<p>So basically decisions are coming out soon - QB decisions come out tomorrow. I have no finals (this will probably not be you next year) and nothing to do over break, so I will be taking your questions! Ask anything!</p>
<p>There is one exception. If you post questions about the admissions process I will almost certainly ignore you unless you are a low-income student with questions.</p>
<p>Begin!</p>
<p>P.S. - I probably won't get back to you until sometime next week.</p>
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<p>prolly shouldnt have put “anything” in the title then</p>
<p>applicannot, how did you swing no finals? Do you have papers due in each class rather than a final exam per se?</p>
<p>Yes. I think the first question that needs to be adressed is how did you avoid finals? More importantly, is there any way I can do it? :)</p>
<p>Hello again, applicannot.</p>
<p>Based on your experience at Stanford thus far, would you choose it again if you could go anywhere?</p>
<p>I really hope that I’ll be posting on this thread again after next week :)</p>
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<p>Actually, since I’m a student and not the admissions office, I can’t answer those questions accurately anyway - so it’s still perfectly valid to ask a student anything.</p>
<p>As for the no-finals thing. I feel like my only mistake this quarter was taking everyone’s advice. Like everyone begged, I took an light courseload. Except that I took a REALLY light courseload. As a result, I had a lot of fun but spent only a few hours per week actually doing work. Academically I feel like I wasted the quarter, of course, I also had the best time of my life. Anyway, I have three classes. My IHUM class has a final paper (assigned today and due on Wednesday). My Arabic class has intermittent tests but no major final or oral. My other class has a final paper due Monday but it is only 5-7 pages and it was assigned basically on the first day of class. So, no finals for me. There are actually several - still a minority - of freshmen I’ve met with no finals.</p>
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<p>I can’t imagine myself anywhere else - nowhere else would I be this happy, I feel. The quarter system, the weather, the people, and the atmosphere are an unbeatable package. I had a very smooth transition but I know that isn’t true of everyone.</p>
<p>^Glad you are having the time of your life, applicannot! Re: course load, hindsight is 20/20 of course. I went a little bit the other way, sort of got overextended between classes and activities (ok, and parties) which created occasional stressful moments, but I concur: I can’t imagine myself anywhere else. Stanford is the bomb, full stop. I love it even more than I expected to, even with finals and papers looming.</p>
<p>And now to get out of applicannot’s way, so s/he can answer people’s questions.</p>
<p>Everyone tells me that the quarter system makes everything more rushed and the classes get harder.</p>
<p>In your experience, is the quarter system hard to manage? Why or why not would you prefer the quarter system over the semester system? </p>
<p>Additionally, how harsh are the curves in each class (since almost everyone at Stanford is pretty smart)?</p>
<p>As is apparent on CC, many of the students who list their ‘stats’ are quite remarkable. From your experience, have you encountered any less-than-remarkable students? I know that Stanford generally admits ‘amazing’ students (passionate individuals, even if they lack in academics and so forth) but are there any so-called ‘average’ students there? And if yes, what constitutes as average?</p>
<p>How many students spend time doing research? I mean, if they are passionate about a field and have free time?
