Making the most of Stanford: advice from alumni and students

I asked former StanfordGuide readers who are now Stanford alumni and students about how to make the most of Stanford.

Sorted by most recent admits first.

Elizabeth Bours, Stanford ’29

• On campus resources and clubs: There really is something for everyone here. Stanford has world-class funding and connections across basically every discipline. I personally really value the range of fellowships that let students work or learn abroad. They fund summers of community service to ensure students don’t disregard helping communities due to the opportunity cost.
• Making the most of life on campus: As a freshman, it’s super easy to keep your social circle limited to people in your dorm, but there are so many other freshmen on campus you’ll never run into unless you branch out. I’d really recommend spending as much time as you can just enjoying the freshman experience: being around people, going to events, hanging out. Socializing is a completely valid priority during your first year.
• Focus less on __ and more on __: In hindsight, a lot of frosh/underclassmen end up wishing they had focused less on packing their schedule (to fulfill major requirements ASAP) and more on classes they actually enjoy, extracurriculars, passions, and meeting people. Some students go above the recommended 15 units and take 18+ their first quarter and while it’s doable, you definitely sacrifice social time and the chance to actually get comfortable with college life. Stanford is an opportunity for four years of exploration beyond just academics.

Ben Pan, Stanford ’27 (dropped out to join the startup Cognition)

• On campus resources and clubs: I never got that much out of these organized things. I just spent a lot of time getting to know interesting people and becoming friends with them. I’d also say pursue your interest and meet people that way.
• Making the most of life on campus: I really love learning about anything really, so I wish I took more classes, especially the ones that are fundamental and expand your view of the world. I’m really skeptical that CS classes fall under this category. Learn the fundamental subjects like history, writing, philosophy, math, physics, science, engineering, design/art. Another thing is probably find your SO/partner if you have the chance.
• Focus less on __ and more on __: Less on prestige and more on substance. This is especially a problem at Stanford. Meeting a VC / famous person might feel cool, but it’s not productive. Figure out what you want to work on, who you enjoy working with, who you want to spend your life with etc. These questions are not going to go away, but the more time you spend on them, the more likely you’re going to do something great. People optimize for prestige because they don’t know what they want, so they just use what other people want as a goal. Also have some focus. Maybe you want to focus on exploring. Maybe you want to lock in on some project. But don’t get tied up in too many things.

Zack Seifert, Stanford ’27

• On campus resources and clubs: Stanford Space Initiative for engineers. Stanford Review for students interested in politics
• Making the most of life on campus: Think deeply about whether the reward is worth the game… and exercise!
• Focus less on __ and more on __: n/a

Justin Yang, Stanford ’27

• On campus resources and clubs: Make your own groups. I don’t think official campus resources or established clubs can ever be that good. As soon as a club becomes well-known, it fills up with “clout chasers” because people just want the signal associated with that organization. Choose your own group of friends :)
• Making the most of life on campus: Spend time doing the stuff you want with people you love. You could just be sitting around, getting Taco Bell, chilling, or talking. As long as you are doing it with people you care about and who care about you, I can’t imagine that ever being a waste of time.
• Focus less on __ and more on __: Focus less on clout and more on dating. Clout feels enticing, it feels like a way to skip the line, but it really doesn’t matter. It might help accelerate you in the beginning, but it eventually evens out based on your actual skills. Just get really, really good at what you do. Instead, focus more on dating. Get a girlfriend, get a boyfriend, whatever you want, just start developing that relationship muscle early. Every locked in friend of mine that was adamant about staying single to focus on work realizes how mistaken that belief is in hindsight, usually through stumbling into a relationship.

