct have noticeably faded. With that loss of individuality comes a sense of loss. For some schools, it is sharper than others. For instance, Stanford is a bland facsimile of what it used to be (alum here). Meanwhile my impression is that Princeton has better retained some of what made it unique. Yale on the other hand had also lost some of its character.

I agree that Stanford used to be like, the West Coast version of the University of Chicago/ Brown. But now it is not that.

I am laughing at the comparisons to Taco Bell architecture--that is exactly it! it has extremely underwhelming campus, sort of hot and dusty and very blah. USC has much better architecture.

You are an idiot. Have you ever been to the peninsula? I lived there for years and it was never “hot and dusty”. As for “blah” that only reflects your lack of taste.

lol, i was living in santa cruz at the time and visited a friend at stanford...compared to the lush, incredible uc santa cruz campus with views of the ocean, all the magical little residential colleges, the redwood trees with banana slugs snoozing on them, the surfer culture and boardwalk in town...gosh yes stanford seemed dusty and blah and as other PP said, "soulless and corporate."

Yeah I've been to Santa Cruz and as I said, you are an idiot. Stanford campus is beautiful.

[Anonymous]

…a lot of the responses are regurgitating info from Fisk’s Guide, Niche, Reddit, etc.

I have a kid at Stanford and all I can say is - he loves it, has amazing opportunities, world renowned professors and guest speakers, and an unmatched peer group in classes and ECs. If you know, you know….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:…a lot of the responses are regurgitating info from Fisk’s Guide, Niche, Reddit, etc.

I have a kid at Stanford and all I can say is - he loves it, has amazing opportunities, world renowned professors and guest speakers, and an unmatched peer group in classes and ECs. If you know, you know….

Unmatched? Hardly.

It's one of a number of highly selective institutions, and legacy status plays a not insignificant role in undergraduate admissions there, as it does at HYP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:…a lot of the responses are regurgitating info from Fisk’s Guide, Niche, Reddit, etc.

I have a kid at Stanford and all I can say is - he loves it, has amazing opportunities, world renowned professors and guest speakers, and an unmatched peer group in classes and ECs. If you know, you know….

Unmatched? Hardly.

Yes there could be as many as four or five other schools with a comparable peer group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the campus is objectively beautiful but somewhat soulless. Just feels very corporate and overly manicured. I don’t get the Taco Bell complaints though.

I went to grad school there 20+ years ago (so zero knowledge about the current undergrad experience) but I'd say that's an accurate descriptor of the space. Honestly I was totally wowed by it when I first arrive - lemon trees out my window! blue sky every day!! mission-ish style architecture! But I rather despised Palo Alto and looking back on the campus I remember it as feeling rather sterile even then.

Pretty representative of the Bay Area as a whole…. Gorgeous but sterile

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the campus is objectively beautiful but somewhat soulless. Just feels very corporate and overly manicured. I don’t get the Taco Bell complaints though.

I went to grad school there 20+ years ago (so zero knowledge about the current undergrad experience) but I'd say that's an accurate descriptor of the space. Honestly I was totally wowed by it when I first arrive - lemon trees out my window! blue sky every day!! mission-ish style architecture! But I rather despised Palo Alto and looking back on the campus I remember it as feeling rather sterile even then.

Pretty representative of the Bay Area as a whole…. Gorgeous but sterile

Where is this "sterile" sh!t coming from? I was out there a couple of weeks ago and it didn't seem sterile to me. Lots of diversity, lots of very fine restaurants, booming tech economy. It's certainly less sterile than the DMV, which is endless colonial homes and strip malls sprawling out for miles and miles.