<p>You will be assigned an advisor when you arrive on campus. You are required to meet with your advisor the during orientation. Some advisors are really helpful, many aren't that helpful. You keep this advisor until you declare your major and then you get a new advisor. </p>
<p>Your freshman/sophomore advisor mostly likely will just help you choose classes your fall quarter. If you want them to play a bigger part in your life they can, but for most students that's pretty much all they do. </p>
<p>There are also full-time advisors you can meet with. I've heard that they are really helpful since that's what they do all day, just advise students.</p>
<p>marlgirl and Sly Si, thanks for the information. I can't say I'm any further along towards making a definite decision, but you both really helped me out.</p>
<p>And Sly,
[quote]
By the way, I can promise you that you will be able to count on one hand the multiple integrals you do in 52H.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I can't even put in words how good that sounds.</p>
<p>You will have to do a lot of multiple integrals for physics though. Not freshman year, but there were a few for Physics 120 and probably some more in higher courses. Math 52H is rather challenging so I recommend that you take it only if you really love math, not just to get away from multiple integrals.</p>
<p>Yeah, it'd be a bad idea to jump into an honors series for the sole reason of trying to get away from work...kind of backwards thinking, but I'm a backwards kind of guy. By the way marlgirl, how're the new physics classes going? Relatively easy after the 60 series, or still challenging?</p>
<p>That's an interesting question. Academically, they've been better for me interestingly enough. Physics 120 is at least no harder (so far) than Physics 63 which was a bit surprising. I'd say they are easier, but not trivial either. There are still some interesting problems.</p>
<p>I've got another question. A 5 on the AP CS exam places you in either CS106B or 106X. Is there any advantage in taking 106X? I know it's more intensive and covers both 106 A/B in a single quarter but isn't it easier to just take B, since part of X is a repetition of the AP material?</p>
<p>There is no particular advantage. 106A is all Java, 106B is all C++, and 106X is the mix, so just if you've taken the AP test and done well, then it really doesn't matter. In which case, you should really pick which you take based on the quarter you want to take it and who's teaching what that quarter. For B or X, I would highly recommend either Julie (I forget her last name) or Jerry Cain.</p>
<p>I would also take into consideration the fact that since you already have experience with Java, 106X will be easier to score well in, given that you already know half the material. It will not be easier to just take 106B. Considering that CS classes take a lot of time, you'll want every advantage you can get.</p>
<p>Julie's last name is Sleznik (not sure about spelling). She's really nice. :)</p>
<p>106X actually isn't a mix of A and B like it sounds. It has become a class that is basically advanced 106B. You can either take 106A and 106B or 106A and 106X. If you place out of A, you choose between B and X, but X is just a harder, faster version of B. I know it's backwords from what it sounds, but that's just how they made it. Don't worry though, when you get here in September they will give you plenty of advice about which class to take.</p>
<p>I would highly recommend to anyone who is planning to do a CS major and has even a little bit of CS experience to just take 106X, I had very little progamming experience (just a little bit of basic C: arrays, if then, while, structs) and so I took CS106a.</p>
<p>It was a fun class, but just way too easy for someone with a little programming knowledge. Most of the Java knowledge you gain is kind of specific to the ACM libraries where they make everything easier and user friendly. The concepts you learn of course apply universally. </p>
<p>CS106x on the other hand is a lot more fast paced, and the assignments are a little more challenging and on the right level for people who are pursuing a CS major. If your other two classes are hard for first quarter I would just take 106a so you don't get overloaded. (i.e Chem and Math51 + CS106x might be a little hard). Also X is a bit faster and more indepth than B, it is basically B honors version</p>
<p>Hmm. I hadn't realized that about X; oh well, once you know Java, learning C++ takes like, two weeks, until you get to the nitty gritty of memory handling and whatnot, or so I would think. Definitely harder than going from C++ to Java, though, which is what I did.</p>