And can you actually take a really light courseload?</p>
<p>@AngelAngel1770 considering the OP said he took a really light course load, i wonder what the answer to your question could be… hmmmm :D</p>
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<p>How do you like Arabic? And if you were to go back and decide differently, what other class would you have taken?</p>
<p>How long do you think it will take you to get through the required courses? Reading about them, they really confuse me.</p>
<p>@ kimathi</p>
<p>Thank you for enlightening me :)</p>
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<p>I strongly prefer the quarter system to the semester system. Before I came to Stanford I liked the quarter system but was definitely hesitant. Now I think I would be annoyed by the semester system. The quarter system keeps you on your feet, and the professors keep the class moving - time is more valuable. The classes don’t feel “rushed” because the classes are built for ten weeks - it’s not like they are taking fifteen-week syllabi and cutting them down. Keep in mind that at Stanford classes are going to be faster paced anyway. I like the quarter system because I get to choose more classes, and I get to change classes more often - variety is the spice of life. Any class that takes more than ten weeks is in a sequence anyway - for example, Chem 31A and 31B.</p>
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<p>None of the classes I took graded on a curve. My friends in those kinds of classes said the median was usually around a 70 - sometimes as low as a 50 (I think there was one chem midterm when it was 31, but these aren’t always percentages - sometimes they are like 31/50). Stanford students are pretty smart, but the classes are also catered to Stanford students. One (slightly) random thing I’ve heard is that what is covered in CS 106a (the first of the computer science core courses) is often covered in an entire year (two semesters elsewhere). This is the nature of Stanford’s advanced computer science curriculum. On the other hand, the students taking CS find in manageable. Also, this week Mark Zuckerburg visited and taught the CS 106a lecture.</p>
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<p>The great thing about the students here is that they tend to defy stereotypes. I have met maybe a handful of students who seemed out of place, but they are all doing well in their classes and all of them have something hiding. What I mean by that is what first meets the eye is usually false - some students may not come off as as bright as everyone else, but they usually turn out to be Science Olympiads or world champion slam poets or what have you.</p>
<p><a href=“passionate%20individuals,%20even%20if%20they%20lack%20in%20academics%20and%20so%20forth”>quote</a>
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<p>I haven’t met anyone “lacking in academics.”</p>
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<p>We have something called the Stanford Bubble. I am probably an average Stanford student, but it is very easy to forget that average here is not average in the real world - this is something to be weary of. Average here is pretty badass.</p>
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<p>My friend is a first quarter freshman doing research in the social sciences right now. He is not the only freshman I know of doing research - I have met quite a few research assistants for the sciences, as well. Getting a research assistant position is really easy and a lot of people do it as their work study.</p>
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<p>I am living proof.</p>
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<p>I love it! Our professor likes to make sure that we learn and use the language without feeling intimidated. We don’t have finals or oral exams the first year, just tests at the end of every chapter. I feel like I can learn without worry and I am not afraid to speak up in class because I am not constantly being watched for a grade. The Arabic program is definitely pretty slow-moving but by the end of Beginning Arabic a lot of students test into Mid-Intermediate level on the proficiency exam. Other languages - especially Spanish and Chinese - really push the students to move quickly.</p>
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<p>I would have taken CS 105 to fulfill my engineering requirement and hopefully learn something useful in the meantime. It’s an introduction to computers class - the class before the beginning programming class, essentially.</p>
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<p>You can do them all in a year, actually - if you want to. I have three GERs left to take as a sophomore. The requirements are really simple.</p>
<p>3 quarters of a language (a lot of people test out of most of this, I chose not to test)
3 quarters of IHUM (all in your freshman year)
2 quarters of PWR (one as a freshman, one as a sophomore)</p>
<p>Natural Science
Engineering/Applied Science
Social Science
Humanities
Math</p>
<p>And then two of the following, and any one of the above five subject requirements can double-count as one of these:
Global Community, American Culture, Ethics and Philosophy (or something), and Gender</p>
<p>So if your only goal your freshman year was to get rid of GERs, it would look something like this:</p>
<p>IHUM
PWR
MATH
LANGUAGE</p>
<p>IHUM
LANGUAGE
ENGAPPSCI
SOCIAL SCIENCE/EC</p>
<p>IHUM
LANGUAGE
MATH
HUMANITIES/EC</p>
<p>And that covers it in a year, basically.</p>
<p>Thanks, that’s fantastic. :D</p>
<p>Woah, you made me want to go to Stanford EVER MORE now. What great information. I think i’d LOVE the quarter system.</p>
<p>I would like to add this caveat: although I agree with applicannot that the quarter system is great because the fast pace keeps everyone on their toes, it does require strong organizational and planning skills when you are taking lots of units, and/or have multiple courses with psets due weekly. Procrastinators will be f**cked because in many classes there isn’t a lot of time to catch up. So long as you stay on top of your work you’ll have time to kick back with friends and go out on weekends. In a semester system there’s a little more chance to make up for occasional slacking, or for time lost if you happen to get sick, etc. So come to Stanford prepared to maintain a steady work flow, and then you’ll find time to have fun, try out lots activities, etc.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, I’m going to be pretty biased because I’m really on top of my **** - I’ve always been extremely organized and procrastinating actually makes me sick to my stomach, lol. If you’re not on top of things, the quarter system will eat you alive. In my dorm, at least, there are students who are having some trouble with material but no one is having trouble with the pace (to the extent that you can separate those two things).</p>
<p>Does everybody have to take math (non-engineer/math/physics majors)? If so, how advanced does the math get? What about if one got a 5 on their AP Calc BC test?</p>
<p>Thanks :)</p>