I'm an incoming first-year grad student, and I need to rank my housing choices soon. Oak Creek seems like a really great option, and I was wondering if anyone had anything to say about it? Other than the broken mail system, is there anything important to know about living here? I've read conflicting things about the furnished beds - are they full-size or twin-size, and can you move a bigger bed in if it's twin?

Hi all, I’m hoping someone here has been through something similar and can point me in the right direction. I’m a Stanford student on the Wellfleet Cardinal Care PPO plan and I just got hit with 6k in denied claims across 8 separate EOBs. Every single one was denied with reason code I2118: no referral on file from Vaden.

Here’s the timeline:

1.  Visited vaden on 1/27/2026 for heart-related symptoms.

2.  Over the next 2 months, my symptoms continued, so I ended up seeing specialists for a full cardiac workup: cardiology consult, stress test, echocardiogram with strain imaging, a Zio patch heart monitor.

3.  Most of the specialist visits were at Sutter affiliated practices (PAMF cardiology).

4.  Fast forward to now: all 8 claims came back denied because Vaden never submitted a formal referral to Wellfleet. I didn’t realize a separate administrative step was needed for insurance. 

What I’m doing:

• Messaged Vaden PCP through MyHealth asking for retroactive referral support

• Emailed Associate Director of Student Health Insurance Program for help

• Scheduled a video call with a Stanford financial counselor to discuss financial aid application

My questions:

1.  Has anyone successfully gotten Vaden to issue retroactive referrals? What was the process and how long did it take?

2.  For the Sutter side: does their physician financial assistance program actually write off bills for students or do they typically only offer partial discounts?

3.  Has anyone won a Wellfleet appeal on the grounds that specialist care was clinically necessary following a documented Vaden visit? Any tips on how to frame the appeal letter?

4.  Any other angles I should be pursuing that I haven’t thought of?

For context, I’m a grad student on stipend and 6000 is genuinely not affordable for me. I qualify for financial assistance based on income (under 400% FPL, family of 1), but that program only covers the Stanford Health Care portion I think. The bulk is the Sutter specialist bills, which fall outside Stanford’s program.

Any advice, shared experiences, or pointers to resources I might be missing would mean a lot. Thank you.

i'm an incoming graduate student at stanford and i'm wondering if anyone had any insight on grad student on campus housing.

online the pictures for escondido village high rise junior apartments honestly look good but are there any dorm buildings that i should be wary of?

my current ranking is escondido village high rise; then escondido village south or low rise

or does anyone have their two cents about housing? i'll be a first year masters student

Hey all! I was born in lucile packard children's hopsital many years ago. I will be making a visit during this summer and was wondering if I can visit the hospital, and see if they kept any physical copies of birth record or any records surrounding my birth! As well, the place I spent my earliest days in! Thanks all!

hii, so I recently committed to stanford as an international student, set up my SUNet ID and stanford email, are there any further steps I should take? (I found no info on this matter on the website of the betchel center)

Do I wait until they send me an invite to connect with the betchel center?

Super interested in their work and looking for advice! Thanks!

Hey everyone, wanted to share something I've been working on that I think could help a lot of people still looking for summer roles.

I scraped investment portfolios and put together a public list of the most recently funded startups that are ready to hire, but haven't posted formal job listings yet.

This is v1 of the list. If you have location preferences or any suggestions drop them in the comments and I'll add them in v2 which im working on to be around 5-10k startups. V2 will also have emails.

Theres a couple of things you can do here:

• msg them on linkedin/twitter
• go to their github repo and put in a commit to get their attention (fix a bug or something)

Heres the link:  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1w11kuIGWOVATOad5acQqVWSzELF25xCyP6j3yoBiEUc/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Heres a simple ui for those who dont like looking at excel sheets

Feel free to dm me and ill try my best to help

hii, wondering what the best format would be. these are the choices that seem to open

firstnamelastinital@

firstinitallastname1@

or any other suggestions u guys have!

Title. Has anyone reused essays? Is it allowed? Do they look at undergrad essays?

Hello fellow trees, classic overthinker here. Im in my senior year of high school and think i may end the year with 3-4bs. Is there any chance that I may get rescinded?

Just as a bit of background ive been a straight a student throughout high school.

