Pre-med questions? Ask here.

Colleges & Universities Stanford University
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<p>For pre-med requirements, go here <a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/uac/preprof/med_gettingstarted.htm[/url]”>http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/uac/preprof/med_gettingstarted.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>No, I actually have never doubted my decision to become a doctor. I have taken time to think, “Are you sure? Think carefully, because you have to be sure.” And… I’ve always been sure.</p>

<p>Your second question is a bit vague… I would say that on the whole, the majority of teachers are clear, interesting, caring about students’ progress, and approachable. There are some so-so lecturers out there, but I think I’ve only encountered 2. The classes I’ve taken - even the humanities ones - have been challenging and thought-provoking. I’ve had a great time in biology and psychology classes because some famous and very funny professors have taught them. Stanford truly offers extraordinary opportunities to take classes from world-renowned researchers who happen to be great lecturers and eager to talk to students in office hours.</p>

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<p>now i’m really envious :D</p>

<p>what are the hardest classes, for you? Any clubs you’ve joined?</p>

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<p>My hardest classes were definitely Chem 35 (organic), Brain and Behavior (Biosci 20), Cellular Neuroscience (Psych 120), and pretty much the entire Bio core. Check <a href=“http://bulletin.stanford.edu%5B/url%5D”>http://bulletin.stanford.edu</a> if you want to look at class offerings. </p>

<p>I’m going to quote myself on my extracurriculars because I’m too lazy to retype. You can check out the Stanford 2010 forum, where I also have a pre-med thread; all the classes I have taken are also posted there.</p>

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<p>It seems your focusing on neuroscience? I want to take that major and be pre-med, but does Stanford even have it as a major?</p>

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<p>No, Neuroscience is not an undergrad major. You have two choices, depending which angle you prefer…</p>

<p>1) Biology major, Neurobiology track
2) Psychology major, Neuroscience track</p>

<p>You can check the bulletin, which I linked to in a previous post, to see which classes are in each track. I would generalize to say that for the bio major, you will focus more on neurons and development of the brain as well as signaling methods, while in the psych major the focus is more on imaging and cognition and how the brain relates to behavior.</p>

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<p>I was wondering if you have been able to keep close with your high school friends. I have several friends that I have known a majority of my life but I know we are all going to our seperate colleges after High School. I know there is always breaks but is that enough to keep strong friendships? We all say we will stay friends I just want to know how realistic we are being?</p>

<p>On another note… Have you had many boring professors or just had to take a class to which you found the topic boring? If so, are these classes avoidable? As far as the professors, if they are monotone and just drone on, i tend to get very sleepy. So I was wondering if there are boring professors and what is the best way to find out about them and avoid them. And if they are unavoidable, what do you recommend to stay interested and awake in class?</p>

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<p>I would advise you to post your first question about high school friends in a new thread. I actually had some personal issues during high school, and the “friends” I had then were not true friends. Therefore, I have chosen to not see them again. I know that many of the people I know at Stanford see their friends all the time during breaks and talk to them on the phone or on AIM.</p>

<p>Let’s see, which classes did I consider boring…</p>

<p>My first IHUM, Conflict, Cooperation, and Human Nature, was kind of boring but it wasn’t awful. I can’t even remember it well enough to describe what it was about… I know we talked about things from tribal culture to brotherhood in war. I think the lecturer was boring. In case you didn’t know, IHUM (Introduction to the Humanities) is required for all freshmen. Each quarter of freshman year, students take an IHUM course… topics vary from ancient Greek history to German poetry to philosophy. Being a techie, I didn’t like the idea of this very much, but it was bearable.</p>

<p>I also had a physical chemistry professor who wasn’t necessarily boring but just a poor explainer (if that’s a word). Or maybe I’m just slow.</p>

<p>I have not found professors to be monotonous. Oh wait… there’s an exception. In that IHUM I mentioned above, there were actually 2 lecturers. The worse one only lectured a few times, and what she did was type out basically a speech and then read it for the lecture. She seriously had the typewritten pages, and she read them for an hour… no eye contact. Ugh. I can’t learn if I can’t see the professor’s eyes, because eye contact makes me feel like I’m having a silent conversation with the lecturer.</p>

<p>Luckily, she is an exception. Pretty much every other professor has been obviously excited about the topic.</p>

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<p>How about the graduate students? I heard you have them grading your labs. Did you have any problems with them?</p>

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<p>No. I found them all to be helpful in class and fair in grading. If there were a problem, I would approach the professor in charge of the lab course and ask him/her to reevaluate the grade I had received. Stanford professors are extremely approachable and eager to talk to students.</p>