cjjc419

My two top interests for major are engineering (biomechanical or MS) and economics.

During the Admit Weekend I got the impression that I will be able to take my time to explore the first two years and should not enter freshman year with a fixated interest. This felt really attractive as I truly do wish to explore my interests with all that Stanford can offer.
However, as I am reading the course requirements for major in ECON and BME, I am thinking to myself how is it possible complete the requirements for either major if I don't start focusing on one in my freshman year. Even a mix of classes for both major the first year seems not enough to satisfy the requirements! For example, to major in BME, I need to complete a calculus series and chem(or physics) first year; to major in ECON, I need to complete a intro-econ series first yea. I don't see how I can mix these courses to see which one I really want to major in while juggling IHUM and writing.

First autumn quarter : calc 41, Chem 31, Econ 1, Ihum, writing, seminar. ?!

Maybe I'm wrong, I certainly hope so!

GeekNerd

You can make a [very] tentative but comfortably detailed plan, using theoretical dates, at
CourseRank
It does not use 2008+ schedules yet.

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The Stanford Daily Online

That's what I can contribute. Not sure if it helps.

im_blue

I'll list here the essential freshman courses for each major:
Economics: Econ 1A and 1B
BME: Math 41 and 42, Chem 31X (counts for Chem 31A and 31B) and 33
ME: Math 41, 42, and 51, Physics 41 and 43, ENGR 41
All: 3 IHUM, PWR 1

Counting IHUM and PWR, you can see that Econ requires 6 classes, BME requires 8, and ME requires 11. So you can easily take the required classes for both Econ and BME, but ME would be much harder. I would suggest looking up the prerequisites for each class in the sample schedules and seeing which ones could be pushed back without delaying graduation. The quarter for PWR 1 is assigned to you, so you can't choose that.

I would suggest the following schedule:
Autumn: Math 41 (4), IHUM (4), Econ 1A (5), Chem 31X (4)
Winter: Math 42 (4), IHUM (4), Physics 41 (4), Econ 1B (5) or PWR 1 (4)

At this point, you should know which one you like more: math/chemistry/physics or economics. You should also try to decide between BME and ME.

Economics Spring: Math 51 (5), IHUM (4), Econ 1B (5) or PWR 1 (4)
BME Spring: Chem 33 (4), IHUM (4)
ME Spring: IHUM (4), pick 3 out of: Math 51 (4), Physics 43 (4), ENGR 14 (4), PWR 1 (4)

cjjc419

geeknerd, thank you so much for the course rank advice... I did not know that it existed!

im_blue, thanks for the sample schedules. I feel like it's more feasible to explore my choices now (BME, MS&E, or econ) I was simply overwhelmed by my first glance at the different requirements! However, a concern that I'm still seeing is that with such schedules, there's really no room for exploration, say, into a completely different subject...

im_blue

Oh I see, you mean MS&E rather than ME (mechnical) or MSE (materials). In that case, you should be able to meet the freshman requirements for all 3 with the following schedule:

Autumn: Math 41 (4), IHUM (4), Econ 1A (5), Chem 31X (4)
Winter: Math 42 (4), IHUM (4), Chem 33 (4), Econ 1B (5) or PWR 1 (4)
Spring: Math 51 (5), IHUM (4), Econ 1B (5) or PWR 1 (4), elective

So yeah, you wouldn't have any room for exploration into different subjects other than that one elective. You could also choose to take Chem 31A and 31B over Autumn and Winter, which takes the place of Chem 31X and that elective. After you choose your major, you should have more room for exploring different areas.

siliconvalleymom

That seems like a tough schedule to me!

im_blue

Freshman year is actually a cakewalk schedule compared to every year after that... Calculus, Econ, and IHUM usually don't pose too much of a problem compared to engineering classes.