<p>Um, okay. Stanford’s remoteness. In Silicon Valley, directly between San Francisco and San Jose, right next to Palo Alto, Menlo Park and Atherton. The three most expensive places to live in the entire Bay Area. How come houses cost so much around Stanford (Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton) if Stanford is in the middle of nowhere? Who would want to pay so much to live in an area of “remoteness”?</p>
<p>And, as I’ve actually stayed at both Stanford and Harvard, I have something to go by in directly comparing the social settings of their respective campuses. I can not help but wonder whether you can claim a similar perspective on these matters.</p>
<p>You may very well be right that there is still a sense of community at schools in the city. I’ve never been a student at Harvard, so I can’t claim to be an expert. I do know that at Stanford I really love the most students are around on the weekend. </p>
<p>It seems like there are two possibilities. If students at schools in the city rarely go off campus, then the city doesn’t seem like such an important resource. If they often go off campus, I can’t imagine that not changing the feel of the university. Maybe “sense of community” is the wrong term, but I do feel like something that I love about Stanford would be lost. That said, I’m sure there are people who would hate Stanford because it isn’t in the middle of a city. </p>
<p>I personally love Stanford’s location. I’m not trying to make excuses at all. At the same time, I acknowledge that it’s not right for everyone. You just have to figure out what you want out of your college experience.</p>
I agree 100%. I love that Stanford isn’t in the middle of a big city (i.e. NYC) but rather in a suburban area that is not too far from big cities. Of course this atmosphere isn’t right for everyone. I get a little touchy when someone says that the area surrounding Stanford isn’t great or just plain sucks because while that may be one person’s (or more than one person) opinion, especially on forums like this, it can lead prospective applicants to think that the Stanford surroundings stink without full information. For example, I have heard people say that the Stanford area sucks because it is not in a city. This seems to imply that Stanford is in the middle of nowhere, and it may turn people off. Obviously, this is not true; Stanford is certainly not in the middle of nowhere. My point is just that I would like people to have full information about what Stanford is like.</p>
<p>“Who would want to pay so much to live in an area of ‘remoteness’?”</p>
<p>You know what I meant by remoteness, as in isolation from a large city. A “bubble” as others put it.</p>
<p>“I can not help but wonder whether you can claim a similar perspective on these matters.”</p>
<p>I really don’t think that matters. You needn’t be defensive; I was simply using Harvard as an example. I was going to use Berkeley as an example, though decided against it. I’ve experienced both Berkeley and Stanford, and I didn’t see either community lacking.</p>
<p>marlgirl:</p>
<p>“If students at schools in the city rarely go off campus, then the city doesn’t seem like such an important resource. If they often go off campus, I can’t imagine that not changing the feel of the university.”</p>
<p>You make it sound as though every student is gonna go off campus. My point is, there are still going to be tons of students on campus who will put up events, activities, fun things, etc. and maintain that sense of community.</p>
As an undergrad I wanted to walk off campus and find a cheap pizza place, or a burger joint, or a bar that was pretty cheap. Your description of the area around Standord is dead-on … it is a beautiful huge campus situated in the middle of some of the most expensive suburbs in the US. For me, this is not the ideal off-campus set-up for an undergrad … the cost of living is too high and there are not enough student dives. Stanford is within an hour of a ton of great things (SF, Berkeley, Santa Cruz, Marin County, etc) and a couple hours from one of my favorite places Lake Tahoe.</p>
<p>There are plenty of cheap places around (Round Table for pizzas, Cheesehouse for Sandwiches, Creamery for burgers), even though Palo Alto does indeed err on the upscale side of things. This wasn’t really a problem as far as I could tell though, mostly because when students get off campus they want to treat themselves to genuinely good food. And though restaurants in Palo Alto are, on average, more expensive than normal, they’re not The French Laundry. Most places you’d go with friends to sit down and eat are between $10-15 a person, or $15-20 a person. Reasonable, I would say, for an evening out with a group of buddies.</p>
<p>Definitely not much fast food, and not as many cheap places though.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong … Stanford is a GREAT school … and Palo Alto as a very nice area. For me, and my vote doesn’t really count for anyone else, there is not as much of a collegetown feel to Palo Alto as I would like as an undergrad … your mileage may vary. One reason I’m an advocate of visiting schools is for kids to get a handle on what environment they like the best … school in big city, in the burbs, in a college town, how isolated the campus is, etc … everyone has different preferences.</p>
<p>There are definitely ways to find pretty cheap food off campus. You can get tons of good japanese food for $9, a huge salad for about $5, good meals for $5-10, etc. Some of the upscale places have options that could work too, such as happy hour where you could get a few appetizers to share and spend around $7/person for really incredible, interesting food. It may require you to be a tiny bit more creative or picky, but most students will be in the same position anyway. Now I understand that this isn’t the same as a typical “college town” but there are options that will work.</p>
<p>but then you gotta get to your car, drive 15 minutes, and drive back for another 15 minutes, find parking, get back to class. That’ll take 45 minutes at least.</p>
<p>To a certain extent, I do believe that there is a “bubble”–but also one that is easily breakable. Most students are comfortable staying on campus simply because everything’s already provided. However, Palo Alto is a good place for dining and just walking around. There’s the Stanford theater and the Borders which are also nice spots to hit up.
The trips to San Jose to San Fran are really quite convenient as well…the marguerite ( the Stanford free shuttle) has a few lines that take you straight to the Cal Train station ( Palm Drive Express, Shopping Express, Midnight Express, etc.) and the train ride to San Fran is a comfortable 45 minute ride. I’ve found it to go by pretty quick. </p>
<p>Unlike other schools, Stanford has a number of places to walk and just explore. The hills for one, and the lesser known but equally pretty Arastradero Preserve is also in the near vicinity. The nationally known highway 1 and beautiful N. California coast is also about roughly 35 minutes ( driving) from the campus. There are a number of places where one can just ‘chill’.
I did have a friend visit from Harvard, and I asked her what were some of the main differences she noticed between the two schools–she noticed that at times, she wasn’t used to how much more quiet ( literally) the Stanford campus was.</p>