<p>I'm in the class of '13, and I was just wondering if there are any current Stanford students that have any comments on what you wish you knew when you were a freshman. Like classes or general fields you should have pursued, stuff like study abroad or student groups, etc. </p>
<p>This question mainly sprouts from my experiences in high school. Going into 9th grade, I was very ignorant of many things; the college admissions process for one, and other stuff like not joining some clubs that were very fun and classes that I wanted to take but didn't have time (due to terrible planning in middle school and freshman year). As a result, my freshman and sophomore years were pretty unrewarding, and I think that my junior and senior years could have been somewhat better as well.</p>
<p>Well, as a rising junior I can’t help you, but you should post your questions in the Class of 2013 subforum, there are several kind Stanford students (sly si,etc) that actively answer questions there!</p>
<p>On a side note…when do we sign up for classes?</p>
<p>I think we sign up for classes during NSO? I’m not entirely sure but I remember reading that somewhere…</p>
<p>Wow we don’t sign up until we get to campus? A bunch of kids in the College Life forum already know their schedules =[</p>
<p>^Is that an unhappy face? Because I actually prefer waiting to get to campus to sign up. I’m sure there will be advisors and other students answering questions about different classes. You “know” some of your schedule already- you’ll have an IHUM, possibly a PWR, and likely a Gen-Ed or two. But I’d rather figure out all the details when I have knowledgeable people around to help me out.</p>
<p>Well there’s enough knowledgable people on this site (like Sly Si and docketgold) to give at least decent, if not perfectly sound, advice.</p>
<p>Feel free to just message individual members for advice. I’m a rising sophomore (wow that word still scares me) and I’m always happy to answer questions about admissions or Stanford or… anything really.</p>
<p>^are any members of the site current engineers or knowledgeable about engineering at Stanford? Because I’m still debating about if I should even do it.</p>
<p>I’m an engineer/pretty knowledgeable about engineering and an upcoming sophomore. If you have any questions ask away…but I’m just wondering what are you deciding between engineering and science or engineering and social sciences/humanities? If it’s the former you really don’t need to make a decision yet since many of the pre-reqs, math and physics will be the same and you can throw in a few beginning engineering classes to get a taste. If it’s the latter you may need to start thinking quicker.</p>
<p>As of now, I’ll be majoring in mechanical engineering, but I was also thinking about compsci or materials science (all pretty different, right? Do you think I’ll have time to test out all the three intro classes to get a better idea before I choose which one I’ll major in?). At the same time, I also want to take some business or economics classes, to the point of possibly a minor in one of them (or a major if I don’t actually end up majoring in any engineering discipline). </p>
<p>Do you think I’ll have time to figure out what I want to focus in while still staying on track for requirements? Or should I do some serious thinking this summer about what I want to pursue? Thanks for any help. </p>
<p>If you want to suggest which engineering discipline I might seem fit to major in, I am very proficient in math and science, although I don’t have much of a passion for pure math. My worst area of science I’ve encountered so far is physics E&M (I don’t like it at all), and my best is cell bio (although I don’t want to be a doctor, so I don’t know the practicality of majoring in anything bio related). I don’t want to be dealing with pure theoretical stuff, so I want to major in something practical. I have no experience with programming, some experience with building stuff (which I enjoy). I really have no idea if I want to be a practicing engineer.</p>
<p>As an EE major I have already taken compsci and material science courses and could have taken MechE as well. Also, all the three majors you’re considering are actually in the school of engineering, so they aren’t all too different at least in the beginning. You’ll need some math and physics classes for all three majors so that’s a great place to start. Also, you should take CS106A hopefully fall quarter because the lecturer then is very good I heard- though CS is really rough to be honest. You’ll definitely have no problems as long as you keep on track with the base requirements (if I’m repeating myself I’m sorry). For CS you’ll probably know right away if you want to continue with it and the other two majors are not far away at all. You need not do any serious searching seeing as you haven’t really had experience with any of these three majors at the level required to make a serious decision. You’ll be fine. As for econ, a lot of engineers come in wanting a minor or a double major in econ, but it’ll be hard to do the first, and virtually impossible to do the second. If you really want some business exposure you should consider Management Science and engineering (thats engineering with business and also has the same initial pre-reqs the other majors have). The only downside is that you may not be able to explore your interest in cell bio as much as you wish because I’m pretty sure you need to get through the chem core as well as be a sophomore to take some bio classes. I hope I helped!</p>