Major: Human Biology

Minor: Education

Email: jenvu@stanford.edu

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Questions about Academics and COVID-19

 

What were your classes like in your first year or in your major/concentration, especially transitioning from Shen? 

Stanford really encourages students to explore different academic fields in their first two years, and students don't even have to declare a major until the end of sophomore year. The general education requirements aren’t a specific set of classes you have to take, but instead are eight categories of academic skill sets (called the Ways of Thinking/Ways of Doing) that can be fulfilled by any class that helps you build that framework of learning. I’ve loved having this model to diversify my classes in the sense that my pre-med journey has included classes like chemistry, bioethics, epidemiology, and English (with an amazing class called “The Literature of Psychosis”). One of my favorite classes, which fulfilled the “Creative Expression” Ways category, was called “The Art of Medical Diagnosis.” It was a very chill class that gave me a deeper sense of appreciation for human anatomy and differences in cultural representations of the body in sickness and in health. Human Biology is also a very interdisciplinary major in which students can choose any concentration they want to study. To give you an example, my concentration is in infectious diseases, and two of my closest friends in HumBio have concentrations in (1) linguistics and (2) public policy and social determinants of health.

 

Some of the intro classes like organic chemistry were tough, but grading is fair and office hours (OH) with TAs or professors were amazing to get extra help and work with other students. I was super shy about going to a professor’s OH because I had no clue what to talk about with someone who is an expert in their field, but many of them are very welcoming and excited to talk about their research or random common interests. As for pre-med culture, /most/ students don’t subscribe to the cut-throat competitive nature that is frequently associated with pre-meds. It’s very refreshing to have pre-med friends who are also majoring/minoring in Comparative Literature, Computer Science, Music, or Economics.

 

Additionally, I stumbled into the Education minor on accident after taking a class in that department in my sophomore year. Many of my Education classes have given me opportunities to work with community partners to address educational inequities. Overall the department is quite progressive and has a lot of amazing faculty that I’ve been really lucky to learn from (check out Dr. Arnetha Ball, Prof. Carl Wieman, Dr. Amado Padilla, and Prof. Michael Hines).

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What academic experiences have stood out to you at your college in either positive or negative ways?

There are ample research opportunities at Stanford, and honestly probably more positions available than there are undergrads to fill them. Research is by no means limited to the natural sciences, and I have friends working in labs or with professors on projects in archeology, political psychology, and data science. Students can be compensated by Federal Work Study or can get academic credits. Personally, I didn’t realize how plentiful the research opportunities were and thought that I had to jump into the first position I could get. Even though I worked in two other labs before settling into the one that I’m in now, it was a great experience to find my fit in a lab and to learn about the breadth of knowledge that people are still exploring. There are also grants that will provide students funding to continue their research over the summer or in another country if it’s appropriate.

 

Before COVID-19, there were a ton of opportunities to study abroad, and Stanford really works to be flexible and give students the freedom to study abroad however it works best for their own academic and personal planning. Study abroads are typically for one quarter of the year, but some students have even chosen to stay for consecutive quarters if they have an internship they really love. For another example of flexibility, even though I’m pre-med and on a sports team, I did a community health seminar in Oaxaca last summer that introduced me to social determinants of health of indigeous populations while acknowledging the limitations of my experience because I was only there for a month.

 

Considering everything I’ve said above, Stanford still isn’t without its faults and areas of growth. Specifically about study abroad programs, consider reading this op-ed to hear one of my classmate’s experience in Spain: https://www.stanforddaily.com/2019/11/28/indigenous-student-voices-colonization-is-not-my-burden/ 

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How was your online learning experience at your college? What resources did your college provide you during this time?

Most professors were flexible and forgiving in a lot of circumstances, and they worked with TAs (teaching assistants) to navigate Zoom breakout sessions and do their best to accommodate students. Stanford gives a lot of autonomy to individual academic departments to decide how to handle academics, which can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, students are the heartbeat of the classroom and can work with professors to impact the dynamic of a classroom. However, the decentralization of power meant that some professors were extremely flexible and others were more stringent about their policies until the university’s president required all classes to be pass/fail, have no finals, and adjust their grading curves. Overall, my online learning experiences were pretty positive because my large lecture classes were pre-recorded and could be watched at any time, while my smaller discussion classes allowed participation via live attendance or online discussion boards.

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What did your college do well or poorly to support students and communities when COVID-19 first hit?

We were in the final weeks of the winter quarter when the impacts of COVID-19 really escalated in the US. Given all of the uncertainty, the university did its best to establish lines of communication among top administration, teaching staff, and students. Honestly, communication could’ve been better because it felt like students were kept out of the loop and had to advocate for ourselves a lot. For instance, I was a resident assistant (RA) in a dorm, and when it was announced that the rest of winter would be online, a ton of students were put in tricky positions to navigate studying for finals coupled with so many uncertainties like not having a stable home to suddenly return to or how much they should pack up because we didn’t know whether we’d be back for the spring quarter. There were a lot of circulating student petitions to modify our finals schedule and ensure that students had the option to stay on campus if their circumstances prevented them from going home. Administration only made these changes in response to the outpour of support in the student petitions. However, some changes were able to happen fairly quickly including the change of dining halls to only be “take-out” instead of buffet style.

