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[nyucknyuck]

You always hear about the positives of Stanford. I certainly know why Stanford is as amazing as it is.

But now I'm wondering, what are the negatives of Stanford? What do you personally not like about the school? It could be anything--petty or not.

(The few that I've heard: Duck Syndrome, crazy bike people, location.)

Comments

[spamchang]

I loved the location, personally. Caltrain to SF in about 30-45 min lets you hit up weekend dim sum in a morning, and you can always bum rides, take the shuttle, etc. Palo Alto has little nightlife to speak of, but if you're looking for nightlife, PA isn't the best choice anyway.

Negatives: being swallowed up in some of the larger intro classes and being allowed to jump into classes over your head (default advising is hit-or-miss, I suggest making an appointment with the advising center for real advice). Also, the housing draw is rather unique and might not suit some people--it generally makes everyone stay social (though if you're a dedicated introvert, there are places to disappear).

Most negatives are avoidable if you know the system and how to work it.

[starinatdasun]

Dammit I hate how at Stanford everyone's a lametard who decides that partying is unacceptable before 10:00 PM. Seriously, you're not doing anything important after dinner on a Friday or Saturday. At least I hope not.

Quiet hours are at 1. You know this. Yet you decide to sulk around the dorm until 10:15, then walk over to your social function, take a while before you start drinking and/or dancing, and before you know it time's up and you didn't really have a good time. Then you complain that the party scene sucks. It does, BECAUSE OF YOU AND YOUR STUPID FRIENDS

So I guess my answer would be that you have to find a niche if you want to have a fun social scene. Large parties are generally overcrowded and under-entertaining, and university-sponsored policed events are like high school dances. Other than my obvious irritation, I've had a real good time with the friends I've made here.

[magaliiiii]

Seconded, and I don't even attend social functions that often.

Other big negative for me:

>Not having a car my freshman year. It drove me NUTS. Stupid rules.
>People here are... not universally, but mostly career-driven. But not in the good way, in the "I AM GOING TO DO ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING I CAN TO MAKE THE MOST MONEY POSSIBLE AHAHAHAHAHAHA" and it's not at all a mindset I like to surround myself with.
>Agreed with the large intro classes/being accidentally thrown in over your head.

[spamchang]

car? psh, i never had time to get off-campus ;)

i'm glad i mostly got away from the alcoholic-consultant/i-banker types...mainly because i didn't join a frat.

[magaliiiii]

haha i'm in a sorority but you'd never be able to tell from how much greek stuff i do... (read: NONE)

[calcslacker]

whine time!

(1) comm majors, cause they're too lazy to write for The Daily...that would be work!
(2) people who live to party and the social atmosphere they create
(3) administrators who think babying us will make us better people and stop (2)
(4) self-righteous people with causes: when the NRA president came to Stanford my liberal roommate from Wyoming had to point out to our chatlist that people in favor of gun rights weren't automatically evil or ignorant.

but I'm able to solve the problem by not really associating with such people, so I don't mind personally that much.

[kwanalicious]

This probably isn't a Stanford-specific gripe, but the administrators (not the high level admins, but mostly those that deal directly with students) are pretty awful. I've had to deal with a lot of admins as the president of two student groups and also just as a student, and out of the whole lot, there have only been two that I felt were 1) competent and 2) actually cared about students and wanted to help them. But I'm sure this is a problem that you'd encounter at any university...the nature of admins, I guess.

[homegrownweed]

location: i mean, i guess i'm kinda demanding. but i wanted mountains, snow, foliage, great weather, and proximity to sf (or a cool city). but hey, 2 out of 5 isn't bad

[magaliiiii]

about the people in a contest to see who's working harder/stressing more: OMFG SO TRUE.