<p>@ Code H - some pre-med/engineering majors have their entire four years basically planned out, since those together take up the great majority of your units.</p>
<p>I’m thinking pre-med, so I have a sort of… skeleton laid out on the courserank 4-year planner. I don’t know what my major will be… it just gives me a little peace of mind. But in the end, I’m pretty sure things will change up, especially since I’m not for-sure on pre-med.</p>
<p>Anyway! I’m sure it’s cool that we’re all in different places in thinking about our courses. I think after we meet with our advisors - pre-major and academic director, we should at least lock down what autumn quarter will look like ( :</p>
<p>@cardinal2014: first, welcome to CC!
second, i also had to basically plan out a lot of classes. pre-med students have very limited options for required upperlevel chem classes (the quarters they are offered, when you take MCAT, and prereqs/coreqs), so premed students really have no choice but to plan a lot early. on top of that, theres the physics sequence, math sequence, bio or humbio core, and bio labs</p>
<p>Coming into freshman year, I think I’d planned on about 2 classes (Math and Ihum) and then I got into a cool introsem which I jumped on and decided during NSO to take another interesting class I knew NOTHING about before setting foot on the Farm.
So I think it’s pretty normal to not be completely sure in the beginning. Later on though, it’s really helpful to make a four year plan unless you have a really flexible major.</p>
<p>Be advised that your academic director and pre major advisor may not be as helpful as you’d like. My AD was okay, but my PMA was completely useless to me. But this is completely survivable.</p>
<p>so i will be in twain/stern. is there a kitchenette? and if so what is it like? as in like what kind of stuff is available/not available etc. also is there stuff you wished you had brought/hadnt brought?</p>
<p>if you only need 51, only take 51. that’s totally common. there’s really no reason to take 52 or 53 if you don’t need to and don’t have an interest in them.</p>
<p>i think all dorms have a kitchenette, so i’m sure twain does. it probably has a sink, microwave and fridge, plus some counter space. it’s probably pretty small, maybe like 7x15 feet (estimation). that’s all your’e guaranteed. it might have a few pots/pans/random left behind spices and baking supplies but who knows. i’m not sure if you mean in general or in regards to the kitchenette, but i think i brought everything necessary for me to be happy (i’m a simple person) and if i needed more i bought it later (online, or whatever). i’d suggest not bringing anything too bulky. maybe bring a little fan if you haven’t gotten one already - comes in handy when it’s hot. i think there’s a thread on this somewhere. i think you can gauge what more/less you need when you get here.</p>
<p>should i buy big game tickets now? i heard there’s a red zone fan club thing where you get a free ticket to the big game if you go to a certain number of games and scan your id card…confusing? idk haha i read it on the athletics website. </p>
<p>if i don’t buy big game ticket now, when should i?</p>
<p>IHUM
PWR
Chem 31A
Math 42 (got credit for 51, but I want to really, really solidify BC)
Chinese Language 1B</p>
<p>That would be 20 units for my fall quarter. Is that crazy? My AD said to plan for 3-4 academic courses, 12 to 20 units. Language isn’t that bad in terms of workload, right? And if I don’t take Chinese starting from first quarter, doesn’t that mean I have to wait until sophomore year to start my 3 quarters of language?</p>
<p>Does anyone know if you can loft the beds in Trancos high enough to fit your desk underneath? I’m driving down from Oregon, so I’m bringing a ton of stuff, and would like to figure out approximately how much room I have.</p>
<p>Also, do you have to take a placement test in order to get into Chinese 1B? I am a native speaker (with decent comprehension/speaking, but no reading/writing), but unfortunately I missed the deadline to take the online placement test (was in vacation w/o internet)</p>
<p>earthwise, if we initially choose to take a course for a letter grade, do we get until the end of the drop period to change our election to credit/no credit, for courses that have that option? Thanks in advance–I really appreciate your continuing willingness to respond to our questions. : )</p>
<p>@ Whan - I e-mailed the language director, who referred me to the Chinese Language department head (or … whatever his position is called). I just told him that I could speak and listen to easy to moderate level Chinese, but can’t read or write. He said that I should take Chinese 1B, and didn’t mention anything about taking the exam, online or oral. It would probably be sort of useless for me (and you) to take the online written exam if we can’t read/write.</p>
<p>@cardinal2014 I have heard languages aren’t much work, with the exception of Chinese* You will have a lot of characters to memorize each class
Also, consider that PWR is a lot of writing. If writing is your strength, then that might not be a problem.