<p>Also, one more bit of advice: if you're really ballsy, you could jump straight into 107, but I wouldn't advise this unless you've got REALLY solid programming background (i.e. more than just some AP, you've developed code of your own before).</p>
<p>since we were on the subj of comp sci...is there a cs course i can take for the fun of it,preferrably in java . i remember making oregon trail and it was so much fun! i want to do this in college as well :)</p>
<p>CS106A is entirely in java - depending on how much programming experience you have the class might be a little more than just "fun," although definitely recommended.</p>
<p>I was looking through the bulletin and I found it odd that Stanford doesn't require the Math 50 series for CS majors. Anyway, what sort of schedule did you guys have your first quarter?</p>
<p>First quarter:
IHUM, PWR, and Math 51. Also had chem 31X in there for a while, but then dropped it because a) I thought it was pretty useless and b) my PWR was the worst class ever and sucked up tons of time with 0 knowledge gained.</p>
<p>Second quarter:
IHUM, Chem 33, Med seminar, Stats 60</p>
<p>Here's my schedule, not intense, but not really easy either. I'll include a kind of synopsis of my experience with each class
Fall:
Intro Sem (music dept) : Experimental instruments
You get to build your own instruments, it was a fun class
but a little too abstract and free-spirited for my taste
basically the professor considered everything to be music
(noise, scratching etc.) but he was a nice guy and very talented
And thus anything really could be an instrument, they weren't traditional instruments. </p>
<p>Math 51:
This class was very hard at first but everything came together by the end of the quarter ( a little to late ), I only took Calculus AB and got a 5, never took BC. I didn't know how to prove things (even very simple things) and I just was freaking slacker and did a sh--ty job on my homework, forgot to turn in some assignments. I hadn't really adjusted to the college level of work. I did ace the final miraculously and ended up getting a B+</p>
<p>IHUM Art Of Living (Great course! btw, I highly recommend it!)
I didn't ever go to lecture, i did skim through most of the books and they were very interesting, especially Nietzsche and Kierkegaard. The class centered around philosophy and I had an amazing TF, so section was alway engaging and I think I learned alot about different ways of looking at life.</p>
<p>CS106a (see above)
I'm lazy so i'm not gonna write a description for these:
Winter:
PWR (lots of work)
IHUM Worlds Of Islam (Sucks so far, horrible teaching fellows and dense readings)</p>
<p>CS106x (pretty easy)
CS103a (very easy)</p>
<p>Oh and if you want to jump into CS107 you should have experience with this stuff:
Data Structures (Trees, Maps, Queues, Stacks, Linked Lists) and how to implement them
Recursion
Inheritence
Pointers</p>
<p>My first quarter:
IHUM: Conflict, Cooperation, and Human Nature (no longer offered)
CHEM31X
BIOSCI20: Brain and Behavior
CEE80N (I think): The Art of Structural Engineering</p>
<p>Is it possible to get a neurobio/english double major in 4 years? Would I be better off minoring in English and International Affairs? And I'm doing SLE, so will that interfere with anything?</p>
<p>Hmm, I'm not sure because I don't know how big the English major is; I'm sure you know that you can check the major requirements on <a href="http://bulletin.stanford.edu%5B/url%5D">http://bulletin.stanford.edu</a> and make a plan to see if you can actually complete all the necessary classes in 4 years. Neurobio will take some time because you have to do bio/neurobio classes (this includes some stats, physics, chem I believe) as well as research and an honors thesis. I have a friend who did Bio and English in 4 years, but again, I'm not positive about the neuro track + English. For more info about the neuro track, go here <a href="http://biology.stanford.edu/programs_bs.html%5B/url%5D">http://biology.stanford.edu/programs_bs.html</a> I think the best thing to do is to ask your advisor when you get to campus; I'm sure the advising programs have dealt with questions like these and would be able to help you. I only know about neuro =/</p>
<p>PS Pyleela, I'm taking what will probably be a cool neuro class during the Spring (Bio 158, Developmental Neurobiology) and if you want to come and check it out some day, let me know! I think it's Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:15-3:45 or something like that.</p>