Varun Shenoy, Stanford ’23

• On campus resources and clubs: Biased but Friends and Family!
• Making the most of life on campus: If you’re at Stanford, you will be in a career that is defined by relationships not ability (primarily because either everyone is good enough or with enough time and energy, could be). Focus on using Stanford as a platform for creating positive sum opportunity (start clubs, introduce friends, use @stanford.edu to get into rooms you should probably not be in)
• Focus less on __ and more on __: Coursework, relationships

Sasankh Munukutla, Stanford ’22 ’23

• On campus resources and clubs: CS+Social Good; Code the Change; Public Interest Technology Lab; Stanford Social Entrepreneurial Students Association; Stanford in Government; Students for a Sustainable Stanford; Engineers for a Sustainable World; CS+Social Good Summer Fellowship; Tech Ethics & Policy Summer Fellowship; Stanford in Government Summer Fellowships; Cardinal Quarter; AI for Climate Change Lab; Sustainability and Artificial Intelligence Lab; Haas Center; Explore Courses; IntroSem Program; Haas Center Summer Fellowships
• Making the most of life on campus: Take at least one PE class every quarter / a fun class every quarter. Stanford has so many cool classes (e.g. tennis, golf, social dance, swimming) and it’s great to have fun baked into your calendar where your only job is to show up and have a good time! Great for meeting people and just having fun! I did this pretty much every quarter (including quarters where I had 20+ units) and treasure all the skills I picked up and fun times. Classes with field trips are also fun e.g. Geology Field Trips! 🙂 Take classes with friends, especially the core classes in your major or hard ones. I did a lot of the harder CS Core or AI classes with close friends. When you are working hard on a final project or going through a grueling pset, it’s so much more fun to do it with close friends who you trust, are smart, and have a good time with!Don’t over schedule your calendar (I know people who have every 15 minutes scheduled). Having free blocks in your calendar is the best way you can allow serendipity to happen. Serendipity requires free time, and free time is an active choice. Your favorite memories will be the times you went fountain hopping with your whole dorm in the middle of finals week or stayed up late in your dorm having a deep philosophical conversation with your friends the night before a midterm, and you need to have the time and space for that to happen. Maximize meeting people ahead of you in life who will be excited to chat with you and mentor you as a “student”; everyone wants to help! Pay it forward yourself as much as you can.
• Focus less on __ and more on __: Focus less on meeting requirements/chasing status/FOMO. Focus on enjoying the experience, meeting fun, smart people, and challenging yourself in novel ways. College is the best time to build a community (much harder when you graduate) and if you can surround yourself with a group of close, smart, kind people, that becomes a community that you will grow with for the rest of your life and will compound forever. This is possibly the most important thing you can do while in college. Challenge yourself and get out of your comfort zone. Take classes way out of your major and push yourself in new ways. College is one of the best times to try a lot of things. It’s great to spend your summer on something not conventional for example. From Improv to Social Dance to Psychology to Tennis, I learned so much from the classes way out of my CS major.

Anonymous, Stanford ’22

• On campus resources and clubs: Friends and Family is the best: ). Think good research labs also underrated.
• Making the most of life on campus: Go deep — each year is kind of like a shot to really explore an interest area. Make the most of it :) can learn from the best professors, researchers, clubs/students, etc. in any thing: robotics, ML research, politics, etc.
• Focus less on __ and more on __: Classes. People.

Ronak Malde, Stanford ’22

• On campus resources and clubs: have fun on campus! Do dance, acapella. Some of the best people for your career and wellbeing will come from the randomest places
• Making the most of life on campus: use Stanford as a time to discover yourself. Make bold mistakes, date people, try to drop out, study abroad, pull all nighters
• Focus less on __ and more on __: Less on grades, more on being ambitious, and a good friend, and relentlessly curious about the world, and trying to improve yourself

Jason Zhao, Stanford ’21

• On campus resources and clubs: Stanford Space Initiative, Girard Society, Stanford Review, Stanford Debate seemed interesting and I wish I spent more time exploring these. I really enjoyed Kids with Dreams.
• Making the most of life on campus: Take less courses but savor them deeply. Talk to your professors 1/1. Do more things off campus and especially in SF. Drop in and out of school each quarter — the quarter system lets you try a lot of different things. Ask for more things from random people — being a student makes the world far more malleable and open to you. Study abroad.
• Focus less on __ and more on __: Less: Taking 22 units a quarter and trying to get a 4.3 GPA in all of them. More: Side quests off campus, talking to professors, deeply understanding a few things well, exploring lots of internships to understand what you like and don’t like, and spending a ton of time having fun with people you’ll likely be friends with for the rest of your life.

