thebearknows

Should you start taking classes in the major you're interested in freshman year, or should you wait later? Is it a good idea to take 2 science GIRs, a foriegn language, and a HASSD, instead of the usual 3 science GIRs and a HASSD? Will I have a hard time finishing my science GIRs this way?

thank you so much! The help you guys are giving to prefroshes is unbelievable!

molliebatmit

Well, you could always take 3 science GIRs and a foreign language class -- there's no reason you have to take a HASS-D your first semester. Most people end up taking one HASS per semester, which is a good way to ensure you won't be taking four HASS classes second semester senior year. You just have to remember that you need to fit in a concentration (usually 3-4 classes in the same subject) and the HASS-D requirement at some point. You also need to take at least one CI-H class freshman year.

If certain science GIRs aren't required for your major, you can certainly put them off until later -- it's common for non-biology types to put off 7.012/3/4 until junior or senior year, in particular, and there are always several sophomores in 8.02. But most other GIRs are taken almost exclusively by freshmen.

kryptonsa36

If you're interested in a major with GIR prereqs (say, 7.01x for a Course 7 major), getting out of the prereq either through AP or ASE means there's no reason not to go ahead with courses toward your major, assuming you don't have a whole bunch of other "freshman year" GIRs to get out of the way first.

And if you're interested in a major that doesn't require certain GIRs to be fulfilled immediately (say, Course 14), then why not take Course-specific courses as a freshman if you also have enough GIRs already completed?

la montagne

I would probably recommend taking most if not all GIRs first semester; it really does feel good to get them out of the way ASAP, especially since some (especially 18.01/18.02) are prereqs for a lot of other classes (I think they're prereqs for 14.01, for example...). Second semester, though, I totally understand if you're sick of classes in things that you're not totally interested in and want to take some more interesting classes, perhaps in your major. As for taking a HASS-D, a language, and 2 GIRs first semester, why would you want to do this? Like Mollie said, you don't need to take a HASS-D first semester. Also, if you're at level 3 or 4 of the language, it counts as a HASS-D anyway. I would probably recommend 3 science/math GIRs for first semester.

thebearknows

Thank you for the replies! Sorry I meant to write " a humanities course" instead of HASSD. well the thing is I want to take a humanities/writing course each semester to improve my writing skills. My writing isn't bad but it could be better. But I also want continue with a foriegn langauge. so that would leave only two slots for science GIRs