
Ask HN: How *hard* is Stanford CS? - oldmanstan
I'm in the CS program at a university with a top-20 CS program. It's actually been quite easy, and I only have two CS classes left to graduate (along with a bunch of others).<p>I'm thinking hard about transferring to Stanford. And I'm worried.<p>How difficult is Stanford's CS curriculum, really? Will I be prepared for it with just my handful of (not so hard) C++ and Java classes? Am I smart enough?<p>And: if you've attended or are attending stanford, what's it like?
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hinathan
A decade ago (sigh) I did a mix of EE and CS.

The CS program was a mix of interesting subject matter, fun and helpful TAs,
and brutally long and/or theoretically complex projects. If you get in you're
probably smart enough but you may not have the study habits. Most undergrads
at Stanford were the big fish at their high school and have had a few years to
have that beaten out of them. Sounds like you're coming from an environment
where you're not working yourself too hard, and that will change. Don't expect
time for electives. As a transfer you'll be proving yourself among an already-
established cohort.

Most important advice I wish I'd gotten before my time there: Get to know your
professors, and do what you can to be a TA for the intro courses.

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RyanGWU82
Hi Nathan! You back in the US? I hope you had your phone off when you were
abroad, because I set off the pager about 600 times last week...

(Nathan and I work together at PBworks. If Stanford is what made him so smart,
then DROP EVERYTHING AND GO THERE RIGHT NOW. :)

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RyanGWU82
I got a CS degree from Stanford in 2008, and I had the same worrys that you
do. I didn't think I would be "smart enough" to keep up with the courses and
the competition.

It turns out that Stanford's CS courses aren't that _hard_ \-- I was able to
grasp the concepts quickly, and keep up with everything discussed in lectures
and in books.

So what makes Stanford's CS program stand out? It's a lot of work. A _lot_ of
work. The intensity is what made the program so successful for me. Once I
finished a class, I knew the material for life, because I spent so much time
studying it. This is a huge contrast to the whole "cram for a test and forget
it the next day" experience from my undergrad.

(Footnote: I was in the master's program, but I took quite a few undergrad
courses to make up for my non-CS undergrad. My undergrad was in Information
Systems at George Washington University. IS was a bad choice because the
courses weren't very deep, neither in technology nor in business. But once I
figured that out, it was easier to just finish up and graduate than to switch
majors.)

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us
With only two courses left, why bother transferring? You don't even know if
all the courses will transfer correctly assuming you do get accepted. I don't
get the logic behind this move?

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stevie_wilks
I agree. If it's an option, go to Stanford for a masters.

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mirkules
The cool thing about Stanford is that they have a lot of lectures online. I
find them a great source on either refreshing on material or learning new
stuff altogether. Their iOS series is really good (and current)!

<http://see.stanford.edu/see/courses.aspx>

Edit: What I mean is, you can probably gauge from these lectures and
assignments what you're in for.

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us
Unfortunately that's not very representative. The stuff Stanford have listed
are pretty intro courses and do not represent all types of CS courses you'd
encounter

