<p>do people usually get (or have to require) credit for APs before they get to Stanford? Does it just come out on your record (like a 5 on AP CAL AB?) or is it better to just take the course again at stanford if I am considering Management Science and engineering?
Also, what are the common classes people take during the first quarter of their freshman year?? IHUM and PWR (it depends, right?) and what else? I am very curious,,can't wait for the booklet to come at the end of august, any suggestion?</p>
<p>Ask your advisor :) It's very hard to answer your questions now without a better idea of what you want, what classes will be available, what IHUM you will have, and when your PWR is assigned.</p>
<p>I'm not sure I understand your question about requiring credit for APs...</p>
<p>Okay, I'll see what I can do to answer your question. I'll start with the question about classes. Freshman year, you will be taking a 5-unit IHUM class each quarter, for the whole year. This will comprise 2 lectures, and (I think it's now...) 2 50 min. discussion sections per week. Because you have to take IHUM, it kind of limits how many classes you have to find and take, which ultimately IMO makes it easier on a new student. One of the three quarters you'll have PWR. Which quarter it will be is assigned to you, but under the right circumstances you can petition to change it, although this is pretty hard to do freshman year. Other than that you are completely free to choose whatever classes you would like. Some of the common ones though, are Chem 31A/B/X, Math 51, Econ 1, Psych 1, Sleep and Dreams, and a few others. People usually will take some intro classes along with some random, obscure, and usually easy classes, especially in the spring. Whatever you do, don't feel forced to immediately jump into stuff for your major, HOWEVER, I would HIGHLY recommend getting classes like Chem 31 and Math 51 out of the way freshman year, should you think the possibility exists that you will need them, otherwise you'll have to put everything on hold until you take that class and freshman year you'll know a lot of people in the class, it will be easier to do Psets, etc.</p>
<p>Now, as for AP Credit. I believe you send your AP scores to Stanford and once that is done they will credit you with the appropriate amount of units. You will ultimately need 180 units total to graduate, and AP credit will reduce the overall amount you need to gain through taking classes. Most people enter with ~20 units of credit from AP's or IB's. I believe there is a sheet that exists somewhere that gives you an idea of what a score on a particular AP means in terms of placement. I can tell you that a 5 on the Math AB AP means you should go into Math 51. If I were you, take it Winter quarter. The curve will be easier then, because all the engineers will have taken it in the fall. I'm not sure if it's required for MSE or not, I think it is, but if I were you I would just take it anyway in case you end up switching to something like Econ.</p>
<p>Couple of insiders hints: If you want to find some classes that will be interesting and a little obscure (and probably very easy), there is a list of classes compiled by the AARC commonly referred to as the "Athlete List". What it amounts to is a list of easy classes that don't have a huge amount of workload, if you meet someone who plays a sport, you can get your hands on it and it might make things easier for you if one of your goals is not swamping yourself freshman year.</p>
<p>i believe they changed IHUM to a 4credit class</p>
<p>I heard that too. Lucky.</p>
<p>question-wat exactly does the amount of credits mean? like ive seen some real tough lookin classes specially math and science that are only 3 credits while others that seem to be less work are 5???how does this work</p>
<p>the number of credits just reflect the number of hours a week each class is held. So typically a 3 unit class would require you to attend three hours of class a week (assuming you don't skip any). It in no way reflects the difficulty of the class (I doubt anyone for example would argue that (then) 5 credit IHUM was harder than 4 credit PWR).</p>
<p>As a general rule of thumb, a three unit class will meet three times a week with 2 50 min. lectures and one 50 min. section. A 4 unit class will usually meet four times a week with 3 lectures (50 min, again) and 1 50 min. section, and so forth. Basically, for every 50 min. block of time the class meets you get 1 credit. If a lecture is longer than 50 min., it's probably 2 credits worth of time.</p>
<p>And also, there are plenty of classes whose number of units nowhere near reflect the work you'll put into them; hence, the shopping period is for getting a feel of the class. Although you really ought to slightly overestimate, since classes in the beginning don't require as much as work as around midterm time and such. :-/</p>