Current Student...ask Away

Colleges and Universities A-Z Stanford University
41

<p>ENYSOME,</p>

<p>i suggest you email the head or asst coach of the varsity lacrosse team to make sure what your options are. to find out thier emails, just go to the lacrosse website, roster, and at the bottom are the coaches names. then go to stanfordwho.stanford.edu, type in their name, and you'll get their email.</p>

<p>SOCCERGRL010,
On an average week, how many hours do you spend studying? How much free time do you have? Do a lot of kids go to the gym, sporting events, and other on campus activities?
--hrs studying? umm...i hate to say it, but i'm not sure. it depends. i don't really keep track. i'd say i do about 2 hours of work a day. i have a decent amount of free time, but it's taken up by other non academic activities i do, like sports and practice. people def go to the gym. basketball, football, and w volleyball are what most people go too. people are def involved in all kinds of campus activities.</p>

<p>Do you know anything about the psych and communications/journalism departments?
--not a lot. i mean, it's not my major, so i have no idea about how "strong" it is.</p>

<p>I know all Stanford students are very intelligent and talented. Was this intimidating before going to Stanford? How do you feel now? Are a lot of kids cut throat when it comes to grades or more laid back?
there was a similar question in the '10 forum. kids are def more laid back than what i've heard from kids at the ivies.<br>

[quote]
How smart are the kids at Stanford. Are they overtly serious pricks (I am pretty sure they are not) or completely party hardy characters?
---you have it all. there are some pricks, though not many. most are pretty normal kids. there are some crazy genius's, but not everyone knows everything. i've met people that are in junior math courses as freshmen, and i've met people that don't know what oxidation numbers are. that doesn't mean one is einstein and one is an idiot. everyone has something they excell in some way or another. but overall, yeah, people are smart. above average, but not intimidating or daunting for the most part. trust me.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I know from visiting some current college students that weekends for them consist of sleeping in late, spending hours getting ready to go out, drinking in the dorm, and then going out and partying til the early hours. When it comes to drinking, are most weekends filled with everyone getting wasted or do a lot of kids find other activities to do too?
sleeping late is def done by a lot students...i mean, why wouldn't it be? sure, some people go out every weekend, but not that many people. i mean, a typical stanford weekend isn't going out and getting wasted. it happens, but its not as typical as it is at other colleges. there are A LOT of other options, like IM sports, clubs, going to palo alto, random acitivities, sporting events, or just chillin with friends.</p>

42

<p>i don't see why people would be intimidated by the people at stanford before even showing up... but yea, the people here are FO SHO really intimidating... i've never been around so many smart people all at once... the first 2 weeks or so was scary. dude, im still scared of all the smart people. but everyone is really chill, very very nice people here.</p>

43

<p>lol I love how you related not knowing oxidation numbers to being an idiot, current_student. Thankfully I'm not one? I was wondering if you could explain the whole quarter system. Also, somebody mentioned not liking how Stanford "weeds out the premed students." Could you describe how they do it? You mentioned 2 hours of homework and studying a day. Is that typical or do your classes just require less work than others? Lastly, is there anything you would've done differently looking back on when you were applying?</p>

44

<p>The quarter system divides a full year into four, with 1-2 week breaks in between. Most people then go to school Autumn, Winter, and Spring quarters. Students can stay over the summer if they are researching or working and take summer classes if they desire. Being able to take classes summer quarter also makes it possible to take quarters off at other times of year. You have to have 12 full quarters over your career, meaning you are taking at least 12 units/quarter. </p>

<p>The amount of time you spend on work has a lot to do with your classes. For techie students, it's easier to find a balance of work because there are weekly assignments, whearas for fuzzy students, there are huge assignments due every three weeks (or less), so there are a lot of days when I will read a play for homework and that'll take 1-2 hours and that'll be it for the day, but come Thursday night 3 weeks into the quarter I'll be working from 4pm until 5am the next morning on a paper.</p>

