<p>I’m interested in hearing how all the class of 2008 are doing in college. I miss the old regulars.</p>
<p>Hey,</p>
<p>I went to Vandy this year from Orange County, after spending a LONG TIME deliberating, with assistance from the parents in the Parents Forum. I’m not so much the partying type and/or the elitist rich white type (more of a nerdy academic type) so I thought that I might have been in for a world of pain coming to Vandy (which has that reputation), but I was incredibly wrong.</p>
<p>Everything, and I mean everything, (well excepting the one time the guy threw up on the bathroom door) has been absolutely wonderful. I’ve made a core group of like-minded friends and we do stuff pretty much every day, the work load isn’t too overwhelming (even though I took 16 hours last semester and got on the Dean’s List with a 3.925 GPA - A- = 3.7 :(), I’ve found a nice girlfriend, etc, etc.</p>
<p>Yes there is a partying scene/some elitist students, but once you get to a certain point, you realize that they are a small minority of the student body. The campus is beautiful, the students are extremely intelligent, the girls are beautiful (well, the guys are too if you’re a girl), the facilities are wonderful (we took over a lecture hall at night to watch movies! and then took over a conference room during finals to study :D), the teachers are excellent (great advice, and my advisor has been wonderful in helping me find classes that I’d be interested in). I’ve gone to the Nashville Symphony twice, attended art openings, gone out to movies, and generally enjoyed the fact that we -are- in a relatively large city. Of course there are bums, and some nights you just really need to do work (it is college after all), and the food is not great (it is not terrible either - except never touch anything at Chef James!), and sometimes my TV blows up (true story), but I’ve been having the time of my life and am in fact quite bored to be home.</p>
<p>Uh, there’s like a million more things to say, but unfortunately my memory seems to be degrading as the amount of experiences I have increases :D. That and my vocabulary has taken a trip into the dumpster.</p>
<p>Evil Robot:</p>
<p>Great to hear from you! and great to learn you are doing so well. Have you settled on a major yet?</p>
<p>Enjoy the holidays even though it is a bit boring having little to do at home.</p>
<p>Marite - Currently I’m listed as a Computer Science major, which I intend to follow through on (although the theory interests me more than programming or software design (which is also fun, but annoying when debugging)). I’m going theory-heavy next semester with Algorithms and Theory of Automata, FSMs, and Computation. Also doing Digital Logic, but that should be a blow-off class, with the exception of the lab.</p>
<p>I’m also probably going to do a major in math. Up until I got to AP Calc in high school, math was my worst subject (worst grades in), but now, after multivariable calc/vector calc/discrete math/mathematical statistics/differential equations/linear algebra I like it a whole lot more. Next semester I’m taking Abstract Algebra. which will probably be the class that determines how much farther I’m going to go in the subject. If I like it (and I’m having a wee bit of trouble with some of the more esoteric proofs, although I’ve got the techniques down), I’ll probably do Number Theory and Topology first semester of my sophomore year, and eventually get up to that whole Real and Complex Analysis business.</p>
<p>Speaking of which, is there any easy way to improve my mathematical proofs skills? I like doing them, even more when I prove something that isn’t mentioned in the textbook and/or cannot find online, but I find it hard to get from point A to point Z when all the points in-between are fairly lengthy themselves. I also need more set theory to prove some more interesting things (another math class to add to the ones I have to take before graduation), i.e. the existence of a basis for any given vector space.</p>
<p>I’m thinking of doing a minor in physics, but I really have no idea what that entails beyond the general calc-based courses I’ve already taken and the popular science books I’ve read (Einstein’s Relativity, The Elegant Universe, QED, etc). Any advice there?</p>
<p>Heck, I have no idea what I’m going to do. And that’s the fun part about college :).</p>
<p>Haha I never posted too much on the parent’s forum but I used to be here all the time… I went to Stanford from <em>gasp</em> Palo Alto, CA, and I must say I slept through nearly 17 hours of the plane ride… ;-). Stanford is the most awesome place in the world. I came here to do theatre and am now stage managing an original musical for parent’s weekend, took three theatre classes last quarter, and am signed on to assistant direct/assistant sound design the big musical (Company) come spring as well as stage managing a girl’s senior project from my stage management class. Yay! </p>
<p>People say you can choose two of study, sleep and socialize in college… I didn’t study very much, I didn’t sleep very much, but I certainly socialized :-D. And got involved with extracurriculars, such as Dance Marathon- a 24 hour event raising money to help kids with AIDS through the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS foundation (check it out! dancemarathon . stanford . edu), theatre, and ultimate frisbee- the most awesome sport in the WORLD. I haven’t played a team sport since I was six, and I am certainly not a runner, but ultimate is SO much fun. 
