Stanford University
Reviews

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.

Fun but Not Central

While there are a variety of fraternities and sororities, a majority of students are not involved in Greek life. While parties are fun, they are not central to student life.

Impressive Social Scene

Concerning girls AND guys: There is a HUGE range of people here at Stanford, even more than at most other schools, so unless you're a recluse and don't ever get out or do much, you'll have no trouble finding hotties of every shape, size, talent, hobby, personality, and sexual orientation. Trust me. When I first got into Stanford I was really afraid that every one here would be a super awkward nerd or a huge snob, but the complete opposite is the case. There are a lot of people here, so you'll still meet geeks, snobs, and jerks, but no more than at any other college, and for every annoying or off-putting person, you can find a dozen really cool attractive people.

Alcohol and Marijuana

No one pressures you to do either. But people do both with a high degree of regularity. They are not strictly enforced but some people drink past the point at which it is still safe. In which case an ambulance generally arrives to take them to a hospital.

What Sets Us Apart

What sets Stanford apart from a lot of the Ivies is the athletic presence on campus. Lots of students are athletes themselves, and students who aren't try their best to support their friends in varsity games. For those who aren't at the Varsity level, there are lots of IM and club sports to choose from, as well as pick up games that are either organized by your dorm or are completely spur of the moment.

Special

Stanford is an awesome school which tries to make the freshman experience a great one. The RAs are trained intensely and freshman in your dorms (whether all frosh or mixed) is really the first group of people that you'll bond with at Stanford. The housing options are all on campus and guarenteed all 4 years and have a variety of options. As for classes, there are professors who regularly make it in NYT or CNN that freshmen can take classes from and research that is being done that is making world news. The people that you will meet at Stanford will change how you think about the world, and are some of the most unique and interesting people there are. It's an awesome school that focuses on community, academics, and social life of students.

Best Athletics in the World

We've won the Director's Cup for "best overall athletic program" for the past eighteen years straight. We have over 100 NCAA championships (only school besides for UCLA to do that) and have won a NCAA championship every year for the past thirty-five years in a row. The majority of our teams are always ranked in the top five in the nation -- usually first or second. It's an amazing scene on campus too: all the home games are free for all students, and the student section is always incredibly lively. All games have high attendance and high energy. Away games are broadcast throughout campus, so you can always find a good place to watch those, too. There's no better place on earth for athletics.

Small Town Adventures

Palo Alto is a small town with a limited number of college age venues. The restaurants range from mildly affordable to quite pricey. Overall boring town but very safe

Bike, Bike, Bike

If you're one of those kids who never took of the training wheels, this probably won't be a great environment for you. It's a huge campus, but you can't get anywhere on campus via car. A car is nice to go grocery shopping or catch a movie, but the bus system run by the school is relatively efficient and can get you through any crises.

Engaging and Eye-Opening Experience

Stanford has some of the best professors in their respective fields, and they love to teach undergraduates. You will often have the professor's own book as a textbook, and I've had more than one professor say that s/he loves to engage with students who are just eager to learn something new.

Whatta Maze

Unfortunately, parking is all kinds of illogical on campus. It's crowded (although you will almost always be able to find a space), hard to navigate, and divided up into several different permit 'zones' depending on where your housing is - if you live on East Campus, you can really only park in East Campus. It makes it very difficult to safely shuttle between dorms when the need arises, unless you know what times you can avoid getting parking tickets($40 a pop!). The permit for your (very limited) parking area is also pretty expensive - around $300 for the year. But since Palo Alto isn't a very good college town, having access to a car is somewhat of a necessity for upperclassmen looking to get out a bit.