Also, Math 42 and Chem 31A will have lots of problem sets.</p>
<p>The good thing is that you have a lot of variety in the type of work you will have</p>
<p>@ jhappy: students get in free to all football games (you just scan your id card), so there’s really no need to buy big game tickets. each game is assigned a point value (from 1-3) and i think you need to have amassed like ~8-10 points by big game to be GUARANTEED admission. so just go to the other games and scan your card and you’re guaranteed to get into big game. if you don’t have the points, you can still get in pretty easily if you’re willing to show up early and wait in the “unguaranteed admission” line for a couple/few hours.</p>
<p>@cardinal2014: imo, that’s a lot for first quarter. having time to adjust is good. language tends to be A LOT of (busy)work, especially chinese. don’t underestimate that, even if you do know some Chinese. but i think you’re right about having to wait if you put it off.
i’d suggest moving your pwr to another quarter (by petition) or taking math another quarter. this is just my opinion, but if you already took bc calc and did well enough to get credit, math 42 would just be more of an excruciating review that a “solidifying experience.” i’d take the credit and spend my time learning something new and exciting i won’t get a chance to later. math 42 here will not teach you much more than high school, really, it’ll just be more complicated integration. busywork if you already know it. really, for what field will you need to have so much basic calc down that you can’t pick up later?
but that’s my 2 cents. obviously, it’s up to you.
chem, ihum, chinese, +one more class seems good. you do have a nice mix.</p>
<p>@whan: yes you can do that. it’s just annoying to have to climb into a bed that high (haha) but sure, go for it. i have no idea about your second question. i’d suggest emailing the language people like cardinal did. they were helpful in the past whenever i did.</p>
<p>@zenkoan: you have until the “change of grading basis” deadline to change from letter to c/nc or vice versa. for this coming quarter, that’s november 12 (see [Office</a> of the University Registrar - Stanford Academic Calendar, 2010-11 | Student Affairs](<a href=“http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/registrar/academic-calendar]Office”>http://studentaffairs.stanford.edu/registrar/academic-calendar)). that’s about 2/3 of the way into the quarter, pretty far past the drop deadline. this should be enough time to figure out how you’re doing in the class and how much you want to invest in it. and sure!</p>
<p>That only gives me 13 credits (plus the phys-ed course).</p>
<p>I was thinking:</p>
<p>Beginning Arabic
IHUM
Introduction to Urban Studies
Introduction to Computers (CS 105)</p>
<p>That’s 18 credits, which seems like a lot for the first quarter. I’m applying to one introsem for the fall, but none of them really appealed to me and I’m having a lot of trouble finding another lower-credit course that fits in my schedule. Any thoughts about either of those schedules?</p>
<p>applicannot, 18 does seem like a lot for the first quarter, but I think the feasibility depends somewhat on several factors. E.g., do you have any basic familiarity with programming going in to the CS class (which involves some programming assignments, though I’ve heard they aren’t very demanding), or will it all be absolutely new? Are you a relatively fast reader (for the IHUM assignments), or do you prefer to read more slowly or break your reading assignments into smaller chunks? How often will papers be due in Urban Studies, and can you write reasonably efficiently without too much writer’s block?</p>
<p>Incidentally, I’ve been told that most freshmen sign up for a few more units than they eventually settle on first quarter, to try them out before they make the final decisions by week 3, so there’s always that approach.</p>