cosmology1002

Hello Everyone,
I was just wondering what stanford is like.

-how good it is
-what are the professors like
-how much work is there for a physics major
-is there a chance for time to really get to know your professors
-are the courses interesting

I would really appreciate it if you would respond. This is very important to me.

googol123

check out the course catalog - its's called the stanford bulletin - there's pdf somewhere if you want to know about classes and major reqs. Beyond the intro classes physics does get pretty interesting - and the classes get A LOT smaller. Take a physics related introsem your fresh year and you will get to know a professor really well.

Sly Si

- I'm not sure how good the overall program is, as I was only in it for a year and a half.

- Teaching can be somewhat hit or miss. I've had some profs that I liked a lot, and others that were incredibly boring. And then there were one or two that I really liked, but everyone else in the class hated.

- I'd say it's about as much work as any other techie major, I guess.

- Yes. In my experience, if you make an effort, professors will be happy to get to know you. This is especially true in the lab courses, where you'll get to know your professors even without extra effort.

- Depends on how much you like physics. I dropped out because I started finding my math courses far more interesting than my physics courses, but I think that was more because of me than the quality of the courses. Especially good courses to look forward to are 67 and 105, both lab courses.

A good person in the department to contact with any questions would be Rick Pam. He's every undergrad's de facto advisor, and he also is in charge of the 105-107-108 lab sequence. He'd probably be happy to answer any detailed questions you have.