Academics
Majors
“You majored in history right?” Yaya
“Public History/Public Service. I came in thinking I was going to be IR and/or econ. I wanted to study international development and thought that was the way to do it. I got deep into IR but mid-sophomore year realized I wasn’t enjoying any of my classes. Then I took a history class and really really liked it.” Karl
“Which history class?”
“Intro to South Africa. James Campbell. Everyone should take a class by him. He teaches American History as well. Anyways, I happened to be at an event at the Haas Center. This lady asked me my name, major... I said I was deciding between IR and history. She happened to be the co-director of the Public History/Public Service program. It was my first time hearing of the major. It was extremely interdisciplinary. All the IR and econ classes I had taken would count towards it, and it would allow me to take a lot more history classes.” Karl
“I wasn't sure what I wanted to do for a living and chose BioE because of its breadth. I was decisive in choosing my major because I was so indecisive on my career. With BioE, I can pick up a book in most engineering disciplines and not be totally lost. Also you can make superpowers with BioE.” Jordan
“Treat your academic career as a job. Think ‘I’m not taking this class for a grade but rather to apply what I learn in the future.’ If you want to gain a skill, take ownership of that. If you want to learn a subject well, you have to invest yourself in it. Take the initiative to do practice problems beyond the minimum. Don’t just follow the dotted line that your major says you have to. Talk to your teachers about their experiences in the field and about your future options. You have to prepare." Mark
Grades
“Don’t make an A your goal. An A means you meet the requirement of class; it doesn’t mean you’ve internalized the concepts and will be able to apply them in different contexts.” OT
“Grades follow an exponential function. Work x hard to get C. 3x as hard as that to get a B. 8x as hard to get an A.” Tony
“It’s ok to repeat a class in order to receive a better grade and have the original grade wiped from your transcript. For grad schools, like law school, grades are super important. Some employers won’t consider you unless you have a 3.5 or higher. If you have a high GPA from Stanford, people trust that you’re smart. If your GPA’s not too hot, you have to lean on other things, like extracurriculars. That said, after your first job or internship, your GPA doesn’t matter to employers. From that point, they look at your past experiences and recommendations and determine what you can actually do.” Karl
Classes
“Take classes that will actually help you to discover your major. If you decide your major early, you’ll have time to take a bunch of interesting upper division classes and gain depth in your studies." Karl
"If you’re taking a class – say Econ I - and your professor is a policy maker, or someone who has influence in the real world, be aware that the class is taught through a specific lens. Read outside material to get a different perspective. This is especially true for econ and democracy, development, and the rule of law classes.” Karl
"Instead of breezing through, really learn material. Don’t be ashamed to take a lower level class if you feel shaky on the subject or if you feel you’ll learn more in the lower level. Freshman year I was thinking ‘how far ahead can I get? Can I skip this lower level math class and take a higher one?', but if you don’t understand the fundamentals now, you won’t understand the more challenging material later.” Mark
“Don’t take classes that you’re not prepared for. I regret taking chem 31x. Even though the slower-paced chem would’ve had some overlap with my high school class, it would’ve allowed me mastery over the fundamentals.” Mark
“If you dislike something about a class, voice that to the instructor. It’ll likely benefit both of you and lead to an improved class." OT
"In order to learn, first I must be motivated. I must know how what I'm learning will allow me to creatively apply myself. Sometimes the motivation given by the instructor wasn't compelling. Some instructors didn’t grab my imagination. It was important that I knew I needed motivation so that when doing poorly in a class I wouldn’t mis-attribute it to say lack of effort. I would know it was because I didn’t have a motivation. I could then try and find that motivation for myself.” OT
“Since the quarter system moves fast, I don’t add any classes after the first week. I also decide whether I’m going to drop any by the end of the 2nd." Yaya
"Don't take organic chemistry out of sequence. I took chem 33 the winter of my frosh year and waited until the spring of my sophomore year to take chem 35. Bad idea. I had to brush up on all of chem 33 while learning chem 35 in the fast-paced quarter system. I did horribly. I would recommend taking as many classes in sequence as possible. Obviously this will position you best as your memory will be fresh.” Yaya