<p>Also, most Stanford students I know are born procrastinators. Which is why everyone seems so chill all the time, until the night before their CS Assignment/Midterm essay is due. But then they don't talk to anyone, so no-one is around to assess them as not being chill.</p>

45

<p>

don't make me look like the bad one. haha.</p>

<p>efilsiertaeht put it well. and no, i wouldn't have done anything different when applying.</p>

46

<p>How are the Calculus Classes, particularly Math 41 and 42. Is Math 42 harder?</p>

47

<p>half of math 42 is review of some AB calculus. whether its hard or not depends on your prof i guess, and TA's.</p>

48

<p>what are you majoring in ? are other majors as easy as the one u describe (like 2 hours of studying a day)</p>

49

<p>Only 2 hours a day? Wow. I'm a freshman. Last quarter I had IHUM, Math 51 (Linear Algebra/Diff Multivar Calc), and Physics 61 (the honors physics sequence). IHUM was like 3 hours/week of reading plus papers which take me a long time. Math was about 3-5 hours to do the homework plus maybe 2-3 hours of checking answers with friends. Physics... took much longer. The easiest probably set took maybe 5-8 hours, the hardest took closer to 20-25 or so... whatever it was, it was a LOT. I still felt like I had much less work than high school, but my high school had an unusually heavy work load. You can expect to study 2-3 hours per unit. For 5 unit classes, this will probably hold. For whatever twisted reason, classes that are less than 5 units (except for introsems) are often MORE work than 5 unit classes. Freshman chem, freshman physics, upper level math courses, engineering classes, etc. are 3-4 units and much, much more work than, say, IHUM. My physics was easily more work than math and IHUM put together. So it varies. I'd say 2 hours/day is less time than most people spend on homework.</p>

50

<p>So just how many hours/day do you spend on homework then, marlgirl?</p>

51

<p>Do you know anyone at Stanford who's doing ROTC at Berkeley?</p>

52

<p>Add that all up and divide by 7, plus a few more hours when essays are due.</p>

53

<p>i know someone doing ROTC, but i'm not sure if its at berkeley.</p>

<p>and my "2 hours" was a guesstimation. i'd say total a week it was like 20ish. i don't know, i really suck at approximating and i never really kept track.</p>

54

<p>Where can I find a list of majors and minors that are offered at Stanford? Also, how far away is your real home and how often do you visit it? What are some popular things that poeple do outside of academics? Outside of school?</p>

55

<p>for a list of majors/minors, visit stanford.edu and click find thw academics departments page. its really easy to find it from the main site.</p>

56

<p>lol what % of people are single?</p>

57

<p>I'd guess somewhere between 25-40% of people are in relationships. I suspect that the number increases each year (probably more seniors than sophomores in relationships). That leaves 60-75% of students. Pretty much everyone at Stanford is single or in a serious relationship, it seems there is very little in between. Random hookups, 3 year relationship, or nothing, your choice.</p>

58

<p>marlgirl:
you said that the course load is easier than that in a high school with an "unusually heavy work load"</p>

<p>i'm currently in 6 ap's + 2 music classes...how would this compare to the workload at stanford?</p>

<p>maybe this q is too specific...sorry if it is but i'm just curious i guess</p>

59

<p>It depends on the difficulty of your classes in high school and which classes you choose to take in the fall. If the APs prepare you well enough for the AP exams such that getting a 5 is more or less expected of most students and you don't take Chem 31X or Math 51H or Physics 61 or any crazy upper level classes that freshman usually don't take, then it'll probably at least feel like less work. We might actually have more work than in high school, but it at least feels like less, feels like there is far more free time. Also, which APs are you taking? There's a big difference between, say, AP Calc BC (especially if you didn't take AB last year) and AP Psych. It probably also depends on how well you manage your time. I think I've started to manage my time much better than I ever did in high school so that probably also helps quite a bit.</p>

60

<p>List of undergraduate majors and minors at Stanford:
<a href="http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/learning/3_3b_majors.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.stanford.edu/dept/uga/learning/3_3b_majors.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>