About Stanford and West Lag

Stanford Quad from Palm Drive
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Stanford is a really cool place; here are some of my thoughts about the school:
 

Is Stanford Right for Me?

I made a little document for people who went to my high school who were considering Stanford...it talks about what I like about the school, and (hopefully) should help prospective students decide if it's right for them.
 

Getting into Stanford

A few people have asked me for advice about getting into Stanford. A good, albiet opinionated, website written by a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend is The Underground Guide to Getting Accepted to the Best Colleges. I would only stress that Stanford likes people who show intellectual passion--people who love learning, research, etc. If your application shows that kind of passion (which is hard to fake), you'll have a much better chance than Mr. or Ms. "I-always-wanted-to-be-a-doctor-and-that's-why-I-want-to-go-to-a-good-school." (Oh, how I despise premeds! Don't get me wrong--I've got lots of friends in med school now. It's merely that there are a lot of premeds who are entirely preprofessional, who don't seem to care at all about what they're learning--only Becoming a Doctor...)
 

About West Lag

West Lagunita is, appropriately, the western half of the Lagunita dorm complex at Stanford, known as "West Lag" for short. (For non-Stanfordites, "Lag" is pronounced like "log"; hence the "Lag Log," a charming piece of driftwood once held hostage by Ringo and Bill in Eucalipto. And the staff T-shirt one year which read "West Lag! West Lag! It's better than bad, it's good!"...a play on the Ren and Stimpy Log Song [that link appears to be down, but you can still read the lyrics], for the uninitiated.) It is a four-class dorm, and thus inherits the reputation for being stodgy and uncool (compared to the hip, swinging freshman dorms)...and it also has a reputation for being far away from everything. However, it is unequivically the best place to live on campus. Can I justify this bold statement? Take the following:

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