ethancc2

I've lived in Palo Alto since I was born and know that my hometown is not even close to being a college town. I'm still curious what Stanford students like/dislike about my hometown.

I'm wondering:
-How often do most students make trips to Palo Alto?
-What do students do in Palo Alto? (ie food, shopping, volunteer, partying?)
-Despite the cost of housing, does anyone actually move out of the dorms to live in Palo Alto?
-Is Palo Alto really boring?
-Would having access to a car improve your college experience?

Any additional thoughts (likes and dislikes) would be great.

im_blue

- Not so often for those with cars, since Mountain View and Menlo Park have more restaurants and bars that are cheaper. More often for those without cars.
- Mostly food. Shopping is way too expensive other than a few stores like Borders.
- Not really, 96% of students live on campus. I suspect a majority of the rest live locally.
- yes
- yes, especially at an isolated campus like Stanford.

ethancc2

Thanks for the response, it pretty much reaffirms my own experience in Palo Alto.

It's great that Palo Alto has low crime rates and good public schools, but like you said it's way too boring and expensive. I've been stuck in Palo Alto for over almost two decades before leaving for college... Stanford students are lucky in how they only endure it for 4 years.

mercruz

true, but the Farm is much different from Palo Alto proper...