<p>I have a friend who was walking to a frat with an unopened can of beer sticking out of her sweatshirt pocket. She was given a citation by the police because she is underage. (I don't think the police presence is that huge; she got unlucky. I just cite this example to show that there is some concern and some action regarding underage drinking.)</p>
<p>In another incident in my all-frosh dorm, two students were moved to other dorms due to repeated problems. I don't know the whole story, but I believe that what pushed the punishment was an incident involving someone pouring vodka on their hand, lighting it on fire, setting off the fire alarm, and causing the fire department to come to the dorm at 1:30am. Not pleasant. I don't know if any other disciplinary action occurred aside from moving them to other dorms.</p>
<p>Again... if you want to drink, cool, if not, that's cool too =] That's one thing I love about Stanford... variety in attitudes/interests as well as supportiveness.</p>
<p>And calikent - you're in Zapata? I'm just across the way in Serra =]</p>
<p>60 series physics was pretty tough. I've heard the book this year isn't that great (last year's was pretty good) and I don't think I've heard great things about the teacher. The prof/book for next quarter should be better and probably easier, and I have no clue who the prof will be in the spring or which book they will use (Physics 65 was my favorite quarter by far last year, we had this awesome prof who was actually a post-doc and is now teaching on the east coast). I think most people in the class think it's rather difficult. Physics 45 is incredibly boring and is basically the reason I chose Physics 60. I'm fairly sure that if you want to major in physics you need to take either the entire 40 series or the entire 60 series. That means you'd have to retake 41 and 43, although you could just skip lectures and just do the problem sets and take the exams. My friend who was in both thought that the physics series was harder, another friend thought the 50 H math series was harder... it depends who you ask. Math 50 series was rather easy for all my friends who are also physics majors. It won't provide any foundation for doing proofs later on unfortunately. Math 131 (PDEs, required for the physics major) will a little bit. After Math 131 you'd probably be in decent shape to take a proof-based math class. </p>
<p>The drinking age isn't really enforced on Stanford campus provided that you're safe. Even if you are pretty drunk if you have friends with you it's usually ok. If you are totally wasted and alone, then you are in much greater danger of having the police approach you. There are definitely people who drink a lot on the weekend, but also plenty who don't. There is a very, very small drug scene. Mostly just pot, but probably some other stuff too. There's at least one dorm I can think of that has a reputation for having a drug scene (maybe it's the only one?) so it exists... but it's pretty small. Out of a dorm of 80 people last year there were maybe 30 or so who drank reasonably often, about 3 who did pot, and maybe 1 (if that) who did other drugs. </p>
<p>Zapata may be a very unique example of a 4-class dorm with a strong sense of community. A lot of people there want to be there and are excited to be back in a dorm they have already enjoyed. Other ethnic theme dorms and Twain may be similar typically, but they'd probably be the only ones like that year after year. Just a thought. Hopefully I'm wrong about that. </p>
<p>I don't feel like people are that concerned with the preprofessional thing. I have just one friend who you could say is, but it's more like he's interested in starting up a computer business of some sort because it actually interests him intellectually rather than it's something he's interested in because it will make him rich one day. Perhaps it's just because I'm a physics major, but that really isn't an issue. I worried it might be before coming to Stanford. </p>
<p>To any of you who are still deciding where to go to college: PLEASE remember that wherever you choose you will live for four years of your life. Think about what college will give you the best overall college experience. That does mean it should have reasonably strong departments in the areas you're interested in and have the resources you need. But all the top schools are likely to have that. Think about your overall quality of life. The weather is actually MUCH more important than if a school is ranked #1 or #5 or even #10 most likely (if it's in a single department that could be untrue... if it's overall #1 is hardly different than #30). Life will go on and you will still be challenged in various ways and not everything will suddenly be perfect. Think about what school will be able to provide for you and meet your needs both in terms of your strengths and your potential future weaknesses.</p>
<p>In response to the question about the Physics 60 series, it is considered a difficult but very rewarding series of classes, especially for those who want to major in Physics. What I heard was the professor who taught it this year was interesting and very helpful, but the text was new and rather hard.</p>
<p>Hey I'm here to answer any questions some of the prospective freshman have as well (I'm a '10er so I might not know everything but I'll still try to help!)