 

Whereas Stanford worked to communicate with its students and faculty, it was not and continues to not be as transparent with its subcontracted service staff, including dining hall workers. Many of these workers were not given updates about potential COVID cases on campus and were fired without pay continuance for the spring quarter. Recently, another wave of service workers were fired, and students found out about these news in an email from the top administration before the workers found out.

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Questions about Student Life

 

If students are interested in your major/concentration, what extracurricular activities do you recommend they do at your college?

There are so many organizations available to students interested in medicine or public health. A couple of them are pre-professional groups such as Stanford Women in Medicine or Stanford Black Pre-Med Association. You could also write for the Journal of Public Health, volunteer at the Stanford Hospital, or do research in a lab. A lot of pre-med students are also in other extracurriculars, even if it’s not academic, so don’t be afraid to check those out too.

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What are common things to do on weekends? Do students commute back home for the weekend or are there events on campus?

It really depends on personal interest. Stanford is in the Bay Area in Northern California, and a lot of people will visit nearby cities like San Francisco, which is about an hour away by train, or explore the hiking trails and Pacific Coast. Northern California tends to be a bit breezier and colder than the stereotypical image of California, so I’ve been able to go surfing but not in the sunniest weather. There is always a selection of sporting/music/art events, but honestly a lot of people just hang out with friends and catch up on work.

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Are you involved in athletics at your college? How do you balance sports, academics, and extracurricular activities?

I wasn’t involved in sports at Shen, but I walked on to the Women’s Lightweight Rowing team as a coxswain in my freshman year. Definitely one of my top 5 decisions in college. Throughout the years, I’ve found a really supportive community of women on my team, and it’s fun to practice, hang out, and study with them. You might’ve heard that Stanford recently cut 11 of its varsity teams, lightweight rowing being one of them. Feel free to Google it to stay updated with any news about this decision.

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Do you have a job during the school year, or is it common for students to have on-campus jobs? What is that experience like?

Yes, as I mentioned above, I’m a resident assistant (RA) in a dorm. I’ve really enjoyed planning events for people in the dorm and overall having the opportunity to impact student well-being on campus. A lot of students have campus jobs, either for Federal Work Study or to make a bit of money during the school year. Jobs include but aren’t limited to funded research opportunities, campus DJs, student representative at a community center, and teaching assistant (TA) for classes.

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Extra Questions

 

What advice would you give to current Shen students when applying to your college?

It’s definitely far from home, but consider applying if you’re at all interested! Remember that your GPA and any standardized testing can only do so much to represent you and all of your identities. Put a lot of time into your essays. I used mine as a huge opportunity for self-reflection, and this helped me be as genuine as I could and remind myself to keep writing/editing when the whole application process got really stressful.

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What makes your college special to you?

Like a lot of people at other colleges, what makes Stanford feel like home to me are the incredible people I’ve met, become close friends with, and learned from. You might hear other college students say similar things, and I think it really comes down to personal fit and how you navigate resources at any school.

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What do you wish you knew about your college when you were a senior at Shen?

Only a small subset of US colleges use the quarter system for the academic year. Stanford happens to be one of them, and I didn’t even know this until the summer before college started. The quarter system means that there are four academic terms in a year, compared to semester system schools that have two terms. Students typically only take classes three quarters per year (fall, winter, spring). Quarters are admittedly pretty fast-paced because they’re only ten weeks of instruction followed by a week for finals. The advantage is that you’d get to take 50% more classes at a quarter system school than a semester system school. If this at all matters to you, look more into the schools you’re interested in and how they structure their academic year and finals schedules.

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Before COVID-19, what was the housing like at your college? What would you recommend to Shen seniors to find their roommates?

In the summer before starting college, first year students fill out a form about their personal interests and living habits (bedtime, extraversion levels, etc.). Two upperclassmen students will spend the whole summer matching freshmen together to be roommates. You won’t find out who your roommate is until move-in day, which is a bit nerve-wracking but very exciting nonetheless.

 

Housing is guaranteed for all four years, and the majority of students will live on campus because it’s often cheaper than finding anything else in the Bay Area. There are a ton of housing options, including all-freshmen dorms, four-class dorms, ethnic- and academic- themed dorms, that have access to all eight dining halls on campus. Some of the options are also apartment or suite style with their own kitchens, and others are houses of 20-40 students that either take turns cooking for the rest of the house or have a professional house chef.

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How is the financial aid situation at your college?

All financial aid is need-based (aka no merit scholarships), so your financial aid package will depend on your family’s circumstances. You can use this estimate net price calculator to get an approximation of what it might look like for your family: https://financialaid.stanford.edu/undergrad/how/calculator/index.html . As mentioned above, students can do Federal Work Study to help pay their part of the financial contribution.

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Is there anything else you'd like to share about your college experience that hasn't been addressed yet in this questionnaire?

Best of luck with any post-high school plans you have! 

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