Ask Questions about Stanford!

thehaakun
Sun, 29 Mar 2015 19:53:13 +0000

@thatangryasian‌ Congratulations! Being accepted is a good feeling lol.

Stress culture at Stanford…I would say your stress level depends on what major you are lol. Naturally techies feel more pressure than fuzzies, but I’ve seen humanities majors having to shovel out essays at a fast-pace. It seems like you’re referring to the “duck syndrome” which, IMO, is here. Everyone here is just laidback. Chill. Maybe it’s just the California atmosphere and the weather, but there are the outside appearances of people just…being chill. But if you really get to know people, it’s then that you start to see the stress and wear and tear of classes here. Tbh though, it’s not as bad as it sounds. People get stressed. Classes here are hard. But tbh, if you don’t get to know someone, then how would you ever know their struggles? I don’t think anyone’s pressured to mask their concerns. People are open about their feelings and stress here. You see that at office hours. I’m pretty open with when I’m stressed out and worried. I voice my stress to my friends and they sympathize.

Trust me, as a freshman, you have PLENTY of resources to vent to if you need to talk to someone. Not just your friends, but your RAs, your RFs (if you’re close to them), the Academic Advisor in your dorm, your PMA, CAPS (which I hear they’ve been pushing for more funding for, but I don’t know anyone who goes to CAPS), etc. There’s a lot of resources. I actually failed a physics midterm last year and was in tears and legitimate depression for a few weeks, but my RA kept me up and pushed me to keep going and I ended up getting an A in the class (I nailed the second midterm and did well on the final exam). Your RAs and friends are your best support at Stanford.

Classes…It depends on what classes you’re talking about. It’s not impossible to get good grades. I have As in a majority of my classes. Could you specify what classes you’re wondering about? Econ classes (at least the intro ones I know of) are taught VERY well. Just put effort and time into your classes and I think you’ll be fine (at least, that’s what I’ve been doing and it hasn’t made me fail a class so far). One of my friends is planning to double major in Econ and CS (two very tough majors) and he’s staying afloat. He’s stressed sometimes, yes, but I know he’s determined to go through with it and he finds his own happiness when he needs to.

I believe students are legitimately happy. I am happy here. I think the type of student that would thrive here is someone who’s just willing to learn–not only the academics, but responsibility, managing your own time, knowing what’s good for you and what isn’t, what your limits are, etc. Someone who’s ready to learn more about themselves and Stanford itself will be fine here. Just keep an open mind, know what’s/who’s healthy for you and what/who isn’t.

@DominicBayer‌ I do not know of any history majors, but my friend’s taken a few history classes and he seems to enjoy them. Then again, he’s a film major, so I’d have to get back to you on that.

Depends on what dorms. All-frosh dorms have a reputation to be loud and party hard on weekends, but it varies from year to year. Four-class dorms are more quiet–naturally because upperclassmen spend their time studying and working.

@drblack‌ Well, it takes like half an hour by Marguerite to get to the Caltrain station since the Marguerite schedule goes every half hour. And then it takes like another 1 - 1.5 hour to get to SF? It’s been a long time since I’ve used Caltrain, lol sorry. I usually drive to the Millbrae BART station and then it takes me 20 minutes to get to SF by BART.

The others aren’t joking–it’s more of a plan thing if you want to go to SF, and not much of a “let’s just go to SF” kind of thing. If you want more of a momentary excursion, University Avenue has tons of shops and food places to hang and chill, and that’s where I usually see people casually hang. They opened a new T4 on Uni Ave and I’m so psyched about that lol. If I usually go to SF, I make it an all-day kind of thing with my friends from Berkeley. It does take a while to get to SF if you go full on public transport.

It seems like you’re getting close to the subject of the “Stanford bubble” which totally exists. Since freshmen aren’t allowed cars, I felt suffocated at having to use public transport everywhere because it’s…limited? You have to follow its schedule and times, etc. I’m more of a car person lol that just likes to hop in my car and go whenever I want. Some people I know of, were never interested leaving the campus, so I guess it just depends on who you are.

At the beginning of the year, in NSO, the dorm staff actually brings everyone out to a trip to SF and you’ll have time to explore the city before heading back. If you want to experience the unique cultural gems of SF though, that’s possible on weekend excursions. You’d just have to make it worth it lol (that’s why whenever I went to SF, I brought my Berkeley friends, since they were affiliated with the city better than me).

@Planner‌ Yes. IMO, you NEED a bike. Or a longboard. Or anything with wheels. You can walk everywhere, that’s totally possible, but it sucks since the campus is huge. One of your classes can be on the other side of campus and you have 5 minutes to get there–you wouldn’t get there in time by foot. Unless you run everywhere.

We actually have a “Circle of Death”, which is where, at peak points of the day, you see a TON of bikes just going around this roundabout. I would say a large majority of students have a bike and/or wheels. People walk to class if it’s close by, but…I know of few people who walk to class.

Ah, West Lag and Manz. I’ve seen the construction lol. Those are upperclassmen dorms (there are some freshmen in West Lag, but very few), so I suppose I’m not surprised that they’d try to facilitate an open and social environment. Upperclassmen dorms are usually quieter than all-frosh dorms (naturally). I know some of the upperclass dorms have difficulty facilitating community because upperclassmen just tend to…be more in their bubble? Have their own things they want to do?

If it’s West Lag though, from what I remember, a majority of the rooms there are singles, so upperclassmen usually just keep to themselves. Dorm staff in most dorms do their best to facilitate community and togetherness through dorm events but you can’t really force people out of their rooms if they don’t want to come out lol. Believe me though, as someone who will staff next year at a dorm, active attempts are made to bring people out of their rooms to hang out with other people in the dorm. But still, again, you can’t force people out of their bubble. Sorry for the long ramble, but I guess to answer your question, I think Stanford’s expansions on West Lag and Manz are a good idea to bring people out of their rooms.