If you have found yourself Googling Stanford, you might also have found yourself asking why there are so many outrageous reviews of Stanford University. Google reviews, Yelp reviews, College Prowler reviews abound.
I spent (wasted?) my day scrolling through several hundred reviews, and what struck me more than the reviewers fawning over Stanford’s world class education and pristine campus were the reviewers that proclaimed things like: “Great bathrooms in Meyer library” (too bad those are in their final hours, I guess), “the campus is about as laid back as the NY stock exchange after a large sell off,” “the vast majority of the students, Californian or otherwise, remind me forcibly of computers” and “Stanford Sux!” 
Perhaps more alarming were the myriad Yelp and Google reviews declaring that Stanford looks like a Taco Bell. I don’t know about you, but last time I checked, Taco Bells were plastered with Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos posters. Have you seen any of those on campus? I haven’t. I would also like to point out that newer Taco Bells feature a “sleeker” design sans that Stanford-esque roofing that makes Yelpers think the two look alike. And this isn’t even to mention the combination KFC-Taco Bell drive thru that doesn’t look like Stanford at all.
Besides the whole Taco Bell thing, another theme that emerged from the heap of reviews was that people seem to forget that Stanford is first and foremost a university, not a theme park. One Yelp reviewer said, “Stanford: pretty good service, weak bar scene. Not a place to pick up chicks,” while another stated that Stanford’s campus “ain’t all that.” Other Yelp reviewers lamented that there just wasn’t as much to do as they’d hoped, other than visit the Main Quad, Memorial Church, Hoover Tower, the Cantor Arts Center, White Plaza, et cetera… Despite it all, after my hours-long escapade into the world of online reviews, I found myself with an unexpectedly warm fuzzy feeling for my TacoBellwithgreatbathroomsinMeyerLibrary school.