Tell us what make Stanford a good place for you.
They say when something is right, it's right in a heartbeat. That's what I felt when, at 9 years old, I skipped into Stanford's characteristic main quad for the first time. Never having imagined that a college could appear so elegant, complete with stone arches and bell towers, I vividly recall gazing at the Spanish-styled buildings, musing to myself that it was very much like what my dad had promised that our house, when we could afford one, would look like.
Indeed, I am living in a Stanfordesque home right now - red roof and beige walls and all. Of course appearances are hardly what ought to matter, but they foster first impressions, which for me have cemented into reality. Stanford had the aura that immediately made me feel that it was invigorating, deep, yet accessible. Maybe it was coincidence that I had just read about Rodin and thus elatedly recognized his Burghers of Calais; for a child, life escalates quite a bit in excitement when there is something familiar in an unfamiliar territory. But I like to think that the connection was fate.
Fueling the heart of innovative Silicon Valley, what is most appealing about Stanford is its ability to draw the top minds and most vibrant enthusiasm from thespians to politicians, writers to philosophers, and bind them by a simple German motto and a lifelong sense of entrepreneurialism. With scientific pioneers and flourishing artisans, Stanford represents the ideal balance between concrete and abstract, novelty and tradition that I value.
I realize now that everything I had believed as a little kid about Stanford was in fact true. As a child who grew up all over northern and southern California, I am a true golden coast girl, and Stanford embodies that sun, fun, and brain mixture, the bright and lucid ideology that is me.