Stanford University
Hallmarks and Quirks
Things I'm Good At:
- How 'bout all those Nobel prizes? Yeah, all twenty-two, to be exact.
- I've got thirty-six NCAA teams and more national championships than I can even count.
- I've got some humanities programs that would rival even the most Ivy'd of east coast schools. For example, I've got one of the best philosophy departments in the country.
- I have a whole non-profit organization devoted to helping students create the next Google or Instagram. It's called StartX.
- My engineering and science programs are among the top in the world.
- I had fifteen Olympic medalists in the 2012 games alone.
- Chamber Music. Delightful, I know.
My Top 5 Must-Haves:
- Brains.
- Brawn. By that, I mean a dogged and insatiable need to make something of yourself and to change the world while you're at it.
- Flip-flops.
- My passport. With thirteen official study abroad programs and a ton of other opportunities to travel the globe, I've gotta have this puppy on me at all times.
- A bike.
Why You Might Have Heard of Me:
- I've got my own golf course, my own barn, my own biological preserve, and my own hospital. Did I mention you'll never have to leave?
- FMOTQ (Full Moon On The Quad) FTW
- Stanford Speak. HooTow anyone? MemChu? FloMo? CoHo? Okay, I'll stop. FroSoCo.
- Football. Two Rose Bowls in a row, baby.
- The Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band. They're, uh. A little wacky. You have to see them to believe 'em.
- Our yearly powwow is a pretty big deal. It's got a long history and a growing number of attendees. We're proud of our Native American pride.
On a regular Saturday night, you can find me...
- Coding the next big thing.
- Fountain-hopping if it's warm.
- Studying.
- Steam tunneling. Or sky tunneling. Sometimes both.
- Hanging out in my RA's room.
Favorite Hangouts:
- The CoHo. Mediocre coffee at 10:00p.m., anyone?
- White Plaza. What are we protesting/partying about today?
- The Treehouse, for those inescapable "I can't believe I ate that whole plate of nachos" moments.
- Anywhere outside. It's California, after all.
- University Ave, for those rare and fleeting moments when your money is burning a hole through your pocket.
Quirks:
- We're on the quarter system. I ain't got time for semesters. Before you know it, you're in a midterm. Before your know it again, it's finals week. Hey, what's that over there? Whoops, now it's summer. Oh wait, it's summer here all the time.
- Free laundry, baby. Let me say that again: Free. Laundry.
- I have a magnetic building. No, I'm not telling you where it is.
- Every Sunday at 9:00PM, a different choir sings Compline in the loft of a candle-lit Memorial Church. It's gorgeous. And open to the public.
- It's midnight. Finals week. Time for the Primal Scream.
Famous Alumni:
- Sigourney Weaver, because it sure takes brains and brawn to outsmart a certain little alien
- Tim Westergren, co-founder of Pandora.
- Former U.S. president Herbert Hoover
- Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, co-founders of Instagram.
- Reid Hoffman, founder of Linkedin.
- The late and great Sally Ride, first woman in outer space
- Larry Page and Segey Brin, co-founders of Google.
- John Steinbeck, for a teensy weensy moment
- Reese Witherspoon
- David Filo and Jerry Yang, co-founders of Yahoo!
- Shmoop's founder and Shmoop's CEO
- Tiger Woods