“I wanted to get classes for my major completed early before completing my general university requirements. I should’ve completed general university requirements while I was still broadly curious, because once I discovered how much I liked the specific classes in my major, I didn’t care much for anything else. This may not end up being true for everyone." Phil
"If you plan on going to go grad school, try to finish with more than 180 units, in case you want to transfer some.” Phil
Specific classes
“ME203 is awesome. You make your own products form scratch and learn about design and manufacturing. It’s a ton of work." Jordan
"Bio core is difficult. Winter is a ton of information." Jordan
"I hear chem33 is easier in the spring than the winter because a lot of chemical engineers take it in the winter." Jordan
"Sophomore College: Learning Theatre with Linda Paulson in Ashland is great!” Jordan
“It’s my dream that everyone take a CSRE class.” Karl
“Which would you recommend for non-CSRE students?” Yaya
“There’s one called environmental literacy that’s a great way to fulfill the science requirement. You only have to attend 11 out of the 20 classes. It’s a freshman intro sem. I actually took a freshman intro sem every year besides my freshman year. Freshman year I took a sophomore intro sem.” Karl
“Always a rebel huh?” Yaya
GPA booster classes
“Classes that boost your GPA in general won’t be helpful for those companies that look at just your GPA within your major.” Yaya
“Studying abroad in Spain or Italy. If you’re in Spain, they’ll grade you on a Spanish scale. It’s pretty easy to get an A.” Anonymous
“Courserank gives you a grade distribution. Any 5 unit class that has A- average/median is likely a GPA booster.” OT
“Improv TAPS 103.” Yaya
“Introsems. They have the added benefit of being really interesting. My sophomore year intro sem, Masters of Disaster, flew us to Phoenix. In Revolutionary Concepts of the Cosmos, we went to an observatory where we were able to see Saturn.” Phil
"Working at an on-campus research lab for academic credit." Yaya
Research
“It’s standard to do research for credit during the year and for pay during the summer.” Mark
“You’re very cheap labor for labs. They’d love to have you. So remember it’s a two way street; not only are they picking you, but you’re also picking them. A former TA shared that with me.” Yaya
Majors
“You majored in history right?” Yaya
“Public History/Public Service. I came in thinking I was going to be IR and/or econ. I wanted to study international development and thought that was the way to do it. I got deep into IR but mid-sophomore year realized I wasn’t enjoying any of my classes. Then I took a history class and really really liked it.” Karl
“Which history class?”
“Intro to South Africa. James Campbell. Everyone should take a class by him. He teaches American History as well. Anyways, I happened to be at an event at the Haas Center. This lady asked me my name, major... I said I was deciding between IR and history. She happened to be the co-director of the Public History/Public Service program. It was my first time hearing of the major. It was extremely interdisciplinary. All the IR and econ classes I had taken would count towards it, and it would allow me to take a lot more history classes.” Karl
“I wasn't sure what I wanted to do for a living and chose BioE because of its breadth. I was decisive in choosing my major because I was so indecisive on my career. With BioE, I can pick up a book in most engineering disciplines and not be totally lost. Also you can make superpowers with BioE.” Jordan
“Treat your academic career as a job. Think ‘I’m not taking this class for a grade but rather to apply what I learn in the future.’ If you want to gain a skill, take ownership of that. If you want to learn a subject well, you have to invest yourself in it. Take the initiative to do practice problems beyond the minimum. Don’t just follow the dotted line that your major says you have to. Talk to your teachers about their experiences in the field and about your future options. You have to prepare." Mark
Grades
“Don’t make an A your goal. An A means you meet the requirement of class; it doesn’t mean you’ve internalized the concepts and will be able to apply them in different contexts.” OT
“Grades follow an exponential function. Work x hard to get C. 3x as hard as that to get a B. 8x as hard to get an A.” Tony
“It’s ok to repeat a class in order to receive a better grade and have the original grade wiped from your transcript. For grad schools, like law school, grades are super important. Some employers won’t consider you unless you have a 3.5 or higher. If you have a high GPA from Stanford, people trust that you’re smart. If your GPA’s not too hot, you have to lean on other things, like extracurriculars. That said, after your first job or internship, your GPA doesn’t matter to employers. From that point, they look at your past experiences and recommendations and determine what you can actually do.” Karl
