<p>I am joining Stanford as a freshman in the fall, and my major is most probably going to be philosophy. How is Stanford's undergraduate program? In which areas is it strong and weak? What kind of graduate programs do philosophy majors place into? Any information is appreciated, thanks</p>
<p>I'm gonna be a freshman too!!!
(sorry that this has nothing to do with your question.)</p>
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<p>Since you are getting no responses, I'll tell you what I have heard. The faculty is very, very strong in the philosophy department at Stanford. Generally they are most focused on current philosophical things, but you'll find plenty of people interested in more historical subjects. My friend who has taken some classes found the phil classes to be significantly larger than the rest of her major classes, but she does have a particularly small major, a cross between literature and philosophy. She said something about 30 people or so in each of the classes she has taken in the department, and that the department is fairly popular with students. You'll be fine. The best phil majors go onto the best programs in every field (from phil to law and medicine). Do well, and if you're interested in graduate school, get killer recs.</p>
<p>Out of interest, anyone else here thinking of doing philosophy? How come?</p>
<p>I'm gonna be a frshman too! (Yeah I'm bored)
Oh and no I'm not thinking of doing philosophy, I'm more of a science guy :D</p>
<p>Thats cool. I'm a science person too. I'm really into mathematics, like logic and stuff.</p>
<p>That's nice. If you're into math I suggest watching the TV show numb3rs and then actually finding out more about the math used. It really is a nice way to encourage people to appreciate math more.</p>
<p>Oh and more into mechanics and chemistry than logic but I like those too</p>
<p>I don't watch much TV but if numbers is on I'm usually watching :). By any chance do you know what kind of math is studied in computer science? I'm thinking of doing a second major, and I was thinking of CS over the engineering branches mainly because the latter has a lot of mechanics. Mechanics is fun, but its not really much use for me to study it because its not very applicable to philosophy and that sort of thing. I trust you're planning an engineering major?</p>
<p>Yeah I'm planning to go into an engineering major. I don't really know what math is used in CS (I don't really know much about the subject) but I do know that my physics teacher told us that EE take a lot of calculus especially integration. I'm planning to go into ChemE btw.</p>
<p>The department has around 10-15 majors a year, and many of the upper division courses are quite small. The only thing I really find it lacking in is some contintental stuff (and by lacking, I mean that it's not Thübingen or the Collège de France), but you can always remedy that with Stanford's awesome study abroad programs.</p>
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The department has around 10-15 majors a year, and many of the upper division courses are quite small. The only thing I really find it lacking in is some contintental stuff (and by lacking, I mean that it's not Thübingen or the Collège de France), but you can always remedy that with Stanford's awesome study abroad programs.
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<p>I am just bumping this thread for clarification:</p>
<p>The lack of "some continental stuff" is an understatement regarding Stanford's philosophy program. The program itself is predominantly analytical; not only is it analytical in the tradition of, say, Harvard, Pitt, Princeton, and such, but if focuses on philosophical logic. Stanford, for graduate students, is considered the place to be for mathemetical logic, modal logic, possible world semantics, and various other sub-disciplines in philosophy that make extensive use of logic and scientific methodology. Harvard, for instance, offers a mediocre balance between analytic and continental philosophy; Stanford, however, is extremely analytic.</p>
<p>That is not a bad thing at all:); however, just to give an example: typically, a student will need a BA in philosophy in order to enter a Ph.D program in philosophy, otherwise he must earn an MA in philosophy. To show you how extreme Stanford is, one of my professors earned a math degree at JHU, did not go through an MA program in philosophy, and still managed to attend Stanford's Ph.D program in philosophy.</p>
<p>How does the graduate program at Stanford compare to Berkeley's with regard to logic and scientific methodology, keeping in mind the available logic and methodologies of the sciences division?</p>
<p>If you are into CS and Philosophy, you should consider Symbolic Systems major.</p>
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How does the graduate program at Stanford compare to Berkeley's with regard to logic and scientific methodology, keeping in mind the available logic and methodologies of the sciences division?
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<p>Stanford's is the best, bar-none, especially since the disciplines it uses for the logic program are very well integrated.</p>
<p>Unless you are positively certain, however, that you want to focus on logic for your graduate studies, Berkeley is always the better choice simply because it has more breadth than Stanford, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Another fact that attests to Stanford's excellence in logic: the existence of CSLI: The Center for the Study of Langauge and Information.</p>
<p>Take a class with Bobonich - he's amazing.</p>