Nick Rubin, Stanford ’21

• On campus resources and clubs: The campus groups that attract the best students change all the time. When I was on campus, this was TreeHacks — but this could be different now. If you’re into startups, I’d try to seek out the campus groups (or research labs?) that attract freshmen who enter Stanford with strong product-building experience.
• Making the most of life on campus: Most learning happens outside of the classroom. Read lots of books, go on fun adventures with friends (this is probably the most important thing), and spend time seeking out and meeting other ambitious classmates. And don’t just meet these people once and be done; try to build relationships that last.
• Focus less on __ and more on __: In hindsight people might be glad to focus less on grades and more on everything else. No one has ever asked to see my transcript (I’m 28 now).

Rohan Kapur, Stanford ’21 (dropped out to start a business)

• On campus resources and clubs: It’s been too long for me to remember all the campus resources and groups honestly. StanfordGuide is obviously awesome. But… just make a lot of friends, and enjoy social life. Go to the parties, the various social houses. Do the networking thing too; find other ambitious people involved in your field, code things with those people, pursue opportunities, but don’t make it your only MO. Once you go deep into the grind, and once uni is over, you don’t appreciate how rare it is to be around so many young people looking to interact with each other. Especially if you’re going to go off into an unconventional life path. Also, campus is massive and can at times feel a bit like a country club. It’s beautiful, but if you ever feel boxed in, I liked to get out a lot; to SF, Berkeley/Oakland, beautiful pockets in the Bay. There’s so much to see and do. One thing I envy about other unis that Stanford doesn’t have is the ability to participate in other city’s cultures. You have to go out of your way for that, but it is worth it.
• Making the most of life on campus: Not a tip I got, but something I learned, is that it’s potentially going to feel very foreign at first. Maybe it’s one of your first times in America, perhaps you’re not a super super socialite and icebreakers make you cringe. Perhaps you’re not a super Type A straight shooter and the first few weeks just make you feel uneasy. That’s totally fine. You have to give it time to naturally meet your people, and you should let that emerge in messy, serendipitous ways.
• Focus less on __ and more on __: Focus less on anxiously trying to win (though work hard, work smart, pursue entrepreneurial activities if that speaks to you), and more on being present and patient, I think :) There’s a lot of time, and you can fit it all in if you focus on being healthy. Good sleep, good nutrition, working out, balancing priorities — the whole lot.

Anonymous, Stanford ’19

• On campus resources and clubs: Go to where the smartest, most ambitious ppl are hanging out. Avoid fake entrepreneurship. Eg. Treehacks > bases
• Making the most of life on campus: Grades matter if you’re doing a track where grades matter. And grades matter insofar as you’re internalizing the material to the level at which you want to internalize it. I know ppl that aced classes, but don’t retain. Figure out what’s right for you. also choosing a great community is a life hack on friendships / network.
• Focus less on __ and more on __: Less on status seeking things and more on friendships with people that are aligned with you

Chris Barber, Stanford ’16

• On campus resources and clubs: I didn’t do any clubs. If clubs don’t feel right for you, skip them. If they do, join them. Don’t think in terms of clubs, think in terms of people. Find the people you feel a magnetism towards and want to live within walking distance of and collaborate with for decades.
• Making the most of life on campus: Learn how to make decisions that you feel really glad about, rather than just doing what you “should” do. The decisions you feel most mixed or hesitant about are the ones you’re most likely to regret later. To prevent regrets, practice fully hearing your hesitations, inclinations and preferences. For one way to do that see these instructions I wrote. Regret is optional, but only if you’re a natural at it, or if you develop the muscle by doing practice reps.
• Focus less on __ and more on __: Less on intelligence and ambition, more on wisdom. By wisdom, I mean the ability to be less reactive, more supportive of others and yourself, and to make decisions that account for all of you rather than some of you. The things I’ve found most helpful for this were previously IFS and Core Transformation and now Resonance and Peaceful Preferences. People at Stanford often aren’t intelligence bottlenecked or ambition bottlenecked, they’re wisdom bottlenecked. The earlier you train your wisdom stat, the better. The actions you take as a student are already compounding into your life. Each action is the action itself, plus the path dependence it creates for your life. Stanford is a time for play, so make it play that builds your life.

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