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Palo Alto, CA


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  • 2 weeks later...
Guest liquidmethane

It's definitely not a "college town", but there's so much to do on campus at Stanford, there's rarely a reason to go to PA. If you want an exciting Friday night off campus, just go to San Francisco (a 40-minute drive, or 1-hr. train ride). Palo Alto has tons of great restaurants, though, and a few decent bars. The Nuthouse is a favorite, on California Ave. It's pretty much the only real dive bar near Stanford. If you like sushi (and saki bombs) be sure to go to Miyaki at some point -- people come from all over for the experience. There are also a few arthouse movie theaters that some people really like. Lots of parks in PA, but the campus has plenty of open space...

I went to Stanford for my undergrad and M.S., and I'm very sad to leave... You'll LOVE it there, I'm jealous.

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  • 2 years later...

Thinking of going here for MS..no aid to begin with though, so i'm kind of worried about the finances..how are the living expenses here? how easy is it to get affordable housing..and what are the chances of getting any aid/job to help pay for day-to-day expenses - after the first quarter perhaps..? anyone?

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  • 9 months later...

Probably too late for whitelily, but for future reference: living in Palo Alto is fairly expensive. Right now, rent for 1-BR apartments close to campus is often in the low $1000s and up. I don't know anything about getting extra aid/employment, sorry...

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  • 3 weeks later...

Okay, I'll jump in to give my 2 cents as a local denizen.

Transportation: Stanford has a lot of free buses through their 'Marguerite' service...check out their website. Some go to shopping areas, some to downtown, PA, etc. Most of the lines stop by the Palo Alto transit center, where you can pick up VTA (Santa Clara county buses) to San Jose (express or slow), SamTrans (San Mateo county buses), and Caltrain, which runs from San Jose to SF. It's ~1 hr to SF from Palo Alto, more like 40 minutes if you can manage to catch a 'baby bullet' (~6 stops). Last train south generally leaves SF around midnight, but if there's a special event (concert, etc.) they'll often run a train that leaves 20 min or so after the event gets out. Of course, by the time you get back to PA the Margurerite buses may not be running any more.

My sister-in-law lived in Escondido Village. The apartments are small (to my eyes: people used to undergrad dorms may disagree), but comfortable. For two single people--the apartments are designed to be shared--they would be fine. For a young family? Bah humbug. Fitting a double bed in one of the bedrooms would be a tight squeeze.

I concur with the person who told you to look elsewhere. You can get cheaper apartments in Mountain View or Sunnyvale, either within walking distance of the Caltrain line or El Camino Real (where the express bus runs). Transit passes are $61.25 for VTA, $56 for SamTrans, and $66.25 for Caltrain for a one-zone-only pass...you'd need to pay extra to ride to SF. Sounds like a lot, but you'd probably save $300+ in rent monthly, so it's worth it.

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Thanks a lot, Unlikely Grad. I was also considering living outside PA, but then I realized that my first year might make for a better experience if I lived on-campus -- even though I'm sick as hell of dorm life. Does EV feel like a dorm?

People say it is very quiet. So, I assume, in that sense no...but it may have other issues. Depends what you are after.

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Just a note of clarification - EV is a huuuuuuuge area. It's not a building. There are seven or eight high and mid-rises, four studio buildings, a bunch of bunaglows, and some other assorted housing. It's impossible to talk about it feeling like a dorm, since that entirely depends on what building you're talking about. I live in one of the Studio Buildings and it doesn't read as a dorm to me. Very much just an apartment building. Check out the housing website, as it's got pics for most of the styles of buildings.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yes, you can definitely do without a car. My sister-in-law did.

As I said in an earlier post, the free Stanford buses take you everywhere, including the grocery store. The 'Shopping Express' bus runs not only to the Stanford Shopping Center but also over to the San Antonio Shopping Center on the Mountain View/Palo Alto border. (Walmart, Target, Sears, Ross, BevMo, more...Whole Foods is just south and Safeway is just north of the center.) I vaguely recall there being a grocery store at the Stanford Shopping Center--Andronico's, maybe?--which is, sadly, not a store of the low-cost variety. It would be closer than San Antonio Shopping Center though.

Stanford Shopping Center and downtown Palo Alto are definitely within bike range of Escondido Village if you don't feel like taking the bus.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Which on campus graduate housing would work best for a young, single guy? I've heard that EV is full of families and everyone pretty much keeps to themselves. I'm looking for something a little more social...

Also, anyone how are roomates selected?

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Which on campus graduate housing would work best for a young, single guy? I've heard that EV is full of families and everyone pretty much keeps to themselves. I'm looking for something a little more social...

Right, EV is probably not the place for you. I have heard that Rains and Munger are both more social, but you may want to ask around in your department (and Munger is a little more expensive).

Also, anyone how are roomates selected?

For undergrad, in the first year you fill out something about your living hours/messiness/love for partying, etc. After that, if they have to assign you a roommate, I'm pretty sure it's random. So I assume for first-year grads it's like either one of those processes, but I'm not sure which one...

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Right, EV is probably not the place for you. I have heard that Rains and Munger are both more social

Thanks for the heads up. I was thinking of putting EV as my first choice since I had a friend staying in a low-rise near the grad centre and I really liked what I saw. Now I may list Rains and Munger above it. I'm just concerned that Munger may be less diverse: more lawyers and more people who want to pay extra for a closer and nicer place (not exactly the typical person in my program).

How's Lyman?

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How's Lyman?

Lyman is a little more engineery, right? I'm in the social sciences so I don't know anyone who lives there. But it seems nice. I went to a reception in one of their common spaces once. West Campus is pretty, out next to the golf course, but a little farther from the center of campus.

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Does anybody know what the tax rate on stipends are from Stanford? They just set the stipend for this coming year to be around 30k. I'm not sure how much that is after tax and what it really amounts to living in California.

Your after tax pay will be around $2,000 per month.

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Your after tax pay will be around $2,000 per month.

I cantfind the link, but it comes to less than 3500 tax per year ... so for 30 k stipend that would be more than 2200 p/m after-tax pay (ie with tiered tax - not a single slab rate on all the 30 k )

EDIT -

My bad :? the tiered-tax thing applied for US citizens; tax is 14% on the whole amount if you're an international from a non-tax-treaty nation (you get a deduction if you're from a taxt treaty nation)

SOme details at this link : http://fingate.stanford.edu/students/taxinfo/index.html

EDIT2 - Wrong forum, i know :P

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