As for the drinking at Stanford I'll just say that I agree with everything that has been said so far about it (I live in the African American themed dorm btw-Ujamaa oh and I'm not African American)!</p>
<p>I don't know that I'd say that 60 series physics was especially rewarding... it was very difficult and somewhat rewarding. Spring quarter was by far the best because most of fall and winter quarter covered material that we'd seen before and just gave incredibly difficult problems to make up for the lack of new material.</p>
<p>marlgirl, and others who've taken 60 series physics, do you have any examples of problems given in the course? I've looked around Stanford's website and can't find old exams, problem sets, etc. If you happen to still have an old test or something, would you mind giving an example of one of the "incredibly difficult" problems? ---preferably related to mechanics, but anything is fine. </p>
<p>It honestly sounds like a bummer, just getting really hard questions to make up for having seen most everything before. marlgirl, what are you taking now? How are the more advanced physics courses looking?</p>
<p>ok, i've got another question. how is the food? are there meal plans or something? i can't even boil an egg and am really going to be dependent on campus food. </p>
<p>and while on the topic of food, are there any gyms on campus? want to avoid the freshman 15. ;)</p>
<p>Ok to anser your questions:
So Stanford has something called the meal plan. Basically you pay a certain amount of money (can't remember how much-its mandatory for freshman anyways) and you get to choose from 3 different options. The First option is the 19 meal a week plan. Just like it sounds you simply get 19 meals a week in the dining halls. The second option is the the 14 meals a week and some Cardinal points. What are those? They're pretty much prepaid dollars that you can use in non-dining hall restaurants across camus and to eat late night. The last option is 10 meals a week plus even more cardinal points. I would advise getting the 14 meal plan if you don't plan on eating breakfast. Don't worry I can't boil an egg either and I'm doing just fine!</p>
<p>And yes there are gyms at Stanford so you don't have to worry about that! (I myself am currently suffering from the freshman fifteen I gained 7 pounds!! I've lost some amount of weight and I hope to lose more though :)</p>
<p>You can choose a dining plan and then change it during the first couple weeks of the quarter (at no charge) if you find out that you need more or fewer meals. I definitely advise against the 19 meal plan because you get no points; you can check out dining.stanford.edu to see where points can be used (Subway, Peet's Coffee, late nite dining, etc.).</p>
<p>People are very physically active on campus. Where I'm from, I rarely see any joggers or bikers... at Stanford, I am ALWAYS seeing someone running. LoL. Makes me feel bad...</p>
<p>the campus is spread out enough that you will probably get more excerise than you did at home just walking or biking to class or going to visit friends at other dorms, etc. the gym is also really nice .(I believe there is more than one, but I go to Arillaga - the really big, new one.) plus you can take tons of cool excercise classes. i just finished a yoga/pilates one - it was great. i advise you to take a class - they're pass/fail for one unit, which made it easier for me not to skip :) you can take anything from rock climbing, to yoga, to sailing, to horseback riding (some have a fee)</p>
<p>there are also pools, tracks, tennis courts, etc. and plenty of beautiful places to jog/walk/bikeride outside. as long as you make a little effort, you will get plenty of excercise.</p>
<p>If I could find a copy of our final from last year that would be the best example... I'll go searching for the old textbook at some point during break and find one of the homework problems. </p>
<p>It's typical for a lot of students to drop the physics 60 series classes. In the fall there were about 40 students in the class towards the end, in the winter maybe 35 or so, and by the spring there were only about 25-30. And then a few dropped physics after that... It's pretty tough, but if you find a good study group and make it through in theory you should be able to make it through the entire major. I'm still not quite sure I believe that's true for me, but hopefully it is. </p>
<p>So far this year I've just taken a math class (PDEs) and a lab class. PDEs was a pretty awful class since the prof couldn't teach, but the electronics lab class was actually a really well taught class. It's a lot of work the last couple of weeks when you do the project lab (it will take over your life) but you learn a lot from the project lab so it's definitely worth it. I can now build useful circuits whereas at the start of the quarter I basically knew nothing about circuits. Pretty cool. I'll let you know how physics goes next quarter.</p>
<p>the 14-meal plan is the most popular, but don't think that having the 19-meal plan is bad. If you have breakfast every morning (as I do because I have a 9am class), then I suggest you get the 19-meal plan. So what if you don't have points? Almost everyone (on the other two plans) has a surplus of cardinal dollars theyre willing to spend on you, especially towards the end of the quarter where only 50 cardinal dollars can roll over. But don't worry about this now, you'll be able to change it once the quarter begins and you see what it's like. 19 meals if you plan to eat breakfast, otherwise, 14 is pretty good.</p>
<p>Well unfortunately edwinksl I can't give you much info myself. I've only been taught by one chemistry professor (Dr.Hans C Andersen) who taught me an IntroSem (you'll find out what those are soon or if you can't wait check <a href="http://fsp.stanford.edu)%5B/url%5D">http://fsp.stanford.edu)</a>. He also teaches Chem 31b. I personally thought he was a great teacher and I really enjoyed his class but then again he's only one professor I can't speak about the rest of the faculty...</p>
<p>The first few chem classes are especially tough because, I believe, the intent is to weed out premeds. I think the chem department is bitter that many people enroll in their classes not because they love chem but because they have to as a requirement. Even so, I have found the teaching to be pretty good. I hear that it gets really nice as you get past the first few classes because classes are small and you have better communication with faculty. Perhaps a chem major can give more info.</p>
<p>I've been poking (rather intensively) around the Stanford website and gosh--I'm excited to go to school there! :D</p>
<p>Here are my questions.</p>
<p>1: There is a community farm on campus--but the website hasn't been updated since 2003. What's going on with the farm this year/in coming years? Are there still organic agriculture classes? Can one fulfill the work-study portion of the financial aid package by working as a paid intern at the Stanford community farm?</p>
<p>2: I've been taking a good, long, careful look at the Earth Systems Program. Can anyone offer some insights on an Earth Systems major? </p>
<p>3: I know PE classes aren't part of the General Education Requirements, and don't appear to have anything to do with graduating from Stanford; but anyway, are they taken as a part of the quarter's course-load? Are they for credit? Any insights about PE classes at Stanford?</p>
<p>4: How many Freshman Seminars do most frosh take? I was under the impression that it was just one, but then I read on the web page (or PDF document, or whatever) that one can sign up for up to three per quarter. What do students usually do? Do freshman seminars ever count towards major requirements?</p>
<p>I'll learn all these things eventually... but I want to know now! :D ;)</p>
<p>PE classes are taken for 1 unit for credit. You can take between 12 and 20 units a quarter, 15 units or so is typical. I think only 8 of the 180 units you need to graduate can be activity units (like PE, dance, etc.). I'm not sure if it's 8 but it's around 8... </p>
<p>Most freshman take 1-2 seminars their freshman year. You can apply to up to three a quarter, but students will rarely take more than one intro sem a quarter. I doubt seminars count towards the physics major, but perhaps other departments will count them? Probably not, but it's possible.</p>