<p>Can anyone comment on the traditions at Stanford? Do a lot of students participate, etc?</p>
<p>[The</a> Unofficial Guide to Stanford - Chapter I - History & Traditions](<a href=“http://unofficial.stanford.edu/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=46]The”>http://unofficial.stanford.edu/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=46)</p>
<p>Fountain Hopping
Assassin
Wacky Walk
etc.</p>
<p>Traditions are good enough for me. Enough students participate. </p>
<p>Here are the big ones for me (in no particular order):
-ski trip
-Gaieties/Big Game
-FMOTQ
-Frantic Friday (my name for last day of quarter, generally involves taking a final, partying very hard, packing/printing flight info/booking supershuttle, meeting with friends and maybe family in the area for one last time, all pretty much at the same time)
-Assassins/Broomball/other dorm games
-rushing the field at football games! </p>
<p>I’m probably leaving some out, but those are the ones that seem to get a lot of people involved/excited. Those are things that people go to not really because it’s a tradition but because they’re fun. With fountain hopping, a lot of people do it just because of the tradition and it’s kinda “manufactured” fun in a way.</p>
<p>fountain hopping is awesome and amazingly cathartic. Nothing like running around campus at midnight, soaking, screaming, and splashing. Big Game was also a lot of fun.
One more awkward one is secret snowflake, but i guess that even has its own odd type of charm. kinda.</p>
<p>^how could i forget secret snowflake!? too bad my house didn’t do any of that this year, although it would have been way more awkward if we did. i think it’s just a freshman thing.</p>
<p>what is secret snowflake?</p>
<p>I most thoroughly enjoyed Word Assassins and FMOTQ. There are others that are a lot of fun, but those were my favorite. So far there have been a couple of traditions that are/are supposed to be little surprises for freshman that I also enjoyed.</p>
<p>My thoughts:</p>
<p>-FMOTQ wasn’t how I expected it was going to be; I personally thought it was a waste of time.
-Gaieties was tragic. Still waiting on my refund.
-Fountain Hopping was outstanding.
-Mausoleum wasn’t great.
-raiding the field after USC was awesome.
-Big Game week was pretty cool.
-My dorm didn’t do Secret Snowflake but from what I’ve heard, it sounds horrifying.
-I loved Faces and NSO week festivities … won’t go much into detail for the sake of pre-frosh.</p>
<p>Didn’t do:
-Assassins & ski trip yet but looking forward to them.</p>
<p>^what was wrong with Gaieties? They had some great singers and actors, and the plot made a lot of sense this year. Plus you could actually hear them sing. And why did you pay? I thought dorms paid for it.</p>
<p>Okay Mausoleum and FMOTQ might depend more on what stuff goes down at the parties. Because sometimes if you don’t get any action those things can be lame (not for me though because I love to dance). The reason those are probably enjoyed by a lot of people is they’re generally two of the looser nights of the year.</p>
<p>i didn’t think gaieties was that funny. =\ we couldnt hear anything
really the only funny things i can rememeber were the affirmative action jokes lol</p>
<p>Mausoleum and FMOTQ werent bad. i agree its the parties that mattered more :)</p>
<p>I agree, Gaities was the biggest waste of time and I left halfway through. I can’t believe I trekked halfway across campus in the rain to see that. My dorm covered it but only because I’m a low-income student; it was $10. I thought Secret Snowflake was great - my dorm was fairly tasteful in that nothing gross happened and the people who did crazy things were really down with doing crazy things. It was fairly heavily moderated and I think that improved it. Or maybe our dorm is just particularly respectful.</p>
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<p>Being a freshman living in Ujamaa and walking out midway through the Freshman Show that Friday, I personally did not have a great experience at Gaieties. If you were alive and breathing during the past few weeks, you would know what happened. As someone going into Gaieties without the disclaimer that it would be over-raunchy and un-satirically offensive to a number of social groups in the audience, I was appalled and didn’t feel like the plot had anything to do with getting the school to come together for Big Game. I just saw it as a big onslaught of being offensive just for the sake of being offensive which, in turn, made the campus more divided with tensions growing, especially from the Black community at Stanford which was very vocal about the matter. Just because Gaieties decided to “make fun of everyone” (which was arguably not the case; essentially bashed certain groups more than others), it doesn’t necessarily make everything okay. And at least if you’re going to make fun of a group, at