</p>
<p>Otherwise, I have found a few close friends, an amazing boyfriend(who I actually met back at admit weekend, so we’d already worked on the whole getting to know each other thing before we got to stanford :-)), and a slew of amazing people that I run into every day. I live in the best dorm on campus, and the people on my hall are all big on casual socializing, which is perfect for me. One of my roommates (I live in a two room triple) ended up deferring for a year, so she left after a month, meaning there have been two months of my other roommate and I having a LOT of space. we put the third mattress out in the outer room, and our room has been the socializing hub… unfortunately we’re getting a new roommate next quarter (don’t know who yet, but most likely an upperclassman who took a quarter abroad) which will be hard and awkward, but hey, we’ll get used to it. She probably won’t want to spend any time in our dorm if she can help it, since it’s the biggest all freshman dorm.</p>
<p>Can’t wait for next quarter… no theatre classes, but I’m working on the shows, and not taking too many units, so hopefully I’ll be able to keep up with work! Only 9 days till I’m back at Stanford! :-D</p>
<p>evil robot:</p>
<p>I’m no great shakes at math so can’t help you much there. My S took a math proof course after doing multivariable calculus and linear algebra because the versions he took were not very proof-oriented (the best proof-oriented multivariable calculus book if by Michael Spivak); he’s also taken number theory classes at a summer program. These have been very helpful. He’s having a lot more fun now that he’s beyond high school math. Perhaps some other parents of math nerds will answer you as well, but in the meanwhile, you will find lots of very useful information on the website <a href=“http://www.artofproblemsolving.com%5B/url%5D”>www.artofproblemsolving.com</a>. Some of of it is competition-related, but there is all sorts of useful information as well.
About Physics: Did you take AP Physics C? If you did, then the next step apparently is Mechanics and Special Relativity and then Electromagnetism. At least that’s what my S is doing. Afterwards, two semesters of quantum mechanics, I believe. If you are bored at home with little to do, you may consider reading Feynman’s lectures.</p>
<p>Evil_robot - I am so glad you posted! I remember very well all the discussions last spring, including the posters who predicted doom and gloom when you were thinking of turning down Yale. So its wonderful to know that you not only are enjoying classes, but you have found a group of compatible friends, including a girl friend … what more can you ask for? So thanks for getting back to us and sharing. Please don’t shed too many tears over that A- ;)</p>
<p>College life is sooooooo much better than my home life ever was. It wasn’t that my parents were especially evil or that I didn’t have high school friends, but college just brings with it so much freedom. Nobody ever tells anyone what to do, and everything is my responsibility. Nobody exercises any sort of arbitrary authority whatsoever. </p>
<p>I also learned that drinking and other “questionable” activities really aren’t all that bad if done safely and responsibly. There is no “filter” of parental opinion…it’s just there for the taking and again it’s one’s own responsibility and one’s own decision. </p>
<p>-Duke c/o 2008</p>
<p>Three satisfied customers. Not bad.</p>
<p>EvilRobot – So glad to hear you are thriving in every way at Vandy! You made a brave decision, and a generous one as well, since I recall that finances and your parents’ future retirement figured into your choice to turn down Yale. Many people here told you last year that it’s all about going to a college where you can take advantage of all it has to offer, and you are obviously doing just that at Vandy.
I don’t have specific advice on the transition into proof-based math (my son is also taking his first proof-based math this year and dealing for the first time with problems that are not just about getting the answer, but about the best or most elegant way to get there.) It does seem to be a transition for everyone. (I know at Berkeley, for example, there is a class devoted just to preparation for upper division math, because the department found from experience that many good math students stumbled when first encountering proof-based mathematics.)
Oh, and congrats on the girlfriend. Thanks for keeping us posted!</p>