inev

Hows the workload for Computer Science? I know that Stanford is one of the best colleges for the major, but would it be possible to do another major with CS?

dpattzlover

^curious about this as well.

aberdeen15

^interested as well.

I was thinking Computer Science, but then Stanford also has Computer Systems Engineering, which I believe mixes in some Electrical Engineering - pretty cool. But then I was also thinking along the business side of things, so I was looking into Management Science and Engineering. Does anyone have experience with any of these majors?

nasty123

I got into Princeton as well and am confused about which to choose. i want to study psych. which is best for me and WHY?

azboon

Just out of curiosity, generally, do classes at Stanford give a lot of homework? I have friends in other uni's that tell me they barely have any homework at all - you just need to study and get ready for the inevitable finals.

Also, are there any particular courses or professors we should watch out for ? You know, classes that assign an inhumane amount of work, or the wicked professors that grade people a D or C no matter what you do.

faraday

What do students mean when they say intro "premed" classes are really "cutthroat"?

Those classes seem really basic (Intro Chem, Algebra-based Physics, and intro Bio). So why are those classes so intense? How is the curve in those classes?

Thanks.

GUESSS

Hey Sly Si,

Thanks for making this thread. I have a question about Stanford's foreign language requirement. I plan on completing this requirement with a satisfactory SAT II score. However, the site does not specify if the test should be taken with listening.

There's SAT II Spanish w/ Listening and Reading
And SAT II Spanish w/ only Reading

Does it matter which one we take?

https://www.stanford.edu/dept/lc/language/requirement/

Thanks.

docketgold

I'm not a CS major. But my roommate of two years was, and while the guy was sharp as a whip, he still had to bust his ass when he was in the thick of the curriculum. Certain classes were worse than others, but when he had a project due, I wasn't seeing him until the wee hours for a week at a time.

MS&E is for the people that can't hack it in Econ.

Don't choose your college based on a major you think you want to study, as I guarantee you it will change.


Depends. More often than note, while you may have homework, the point of it is not to keep you busy like in high school, but to help you keep pace with the class so that when it comes time to take midterms and finals you're not starting from scratch, but have done at least a little bit of studying up to that point. Sometimes classes will be more project based, meaning that incremental assignments make up the majority of your grade instead of tests, but the former is far more common.

And yes, there are certainly courses and profs with reputations. But I guarantee you that will be one of the first things you'll hear about on campus, and everyone you talk to will have their own opinion on the matter, so no need to try and come up with an all inclusive list here.

docketgold

People say they're cutthroat because the classes are hard as hell. The curve is tough, and material is tough, and the pace of the class is going to be faster than anything you've dealt with in high school.

The point of those classes is to cut down the throngs of people who think they might want to be premed, and filter out only those people who are willing to put in the necessary work, and accept some of the consequences (lower grades) of, making their ultimate goal a reality.

You may think Chem is basic, but I assure you if you watch people walk out of the first 31X midterm you will see tears. You can bank on it.

nblazer201

how tough is it to get a coterminal degree?
say i really want to get a masters in Computer science after doing electrical engineering undergrad

veggie delight

Introductory language classes vary in difficulty by language. The romance languages are all really easy to get A's in. Mandarin Chinese is really difficult, grades are calculated very quantitatively and not based on effort. If you have a specific language in mind, I can try to give more specifics.

aberdeen15

veggie delight, I was thinking about Japanese so that I can go to Kyoto with the Bing Overseas Studies program. What is your opinion on its difficulty?

Well, I wanted to still do something along the lines of engineering but also mix business with it, so MS&E looks appealing. But it looks like it doesn't have much respect on campus? Or is that just your opinion?

Sly Si

nblazer, coterming is a very popular option. I don't think you'll have a problem doing EE-->CS.

GUESSS

How is the introductory korean class?

nblazer201

is the coterm degree ultra selective?