least make it relevant to the play and have insight by representatives and actors that are a part of those groups when doing so. While walking out of the auditorium with my dormmates and being booed by my classmates as we made way towards the exit, I started to get emotional to the point that I started crying because I didn’t feel appreciated for what I was bringing to Stanford University. I reconsidered my reasons for going to Stanford also and a lot of my dormmates did the same. We had no clue that something like that would have the possibility of happening at one of the world’s greatest universities. One thing that I did get out of Gaieties was that this is a cold world and not everything is the way it seems. I learned not to take everything at face-value. That experience made me a stronger and more focused student. </p>
<p>Pertaining specifically to the show though, I just thought that it was terribly put together and I remained lost throughout the whole time that I sat in that auditorium. I was uninformed about my dorm paying for the costs and it wasn’t until after gaieties that I found out it was being sponsored. I personally contacted the Gaieties staff for my refund. </p>
<p>About FMOTQ, absolutely. The big party in Old Union was very much memorable and that was about the only part I enjoyed. While we were actually in the quad though, it was just a whole bunch of people standing around and randomly, and awkwardly, you would see strangers making out. I decided not to partake in any of the kissing, as I had met 4 girls and 2 dudes prior to the event who had mono on campus and I saw 3 of them present at FMOTQ. </p>
<p>Mausoleum just had a bunch of drunkards and the music was terrible, as usual with most Stanford-wide events. The general consensus I got after Halloween was that it was “one of those things I had to go to as a Freshman … you know, for the experience” and “it was okay, but I’m definitely not going next year.”</p>
<p>could someone explain secret snowflake?</p>
<p>like most stanford traditions, it’s better you find out when you get there 
however, contrary to the belief of those outside stanford, it is not at all hazing or pressuring. people do only what they are comfortable doing, and it is quite entertaining-more in some dorms than others. (personally, i think this is where you get some more benefit from living in an all-frosh dorm)</p>
<p>I’m really sorry that Gaities affected you so negatively, justadream. I didn’t go to Gaities this year but I heard from friends that it sucked and wasn’t funny. It is usually pretty crazy and offensive but it is usually also funny, and without the humor aspect I can imagine it being an unpleasant experience. Even so, personally, I think that “if you were alive and breathing during the past few weeks, you would know what happened” is a gross overstatement though… Yeah Gaities this year was apparently super offensive, but it is just one minor student run facet of the generally crazy and over the top Stanford experience. I think many people didn’t think it was really a big deal and that the “controversy” was overblown (but I wouldn’t know; I didn’t go). It will at least spark some dialogue about the direction the event will go in the future. I really hope this doesn’t leave a lasting negative perception of Stanford for you. Gaities is one thing, but like pretty much all Stanford traditions, it’s pretty much an opt in kind of thing - if you don’t like it you don’t have to participate, and I think that’s one of the things that makes Stanford so great, the freedom to be as much or as little into anything as you want. I don’t think there’s a huge peer pressure or conformist culture, so people can pretty much do their own things and I think most people eventually find a comfortable niche.</p>
<p>my personal opinion on other mentioned “traditions”: fmotq is generally weird/awkward (maybe unless you’re a drunk senior), secret snowflake i thought was super fun if your dorm isn’t psycho but only frosh really do it, mausoleum is one of those things you go to once and don’t go to again but the year i went i had fun, i personally don’t like fountain hopping but it seems fun for other people, especially on a nice day. i hated assassins. i thought faces (during nso) was super. i like the way senior0991 described frantic friday: i’ve never heard/used that term but that perfectly describes the end of every quarter I’ve had at Stanford and this has resulted in some crazy end of quarter stories…</p>
<p>Anyway more Stanford tradition-y things from my experience (any questions about specifics, and I’ll vaguely explain):
-San Francisco scavenger hunt (frosh)
-Big Game and beat cal tshirts
-band run
-steam tunneling
-roll outs for clubs/organizations… (not sure if other schools do this)
-the really big all campus parties… mostly foam party, toga party and Exotic Erotic etc (can be a pain unless you know the right people but it’s nice to go at least once in your four years)