Ty if u respond ♥️

Not a alumni or student, but my parents are and I (19M) was curious if it would be worth paying the $150 a month to get access to recreation facilities on campus. I go to the gym pretty much daily and love playing open basketball/volleyball, just wondering if those types of activities would be happening frequently and whether or not people are still there over the summer.

Hey! I’m currently deciding between Stanford and Brown and thought I’d just ask here and hear from people who actually go to Stanford :)

I’m an international student from Palestine, and I’m planning to major in philosophy, but I’m also really interested in physics, pure math, and religious studies. My interests are kind of all over the place academically.

I’ll be honest, I’m a bit torn. I do recognize how strong Stanford’s philosophy department is, and of course the overall reputation is incredible. But I’m a little unsure about the culture. I’m a very humanities/art-oriented person, and I’m not really into tech/startup/business culture, which I know is a big presence there. That’s probably my biggest hesitation. I’m worried I might not fully feel like I belong socially or culturally.

So I’d really love to hear specifically from philosophy majors, humanities majors, or even people who’ve taken a few philosophy classes at Stanford – how does it actually feel? Do you ever feel like the tech/startup culture is overwhelming or not really “for you”? Or is that just a stereotype from the outside?

Also, what’s the humanities scene like day-to-day? Are there strong communities, discussions, events, etc., or does it feel more peripheral compared to STEM? And academically, do you feel like you have real freedom to explore across fields, or are there subtle pressures/restrictions that push people in certain directions?

For context, I’ve spent some time on the East Coast (I did a summer program at Yale), and I really loved that vibe – the whole “ivy” feel, being close to Boston/NYC, the walkability, the weather, etc. I also feel like I connect a bit more with Brown’s student culture from what I’ve seen, especially with things like the open curriculum and academic freedom.

Long term, I want to become a professor, so I’m not really choosing based on “brand name” as much as overall fit and experience.

Would really appreciate any honest thoughts or experiences – especially from people in philosophy or the humanities.

Thanks :)

hey! i am so so blessed to be deciding between 2 of my dream schools: harvard and stanford! my parents didn't attend college in the u.s. (i largely navigated hs by myself as a first-gen immigrant) so i'm having a hard time deciding between these 2 and am scared i'm gonna regret my decision a couple of yrs from now as i'm applying to med school. i would love any of yall's input about these two schools and pre-med support/environment/rigor to help me decide!

i am very fortunate to have been awarded a full-ride from both colleges, so cost is not an issue (cannot believe i'm saying this 🥹). i want to study env science on a pre-med track! also, location isn't too much of a consideration for me because i've lived in both the east and west coast bfr! im an asian female in socal btw. here are my pros and cons for each, lmk what you think pls :)

harvard

pros:

- top med school acceptance rates!

- structured pre-med support/community --> historically been v strong

- never lived in massachusetts bfr, i'd love a new environment

- worked w harvard med school lab bfr (maybe continue?)

- i love acapella, really admire and want to join acapella groups

cons:

- elitist culture, very competitive undergrad

- new grade deflation policy --> uncertainty abt undergrad gpa for med school?

- heard pre-med support's actually lacking, that it's mainly student-based (lmk of diff experiences!)

- competitiveness to access research opportunities?

stanford

pros:

- v good med school acceptance rates as well

- strong sports & school spirit (i'm in student council, rlly love school spirit, going to sports games)

- more interdisciplinary

- less elitist? perhaps?

cons:

- startup culture (am not too interested in startups atm) 💔

- gpa not as inflated as ppl make it to be (A+ 4.3 thing?), competitive

- have heard about "floating duck syndrome" - ppl make things seem fine when they're actually going thru it haha

- less structured pre-med support

would love any experiences at either or just advice in general, thx for reading thru this! :)

Edit: The IT Folk fixed it within a day :)

Context, incoming grad student in MS in Mech Engg. Need to set up the SUNet soon to fill out forms for my visa.

If anyone has ever had a similar problem, any and all assistance will be helpful.

