Stanford University

Date: May 19 2004
Major: Political Science (This Major's Salary over time)
I have been ridiculously happy at Stanford—best four years of my life. Why I love this place (and am trying to stay for law school):

1. THE PEOPLE. The people here are AMAZING. After a year or two of trying to figure out how to describe Stanford students, I finally settled on this—the people here are the coolest people I have ever met in my life… but they just so happen to also be incredibly brilliant. Stanford does a stellar job of selecting friendly, outgoing, relaxed, well-rounded and social students. Nearly everyone here can carry on a conversation, and it's completely normal that after a year or two of knowing someone you'll somehow find out that they worked for NASA or wrote a novel.

2. THE CAMPUS ATMOSPHERE—Students have 4 years of guaranteed housing at Stanford, which means that nearly everyone spends all 4 years on campus (to avoid Silicon Valley housing prices). There are a lot of different housing options on campus, from apartments to co-ops, so the housing itself is pretty good… but even moreso, it creates an amazing campus atmosphere. The student body is in general very tight-knit, you can usually walk between dorms/houses throwing (free) parties on any given weekend, and the campus is NEVER "dead" except for during vacation breaks.

3. THE CAMPUS—It is BEAUTIFUL here. I probably don't need to say too much about this because it's pretty self-evident… Suffice it to say, the Palo Alto weather and the gorgeous campus definitely affect quality of life!

4. THE ACADEMICS—Although class sizes here are bigger than they should be in many departments, the reason for this is that aside from select upper-division seminars and tracked courses (although they won't check up on you to make sure you fill the requirements), you can take ANY course you want here. We also have a two-week shopping period at the beginning of each quarter before you have to register for classes, so you have time to try out different classes before registering. Professors in general are quite good, and most of them care a lot about undergrads (although there are some notable exceptions).

In general, I can't say enough about how great this place is. I love the atmosphere and the people, and I'm going to be sad to leave. My personal opinion is that this school more or less sells itself. If you are accepted, come here, and it doesn't feel like the home—go somewhere else.