-dorm trips in general (ski, yosemite, theme parks, plays and shows, etc)
-sunbathing/general hanging out in the sun/outdoors spring quarter when the weather is nice
-ebf happy hour (not actually really a tradition but whatever, it’s fun)
-big charity events - charity fashion show, dance marathon, relay for life
-campus concerts and big speakers
-primal scream dead week
-crossing the line (we did that in my frosh dorm)</p>
<p>earthwise - Can you elaborate why you hated Assassins? And what happens there anyway? How was scavenger hunt?</p>
<p>What is band run and steam tunneling? I thought they closed off those tunnels already…</p>
<p>What is crossing the line?</p>
<p>Well, at least justadream’s absolute distaste for pretty much all things Stanford balances out my absolute love for Stanford. Your experience will probably lie somewhere in the middle.</p>
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<p>My absolute distaste for pretty much all things Stanford? Really? Are you kidding me? If I absolutely hated Stanford I wouldn’t have chosen it to begin with or I would’ve been in the process of transferring. I’m sorry if I’m not giving the fake, utopian, ideal Stanford experience that you are insinuating to pry out of me to these pre-frosh but I’m giving them what I have experienced, what has been the real deal for me. And apparently, some of the other users in this forum identify with some of what I’ve said. </p>
<p>I don’t appreciate you downplaying my “love for Stanford” in that statement above, as I’ve clearly pointed out what I liked, didn’t really care for and what I absolutely hated in Post #7. So don’t proclaim that I have an absolute distaste for everything Stanford. This is my dream school and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world. I thank God that I was granted the opportunity to be here but at the end of the day, Stanford is not heaven and its traditions speak to the fact that everything is not perfect.</p>
<p>I agree with earthwise in that the traditions are an opt-in kind of thing. As a freshman, however, there is an existing pressure to participate in these activities; this stems from overexcited peers who don’t really know what they’re getting themselves into and those who want the “typical freshman experience” that upperclassman sometimes indirectly haul onto them through small chat. Now that the first quarter is over, I’m sure that many of my classmates now have a clue of what traditions they will/won’t participate in as sophomores. It’s all a learning experience and you take out of it what you want to take out of it. </p>
<p>I guess I have to insert a disclaimer, just so those who are so passionate and who have such an overwhelming love for Stanford don’t try and belittle other posters for their personal experiences: </p>
<p>To all of the pre-frosh, I advise you to try everything, just as I have (with the exception of secret snowflake) and see if it’s for you. This is an opinion-based thread so take all of the current students’ feedback with a grain of salt. </p>
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<p>I wouldn’t call it a gross overstatement, but I do think it was an overstatement. Apologies, but I assumed that since it was heavily publicized in the Daily, more of the student body would’ve been aware of what happened. Apparently not. From my knowledge, however, Gateshead and the Gaieties staff have already had talks with students representing those social groups that were offended and the administration has also been heavily involved. All parties are beginning to have open talks with one another and from what I’ve heard, next quarter, there will be an initiation of a string of much-needed campus-wide events that will involve open dialogue about the isms within the Stanford community. </p>
<p>Scavenger Hunt: That was one of my favorite experiences at Stanford so far. That was my first time being in SF and the dorm just had a ball! Awesome Awesome time.</p>
<p>Roll Outs: they were painful, but memorable. They really make your dormmates/roommates really p-o’ed with you if you keep trying out/auditioning/signing up for clubs. </p>
<p>Band run: I thought that was a secret that the frosh weren’t supposed to know about? It was amazing but I won’t comment though …</p>
<p>Stanford is no utopia - no school is, and none are perfect. I tend to look at the bright side of things, so I probably focus more on good aspects, but I recognize that everyone’s experience is different. I have experienced negative events at Stanford, but I would’ve experienced some form of negativity at any college I attended, so I take these as a learning experience but still appreciate where I am today. I’m probably one of those cheerleader types, but I love Stanford, warts, -isms, harsh grading curves, painful experiences, crazy tuition and abundant all nighters and all, because based on what I’ve experienced in my life prior to Stanford I know that things could very well be much worse, and I feel I belong here more than any where else in the world right now. I appreciate all that I’ve learned in my years here, especially from the negative aspects. I think that the fact that so many students express this “love” for the place, even with its obvious flaws, speaks to the nature of the school and the student body in general.</p>