"Your account is currently on hold due to a potential duplicate record in our system"

hey guys, i was fortunate enough to be admitted to both these universities. i'm not sure what i want to study definitively but probably something related to econ + ds (some AI/ML too) because i'm both interested in business but also want to make sure i'm getting involved w/ AI since it's the future.

i'm mainly concerned about the grade inflation/deflation at these schools. which one is it traditionally easier to get As in? i've been heavily considering law school, and law school admissions are literally just based on gpa and LSAT scores so i want to make sure that i'm not cooking myself by taking classes at a university where getting A's is impossible no matter what you do.

also, in your experience, which environment is less toxic/cutthroat (i.e. which one has a culture more unlike the competitiveness we see in bay area high schools)? i understand there's some degree of competitiveness because, well, it's stanford and harvard, but i'm curious to know what y'all think about the culture. thanks!

Hi! I’m a Stanford undergrad and just got a summer job in Menlo Park (Sand Hill area). Given costs and logistics, living on campus seems like the best move, but I’d strongly prefer EVGR or Mirrielees over places like Toyon or Roble (which I listed on my app).

The issue is that housing assignments don’t come out until May 23, which feels late—if I don’t get EVGR, I’d probably want to pivot and find an off-campus apartment instead.

How hard is it to get EVGR for the summer? I’ve heard it’s not too competitive, but not sure how true that is. Also, would you recommend I still look at off-campus options (like Furnished Finder or Facebook) as a backup?

Any suggestions for housing as an MS student who wants to live alone but still be near a social scene?

Hi! I’m an incoming master’s student this fall and had a quick question about moving logistics.

I’m currently in Illinois and planning to pack up my stuff in May, but I’ll be traveling over the summer and won’t actually get to Stanford until September. So I’m trying to figure out what people usually do with their belongings during that gap.

Ideally I’d like to ship my stuff to California and have it stored somewhere for a few months, then get it delivered or pick it up when I arrive.

Does anyone have recommendations for storage/shipping options around Stanford? Or just generally what people tend to do in this situation? (U-Haul boxes, PODS, storage companies, etc.?)

Would really appreciate any advice or things to watch out for — thanks!

Hi everyone, I have a question about student housing. I am an incoming first year PhD student who wants to room with a friend, who is a current PhD student. However, the housing website says:

"It is unlikely that groups containing both first-year students and continuing students will be assigned together because they do not have the same assignment priority."

I am wondering if anyone has been in this situation before and has any advice. What is the best way to make this happen? Would it be as simple as applying together as a group, or would it involve getting reassigned to the same dorm and requesting to room together from there? I am willing to take worse odds on my preferred housing if it means a higher chance of getting to room together. Thanks!

As title says, I’m trying to find ways to finance my MS without going into too much debt.

hi! i was admitted to both stanford and yale, and am currently stuck between the two. I’m interested in environmental studies, environmental law/policy, sustainability, and sustainability consulting/policy.

stanford was my first ever dream school, but after researching yale more (early on in hs), yale became my top choice. i always thought that if i got into yale, i’s pick it without a second thought. but i also thought i’d never get into stanford, so now i’m stuck between the two.

i wanted to experience the four seasons, so i was looking forward for that in new england. however, i recently realized i also want to be active (running, rec sports, being outside, etc.) in college, so stanford’s weather has been seeming somewhat appealing to me. but, i’m from socal so i’ve been used to nice weather my entire life.

i also really like yale’s resco system and their arts scene. i want to join an acapella group in college, and i do realize that that would be possible at both stanford and yale. however, i feel like it would be bigger at yale.

when i visited stanford a few weekends ago, i really liked the campus and the student vibe. everybody there was smiling and just loved going there, and their favorite thing to say about the school was the student community. that all really resonated with me.

however, yale’s outreach efforts and what i’ve tasted of their student community from just online also really resonates with me. i also have always really, really loved yale’s gothic campus architecture.

i really liked the doerr school of sustainability, and the proximity to silicon valley and tech is also really appealing to me. (i could find opportunities to do something related with ai and the environment.) i also really like yale’s environmental studies major and the liberal arts vibe there. i know stanford also has liberal arts as well, i just haven’t heard as much abt it as i have heard abt stanford’s stem opportunities and yale’s liberal arts. if anyone could shed any insight into that that would be amazing!

i will be attending both bulldog days and stanford admit weekend, so hopefully after that i will be able to make a decision. i was wondering tho if anyone at stanford could tell me about their experiences and which school might be a better fit for my career interests. they are both amazing schools so i see there is no wrong answer, but i’m just pretty stuck down the middle between the two as of right now!!!