[terry]

I grew up in the East Bay, near Berkeley. Despite living in the Bay Area, I did not know much about Stanford. I had never been to the Stanford campus, and I had no connection to it. (My parents went to their state schools, Nebraska and Wisconsin.) When I was a junior in high school, my dad gave me a college guide. I think it was "The Insider's Guide to the Colleges." I spent a lot of time reading that guide. I remember it said Stanford was the dream school of students from San Diego to Seattle.

I sent away to get applications from Dartmouth, Princeton, Harvard, and a few other schools, based mostly on what it said in my college guide. But I never completed them. I figured we had two of the best universities in the nation right here close to home. Also the Ivy League applications were long and intimidating. So I ended up applying to just two schools -- Stanford and UC. In those days, there was a single UC application, and you ranked the UC campuses in order of preference. I ranked Berkeley first, then UCLA, then Davis, and so forth all the way down to Riverside. I figured one of the UCs would take me.

I was accepted at Berkeley and was set to go there. I even had found housing. Then, to my surprise, I got the acceptance from Stanford. I still had never been on the Stanford campus. I figured it was finally about time to visit. I cut school, drove to Stanford alone, and wandered randomly around campus for a while. After a while, a campus tour passed by, and I attached myself to it. (I had not known there was such a thing as a campus tour.) I remember that the guide took us into his room in Branner. That day was all it took. I thought wow, this is great.

[terry]

I grew up in the East Bay, near Berkeley. Despite living in the Bay Area, I did not know much about Stanford. I had never been to the Stanford campus, and I had no connection to it. (My parents went to their state schools, Nebraska and Wisconsin.) When I was a junior in high school, my dad gave me a college guide. I think it was "The Insider's Guide to the Colleges." I spent a lot of time reading that guide. I remember it said Stanford was the dream school of students from San Diego to Seattle.

I sent away to get applications from Dartmouth, Princeton, Harvard, and a few other schools, based mostly on what it said in my college guide. But I never completed them. I figured we had two of the best universities in the nation right here close to home. Also the Ivy League applications were long and intimidating. So I ended up applying to just two schools -- Stanford and UC. In those days, there was a single UC application, and you ranked the UC campuses in order of preference. I ranked Berkeley first, then UCLA, then Davis, and so forth all the way down to Riverside. I figured one of the UCs would take me.

I was accepted at Berkeley and was set to go there. I even had found housing. Then, to my surprise, I got the acceptance from Stanford. I still had never been on the Stanford campus. I figured it was finally about time to visit. I cut school, drove to Stanford alone, and wandered randomly around campus for a while. After a while, a campus tour passed by, and I attached myself to it. (I had not known there was such a thing as a campus tour.) I remember that the guide took us into his room in Branner. That day was all it took. I thought wow, this is great.