Stanford University

Lots of Variety

Overall, Stanford has some incredible dining options. You will always find something you like, whether it is at the salad bar, the mexican corner, or the asian buffet, most dining halls cater for all tastes. There are definitely lots of options for vegetarians and vegans as well. Stern Hall (generally mexican themed) has the reputation to be the worst dining hall, but even that has a decent selection every day. Wilbur Hall is great, and their Asian food attracts people from all over campus. The new dining hall, Arillaga is great as well, and puts a lot of emphasis of healthy dining and on making the food look really nice. Indian food sunday at FloMo is quite good (as far as western standards go) and if you have friends at the Row, youa re in for a treat (get invited to their dining halls, they have their own chefs and their food is great)!

The one must visit place is definitely "Ike's" sandwich place in the engineering quad. Their sandwiches on their signature Dutch Crunch bread are absolutely mouth watering.

Overall Review

Stanford has incredible academics, as almost anyone will tell you, especially when you go into "techie" subjects like engineering, hard sciences or mathematics. But as with most big name universities most professors are more concerned with their research, so students aren't their main focus. There are great TAs and section leaders though, so you still get lots of individual attention. What people dont often talk about though is the heavy conservative leaning in the more fuzzy subjects or social sciences. Having the Hoover institute on campus really does mark a difference and you'll find that professors and faculty in general tend to be quite opposed to the more liberal notions or "radical" ideas. Especially in the Economics department this can be seen. If you are looking for a really liberal education, then Stanford is probably not the place to go, it really did fool me!

The workload is intense, and professors generally expect a lot from you, but its generally very useful and there is always somebody willing to help.

The one big "MUST-TAKE" class at Stanford is Drama180Q. Despite the name, this class in not a theatre class, it is an introductory seminar on Noam Chomsky and his political and social ideas. If there is a class that you take at Stanford that will change your life, this is probably it. The professor, Rush Rehm, is fantastic and very engaging and the class size is usually small, so you get to interact with the whole class a lot. I highly recommend taking this course!

Financial Aid - Not a Problem. for Anyone. EVER.

Stanford has one of the best financial aid programs in the country. I am a resident of California, and Stanford offered me the largest scholarship of any California school, including the UCs, and substantially more than many liberal arts schools that I applied to. The Financial Aid Office is amazingly friendly and helpful, and I have worked with them many a time on turning in forms and making sure that I had everything taken care of well before the deadline.

Did you know that even if you pay full tuition, it costs Stanford more than that to actually keep you here as a student? That extra money comes from donors, sports, and research. You can't put a price on the Stanford experience, and that's the truth.