Classes
“Take classes that will actually help you to discover your major. If you decide your major early, you’ll have time to take a bunch of interesting upper division classes and gain depth in your studies." Karl
"If you’re taking a class – say Econ I - and your professor is a policy maker, or someone who has influence in the real world, be aware that the class is taught through a specific lens. Read outside material to get a different perspective. This is especially true for econ and democracy, development, and the rule of law classes.” Karl
"Instead of breezing through, really learn material. Don’t be ashamed to take a lower level class if you feel shaky on the subject or if you feel you’ll learn more in the lower level. Freshman year I was thinking ‘how far ahead can I get? Can I skip this lower level math class and take a higher one?', but if you don’t understand the fundamentals now, you won’t understand the more challenging material later.” Mark
“Don’t take classes that you’re not prepared for. I regret taking chem 31x. Even though the slower-paced chem would’ve had some overlap with my high school class, it would’ve allowed me mastery over the fundamentals.” Mark
“If you dislike something about a class, voice that to the instructor. It’ll likely benefit both of you and lead to an improved class." OT
"In order to learn, first I must be motivated. I must know how what I'm learning will allow me to creatively apply myself. Sometimes the motivation given by the instructor wasn't compelling. Some instructors didn’t grab my imagination. It was important that I knew I needed motivation so that when doing poorly in a class I wouldn’t mis-attribute it to say lack of effort. I would know it was because I didn’t have a motivation. I could then try and find that motivation for myself.” OT
“Since the quarter system moves fast, I don’t add any classes after the first week. I also decide whether I’m going to drop any by the end of the 2nd." Yaya
"Don't take organic chemistry out of sequence. I took chem 33 the winter of my frosh year and waited until the spring of my sophomore year to take chem 35. Bad idea. I had to brush up on all of chem 33 while learning chem 35 in the fast-paced quarter system. I did horribly. I would recommend taking as many classes in sequence as possible. Obviously this will position you best as your memory will be fresh.” Yaya
“I wanted to get classes for my major completed early before completing my general university requirements. I should’ve completed general university requirements while I was still broadly curious, because once I discovered how much I liked the specific classes in my major, I didn’t care much for anything else. This may not end up being true for everyone." Phil
"If you plan on going to go grad school, try to finish with more than 180 units, in case you want to transfer some.” Phil
Specific classes
“ME203 is awesome. You make your own products form scratch and learn about design and manufacturing. It’s a ton of work." Jordan
"Bio core is difficult. Winter is a ton of information." Jordan
"I hear chem33 is easier in the spring than the winter because a lot of chemical engineers take it in the winter." Jordan
"Sophomore College: Learning Theatre with Linda Paulson in Ashland is great!” Jordan
“It’s my dream that everyone take a CSRE class.” Karl
“Which would you recommend for non-CSRE students?” Yaya
“There’s one called environmental literacy that’s a great way to fulfill the science requirement. You only have to attend 11 out of the 20 classes. It’s a freshman intro sem. I actually took a freshman intro sem every year besides my freshman year. Freshman year I took a sophomore intro sem.” Karl
“Always a rebel huh?” Yaya
GPA booster classes
“Classes that boost your GPA in general won’t be helpful for those companies that look at just your GPA within your major.” Yaya
“Studying abroad in Spain or Italy. If you’re in Spain, they’ll grade you on a Spanish scale. It’s pretty easy to get an A.” Anonymous
“Courserank gives you a grade distribution. Any 5 unit class that has A- average/median is likely a GPA booster.” OT
“Improv TAPS 103.” Yaya
“Introsems. They have the added benefit of being really interesting. My sophomore year intro sem, Masters of Disaster, flew us to Phoenix. In Revolutionary Concepts of the Cosmos, we went to an observatory where we were able to see Saturn.” Phil
"Working at an on-campus research lab for academic credit." Yaya
Research
“It’s standard to do research for credit during the year and for pay during the summer.” Mark
“You’re very cheap labor for labs. They’d love to have you. So remember it’s a two way street; not only are they picking you, but you’re also picking them. A former TA shared that with me.” Yaya