<p>Anyway, @kaitlin: I didn’t like assassins because it was just not my thing. I thought it was dumb, but a lot of people think it’s super fun. It’s like a dorm wide game where you essentially have to hunt for each other. I thought it caused division among my dormmates. I thought scavenger hunt was super fun (you go around the city and have to find/do things), and it’s a great introduction to San Fran if you’re not familiar with the city. You’ll find out what band run is if/when you go here but it’s cool. Especially if you’re an upperclassman. Maybe the steam tunnels are closed now, but there were some open ones when I was a frosh. You just have to know the right kind of people, the ones who can get you in. It’s not that spectacular but it’s cool to do it once. And crossing the line is a dorm bonding thing where you learn more about your dormmates and the differences/similarities between them and yourself.</p>
<p>Just a few thoughts on some of these; sorry if I’m being a crotchety alum at times…</p>
<p>Band Run is something that happens after we win Big Game. (It was cancelled this year because of the pouring rain that night.) That is all you need to know about it, and we shall discuss it no more in this thread. <em>cough cough</em></p>
<p>As for other football things, rushing the field is not so much a tradition, Senior0991. To my knowledge, it’s only ever happened 3 times–Big Game 2007, and twice this year. One might argue that you’ve been doing it too much, but then again, this was a pretty darn special year, and I think that justifies it. Just don’t start doing it all the time, or it loses its specialness.</p>
<p>One thing that hasn’t been mentioned is the singing of Hail, Stanford, Hail. A lot of students don’t know the words to this, but should. It’s played at every sporting event (when the Band is there, anyway), so stick around afterwards and sing along. At football games, the team stays on the field after the game and sings it, so you should definitely stay. (Jim Harbaugh started this.)</p>
<p>“Beat Cal” t-shirts were originally “Cal Sucks” t-shirts. I liked them better the old way. (Also, back then we had to walk 5 miles to class, uphill both ways.)</p>
<p>Fountain-hopping is essential. Even if you just dip your toes in the Claw, you have to go at least once. Preferably on a regular basis. In the spring and summer, you can sometimes see people spending their whole afternoon in fountains. This is even more fun.</p>
<p>Steam tunnelling is still possible. You just have to know the right entrances. Seek out someone who knows.</p>
<p>The Mausoleum is more fun if you go with a few friends in the middle of the night to explore, not to the party.</p>
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Yeah I like this attitude. Too many people I’ve found cannot recognize Stanford’s flaws, and I like to see people be critical of the school/students. Then I know I’m not alone :). </p>
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Eh I’ve always thought of it more like students expect to love the school so they do. But then again I have a much more cynical perspective than you it seems. </p>
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I’ll reiterate that there is pressure to participate in these things. Calling it a “tradition” furthers this, as many freshman will feel (whether consciously or not) like they need to participate in order to be initiated as a Stanford student. </p>
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I LOVED assassins! It gets super intense. Multi-hour stakeouts, hiding in trees, forming alliances, scaling walls, mirror behind corner visibility, mass paranoia, kill quotes. It’s like the Bourne Identity, except this isn’t Hollywood. This is real! </p>
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In my time here (two years) it has been a tradition. Then again a lot of the basketball stuff that was probably once a tradition isn’t one for me, as basketball’s been on a down streak. </p>
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Ugh drives me nuts every time. </p>
<p>btw I take back my statement about Gaities. Apparently a lot of things were wrong. But I’d like to give credit to the actors, musicians, and tech crew still (and probably others I’m forgetting). I thought they did a great job, and you can’t blame them really for following the script/director.</p>