<p>I just have a few questions that hopefully current Stanford students can answer.</p>
<p>What was your favorite class you have taken so far? Any classes that you thought you would despise but ended up loving?</p>
<p>First of all what are you interested in? There are so many classes from which to choose at Stanford so it's kind of hard to narrow it down like that. Your IHUM will teach you that specificity is imperative.
Anyway, I liked my introsem on Law in Society, small class (17 frosh), met once a week for an hour and fifty minutes, discussion based course, and close contact with a member of the faculty. I recommend taking advantage of introseminars. Once you get to college, especially a school like stanford, it's difficult to stand out so getting to know a prof is invaluable. Note that you have to apply to get into an introsem, unfortunately you can't just enroll like most classes (even upper divs-Stanford isn't stringent on prereqs at all).</p>
<p>peachieva- are you from TX? I think I read some old OLD post that had you from TX. Just Wondering...</p>
<p>peachieva - I'm asking what you have enjoyed; they don't necessarily have to coincide with my interests, I'm just asking generally what classes you have pleasantly been surprised in. But just for kicks, I'm interested in (but not limited to) biology.</p>
<p>bump! anyone? :)</p>
<p>I took three theatre classes and IHUM... I liked all of them, and didn't regret taking any of them. :-D It was challenging to be in classes with no other freshmen, though. Next quarter I'll be taking no theatre classes... so we'll see after that. :-)</p>
<p>I took Math 51, which I didn't like because I'm just not a math person. Chem 31x is the equivalent of AP Chem, so it wasn't anything special. I actually liked my IHUM (Journeys) even though I was prepared to hate it. We read Tolstoy, Flannery O'Connor, James Baldwin, Chuang Tzu, and James Joyce, so it's quite a wide range of authors and topics, and the workload was not bad at all, so I recommend that class.</p>
<p>I know that an IHUM course is required for freshmen, but are there any other requirements? Like math, science, etc.?</p>
<p>yeah there are several GERs you have to fulfill. Ihum is just area one (of four). There's more information in the Stanford bulletin: <a href="http://bulletin.stanford.edu%5B/url%5D">http://bulletin.stanford.edu</a></p>
<p>unlike most frosh who only take one introsem =) I have made it my business to take 3 so far -- and they are ****ing awesome. last quarter I took one on welfare economics, and this quarter I'm taking one on modern american poetry and one on MS and neurology (at the med school). they have been from 7 to 16 people and are really great experiences. other than that I really honestly did love every class I took fall quarter: visions of mortality (because its cool to talk about death, and the phil lecturer is HILARIOUS), kickboxing (bcs the teacher is crazy), brain and behavior (random cool facts and good speakers), and econ 1 (mainly bcs I could skip it a lot and be fine, and ryan maddux is a funny TA). but I know people who have had bad experiences, but nothing terrible. the point is, if you shop classes and get advice from sophomores and above, you can take really meaningful, fun classes.</p>
<p>Isn't it really hard to get into 3 introsems, as in they give priority to people who haven't taken one yet? I'd love to take as many as I possibly could!</p>
<p>I've taken Math 103 - Matrix Theory and Its Applications, and it's a challenging class :) very interesting as it gives you a better depth on linear algebra and vectors.. I was taught by Mark Meckes.</p>
<p>I took an introsem about American History through Literature. The professor was David Kennedy, the guy who wrote the American Pageant textbook that most AP US History classes use. He also won a pulitzer. there were only 15 people in the class and it met at his home. It was a LOT of reading (about a 400 page novel a week), but it was really interesting.</p>
<p>My current (winter quarter) IHUM seems to be really interesting too. "Encounters and Identities"...about South African colonolialism, etc.</p>
<p>Which IHUM is the easiest/most interesting? What is the writing requirement like? What was the website saying about doing stuff for it for 2 years? Is SLE evil?</p>
<p>I realize this is an old thread, but I had a question about the "American History through Literature" introsem. In case they offer it next year, I was just wondering what you thought of it. I heard from one person that David Kennedy is a complete jerk and assigns way too much work. (Didn't mean to rhyme. I was actually editing the actual word she used.) I wondered if you thought that as well. He was my faculty contact and he e-mailed me a few times. He seemed nice enough. Anyway, just curious what you thought. (Also, how many units did you take along with the class?)</p>
<p>Favorite classes at Stanford include, in no particular order:</p>
<p>History of the Modern Middle East (I took it before 9/11)
Immunoloy
Biochemical Evololution
Ethics and Public Policy
CS 106A
Issues in International Conflict Mangement (also known as "Ending Civil Wars", taught by Steve Stedman)</p>
<p>how many classes have you taken each quarter since freshman year?? im just curious</p>