Incredibly Active, High Achieving Students = Double-Edged Sword

Some of the main reasons I chose to go to Stanford were: it was ranked "#1 Happiest Students" and "#2 Best Quality of Life" by Princeton Review at the time; everyone I met there was so down-to-earth, "chill," and modest about their amazing achievements and talents; and it is a very well-rounded school with world-renowned academic programs, incredible professors, amazing athletics, a general culture of fitness and wellness, a strong entrepreneurial spirit, concern for environmental and social issues, and students who are passionate about so many things. I think the extracurricular life at Stanford is especially vibrant. You can find a club for anything... and if you can't, you can easily start one and find others to join you. But there are downsides to this. Since everyone wants to start/lead organizations and host events, they're too busy to go to other events. Stanford students are so spoiled by the huge range of incredible speakers that visit (from Colin Powell to Bill Gates to famous actors) and so over-committed that they will pass up or drop out of once-in-a-lifetime events at a shocking rate. Also, Stanford has gone from "happiest students" to "most stressful school" in the course of 4 years, and I have personally witnessed how each class of freshmen is more uptight, over-committed, and stressed. As a freshman, I would have given Stanford an "A" rating, but now it's s "B-". Honestly, most majors in themselves are really not that difficult. Students just stress themselves out by being overachievers (everyone seems to be taking the max 20 units a quarter when you only need 15 per quarter to graduate in 4 years) and overly involved in extracurricular activities. If you can fight getting sucked into this, you'll enjoy all the amazing academic and personal enrichment opportunities that Stanford offers.

Beautiful Sunshine Makes the Rainy Winter Quarter Worth It

When it's sunny, the Stanford campus is absolutely beautiful and all the students seem happier. It doesn't get as warm as I would have expected, but fall and spring quarters are generally very pleasant. It usually rains a lot winter quarter, and that definitely contributes to the gloomier environment during those ~3 months. Students tend to pack on extra units and harder classes winter quarter because they know they'll just be inside all the time, but it creates a vicious cycle.

Fair Enough

Some are nicer than others, but as long as the rooms are warm when it's cold and cool when it's hot, I can't complain.

So Lenient

What alcohol policy? Stanford has the open door policy, meaning drinking is allowed for all students, it is just preferred that you do it with an open door. RA's don't prohibit drinking; they are always there to help with a problem and might check in to see if everyone is safe. If you're over 21, you can have an open container out with you. Some people don't wait till they're 21.

Live on-Campus

Stanford guarantees 4 years of housing and 94% of students do.

Fun

You have So many options here, and so many things to amuse you :). I love that you do not have to declare a major until around the end of sophomore year, so until then you can take classes on anything that interests you really (while completing GERs). But if you want to do something like engineering you should probably decide early because there are a lot of requirements.

Nice Weather

I'm used to warmer weather, but I can accept the weather here. When it's warm, it's usually warm in the daytime but chilly at night and early in the morning. When it's cold, it's windy and Cold - but I love all the rain.

Yay, Food!

The food at the dining halls is good, but there are also a lot of non-dining hall options available. Many places, like the Axe & Palm, Union Square, Subway, etc. accept meal plan dollars - which is nice :).

Bioe/BME

Bioengineering was originally only for graduate students, so it is a pretty difficult major for undergrads. Biomechanical engineering here is a lot like BioE, but there is not as much involvement with the School of Medicine :/.

Excellent

Financial Aid is awesome. The only person I know with a problem has issues because her Dad died in high school and things with insurance are crazy, but she talked with financial aid and they figured out a way for her to be able to stay here without too much in loans. I am frickin broke and I get to live more or less the same way as the super rich people do. Pretty awesome!

Nice Dorms - Spread Out

The dorm rooms are a reasonable size and in good shape. Most dorms get renovated bathrooms every 2 years. However, the freshmen can get spread out as the all-freshmen dorms are on east campus and the four-class dorms are farther west.

Hands Down Amazing

Professors are almost always available, TAs are at hand, facilities are awesome, all signs of an amazing academic institution. It's simple to sign up for classes, you get almost every class you want, very few have caps and are over-flooded. Workload is hard, but expected. Study abroad programs are available around the world and are AMAZING opportunities.

Non-Greek Perspective, I <3 Greeks

As a non-greek I had a great time at greek parites/events. I think greek life at stanford is low-key compared to other schools and not so restrictive. Most parties are open to all of campus and there's no real feeling of exclusivity for outsiders. Greek houses are the main providers of a social scene, so we are all glad they are there. I had many Greek friends and I don't think there's a general bias towards greeks. All the houses do have their typical stereotypes (jocks, nerds, sketchballs, potheads)but nothing overwhelming enough to bring tension to the atmosphere.

Great Weather Almost Year-Round

The weather is never too hot. Even in the summer, 80's is about as high as the temperature goes. In cooler seasons it gets fairly cold at night. By cold, I mean that you may need a hoodie or sweatshirt. There are never temps below freezing. In the winter, there are quite a few rainy days, but there is virtually no rain during other seasons.