Ask a Student - Anything

<p>I got SLE! yay!</p>

<p>I’m not sure how you petition to get into autumn but I do know the Petition button isn’t working right now because petitions for PWR 1 don’t open until the 14th of September at 5pm. Maybe they make exceptions for those who want autumn? Or put you in whatever is open? But yeah I heard most Stanford students prefer winter since it’s gloomy and cold out so people are stuck inside and therefore study more. Is this true?</p>

<p>D took her heaviest load (21 credits) winter quarter for just that reason. She had her PWR in the spring quarter. She didn’t care enough to try and change it. It was something to do with India and film. She really liked it. Loves Bollywood movies now.</p>

<p>I think freshmen can petition to change pwr quarters at nso. you sign up for a pwr and if you want to petition during nso, you petition (online) but when you do you get dropped from your current (fall) pwr with no guarantee of getting back in it or of them accepting your petition. so you could technically get screwed (not have your petition taken and instead get stuck in a pwr that sucks) but you have to take the chance. i think most petitions are accepted if there’s space though - it is not that difficult to get it changed and schedule issues are as good a reason as any. i do think that most people prefer winter for pwr - winter quarter generally sucks. anything but spring, i guess. once you get to spring, you forget about how bad winter is b/c it’s so freakin beautiful. people complain about pwr, but i think it can be awesome.
–sidenote: math 51 curve tends to be very nice in winter. the quarter you take a class can make a world of difference (51 tends to be hard in fall, much easier in winter and okay in spring; chem 33 tends to be harder in winter than in spring etc). ihum is ihum. it’s only as hard as the amount of effort you put in… not too bad for 4 units.</p>

<p>as for time management… this is something that i still struggle with so i’m not sure how helpful i could be. but what i do: in HS i could remember all assignments w/ no help but now i have to keep a detailed monthly schedule on my computer (iCal) as well as a daily one on my whiteboard. everything goes on here - classes, meetings, office hour times, assignments due, assignments i need to work on, reading i need to - everything. plan out the day in advance and stick to it. don’t take a laissez faire attitude to classwork; it will not somehow get done unless you do it, but the hardest part is starting them. on extra busy days, i write out important things on a sticky note and put it on my laptop (which i am very frequently on) before i go to bed so i will remember the next day. i don’t know how big on facebook/internet etc you guys are but sign off when you’re studying! it’s a huge time drain. if you like quiet invest in earplugs or noise canceling headphones - frosh dorms especially are loud, these were my savior. i try to spend at least from after dinner to ~11PM studying around 3-5 days a week. utilize the library here; it’s helpful! start psets as early as you can b/c it sucks to do them the night before (it may be impossible to finish). always always always make an outline when writing a paper and start at least 1.5 weeks before the due date. this makes writing faster and gives your paper better structure. some can be done quicker (eg ihum), but just be safe. find friends in your classes and keep each other on track (you will feel really guilty if your neighbor is done with his/her ihum paper and playing video games or something the day before it’s due while you haven’t even started). if you get behind the quarter system will eat you, no joke. this happened to me in one class and it made for a very difficult quarter. and sunday is a major study day; almost everyone i know spends it doing work. i usually work all sunday, and i’m generally doing work every night until around thursday night when i may or may not depending on how much work i have. i try to not do too much friday, i may or may not (usually may not) work saturday afternoon and generally don’t do work saturday night. this is my relax and have fun time. try not to waste the day sleeping in even though most classes at stanford start later than at many other colleges. get sleep. don’t be afraid to have fun. you will figure out what works for you by winter quarter frosh year. biggest advice? make a plan and stick to it!</p>

<p>how good is the MS&E department?</p>

<p>what do you guys think of taking Math 51H fall freshman year?</p>

<p>Yay the new bulletin is up! Boo, courserank and axess are both down.</p>

<p>i got this email today that says “course enrollment is now open on axess”
i thought we registered for classes at nso? if not, how do i know what classes i should sign up for? </p>

<p>i’m scared!!! is everyone registering for all the good classes?!</p>

<p>Upperclassmen can start registering on August 1st. Freshmen have to wait till NSO. Don’t worry about the “good” classes being taken. There are plenty of spots left!</p>

<p>I’m pretty curious about 51H and the other honors math courses. I was planning to take the regular 51-53 series, but then I saw that the honors courses were really highly rated on Courserank - people were raving about them. I enjoy math, but am not planning to be a math major. Is the honors track just so good that I would want to take it anyway?</p>

<p>(btw, GenericName101, I’m also in SLE. So excited!)</p>

<p>That’s awesome, I’ll see you there! I second the honors math question. Also, does the work load make taking 3 other classes overwhelming?</p>

<p>oh and, at NSO do we sign up for classes for all three quarters or just the fall?</p>

<p>What are the dorms like? Also, how is the financial aid?</p>

<p>^we just sign up for autumn quarter classes at NSO after we meet with our academic director. after that, we sign up for classes with everyone else.</p>

<p>I have a friend that took the 50H series, and he absolutely loved it. That being said, 50H is incredibly time consuming, so taking 3 other classes would be hard. You may have to sacrifice your social life or at least cut it back, especially with SLE (you also may have to sacrifice sleep, etc - that’s a tough schedule). Also, it is for people who LOVE math; i’d guess that many of them will end up majoring in math. You may think you’re good at math, but you have to enjoy it for the theory to take the H series not just be “good” at it. It’s a lot of logic and proofs. I think it’d be advisable to have taken/have been exposed to all or much the math taught in the regular 50 series before jumping into H, but maybe this isn’t necessary if you’re super math minded. I’d suggest shopping both regular and honors 50 series until the drop deadline to see what is best for you and your schedule.</p>

<p>ok Im thinking of taking Math 42 or 51 (depending on what my advisor has to say), Chem 31A, IHUM techonological visions of utopia, and an introsem. will this be too large a load of classes, taking chem and calc at the same time? I hear chem 31A&B are a LOT of work</p>

<p>I know a friend who took a similar courseload his fall quarter. He ended up doing really well (A+ in 42, A in chem), and he didn’t seem to work more than anybody else. That should be fine, and I highly recommend an introsem if you find one you like.</p>

<p>earthwise, I’ll definitely try to sit in on both 51 and 51H for the first week - thanks for the advice.</p>

<p>Thanks for everyone’s help on this thread! I have some questions to add:
Is it possible to request to change your PWR quarter to a specific quarter (not just either of the other two)? Say, for instance, from Fall to Winter or Winter to Spring? How hard is it to change your PWR quarter in general?</p>

<p>Also, is 18 units too much for fall freshman year? I really want to take two 5 unit classes that are only offered in fall, but I got assigned PWR in the fall so with IHUM that’s already 18. :&lt;/p>

<p>Edit: Oh, and how hard is it to change your IHUM? I got my 2nd choice (which I know is still fine), but I really really wanted my 1st.</p>

<p>is it possible to change the time of your pwr section? i love my pwr! the section just starts toooo late in the day.</p>

<p>also, i want to buy these decorative shelves and sconces, would i be able to nail them into my dorm wall?</p>