TheaterGirl62

I'm a '10er, just finished Frosh year. BSE candidate, COS major and T&D certificate.

Fall 2006:
MAT 104 (eh... I had to take math)
PHY 103 (eh... I had to take physics)
WRI 175 (The Archeology of Sex and Gender... really interesting, Dr. Dillian is a good teacher)
FRE 207 (Loved it)

Spring 2007:
MAT 201 (HARD)
PHY 104 (hard, only did passingly because of my AMAZING preceptor)
COS 126 (not hard, but I took COS AB in HS and it's my major)
MUS 104 (really interesting/good)
THR 201 (prereq for my certificate - good class)

abiste

I'm probably going to take the Humanities Sequence. Could any current students tell me a bit more about the course(s) and their experiences? I've PMed several people but, alas, you college students live busy lives and aren't hopelessly addicted to CC anymore. Thanks!

yolobitran

Do you guys recommend taking interesting 300 classes or Introductory classes? Are 300 classes significantly more difficult than Introductory classes?
Thanks

ec1234

it depends on the department and on the individual class. It also matter what you want to do, as some intro classes are prereqs for upper level classes

superpig10000

If you have a 5 in Comp Sci AB, can you opt out of the comp sci requirement? Or do you have to take a higher-level course

amiles

Fall:
CHM 201- General Chemistry I
MAT 103- Calculus
SPA 105- Intermediate/Advanced Spanish
PSY 252- Social Psychology

Spring:
CHM 202- General Chemistry II
SPA 108- Advanced Spanish
WRI 167- The Ethics of Human Experimentation
FRS 140- The Ghetto as a Socio Historical Problem **TAKE THIS**

I'm pre-med so i took some of the basic premed requirements as well as the wri sem required for all freshmen.

w0mbat

Fall:
CHI 103 - Intensive Intro Chinese
CWR 203 - Creative Writing (Fiction)
MAT 215 - Single-variable Analysis
PHY 105 - Mechanics

Spring:
CHI 108 - Intensive Intro Chinese, part 2
MAT 217 - Honors Linear Algebra
MAT 330 - Fourier Analysis
PHY 106 - Electricity/magnetism
WRI 159 - Writing Seminar (Science in the Media)

Nearly all the classes were very good. Math and physics courses especially were challenging, but well worth the effort.

albert87

wombat, i'm planning to take intensive chinese classes. How intensive are there and did you learn a lot?

thanks

Weasel8488

w0mbat, how hard was MAT 215? I'm planning to take it and organic chem as a frosh and I want to know what I'm getting into.

mzhang23

Intensive chinese is a lot of work if you have no experience beyond just speaking skills. A portion of the kids who end up in there are simply not able to qualify for third year, but already have Chinese school experience or communicate verbally at a high level already. I struggled a bit at the beginning but it got better later on. You simply adjust to the courseload.

My only caveat with language courses is that they don't count for extra credits, since the time spent in and out of class for a subject like Chinese is many times greater than any standard humanities class.

w0mbat

Albert - I took Intensive Chinese without any reading/writing experience and I'll agree that it was a lot of work. We spent 6 hours in class each week (5 hours of speaking practice and 1 hour testing), and were expected to write weekly essays, attend individual sessions, and learn 50-100 characters outside of class. The course definitely covered a lot though - I think the final count was 1,500-2,000 characters, and the instructors also emphasized pronounciation and grammar structures.

Weasel - have you done math proofs before? It seemed like people who had worked a lot with formal math didn't find the course difficult, while the people who had no proof experience had a much harder time (of course, this is just a generalization). The class moves along at a certain pace, and it's kind of sink-or-swim. I'd guess that the same is probably true for many honors math/science courses (including maybe orgo). I got to experience both sides of it - 215 was pretty straightforward for me, but I hadn't seen enough physics to be comfortable in the 105 course, and I screwed up spectacularly on the first couple exams and had to work extra hard to dig myself back out.

It seems like most people band together early on and tackle the problem sets in groups, which helps. If you're able to find a copy of the textbook (Rudin - Principles of Mathematical Analysis), that'll probably give you the best idea of what to expect. I think you can also find some of the old tests and stuff online.

peachykween

Whoo. courses.

Fall 06:
MAT 104 Calculus - Not bad, but terribly boring lectures.
COS 126 Intro to Comp Sci - Very difficult for someone, like me, with no CS experience
SPA 108 Advanced Spanish - Placed here via summer placement test. Most was simple review, but I still managed to fail a test
PHI 201 Introduction to Logic - I kept falling asleep in lecture. This class isn't bad if you keep up. Once you fall behind, you're doomed like I was. I got a C+ on the final.

I hated fall semester. I had a miserable time. I was involved in too many things and didn't really have a lot of friends because pton gave me a single room and I'm super introverted. yay!

Spring 07:
MUS 104 Making of Music: Basically a song writing class, but it was fun and easy. Probably because I am a "musician" of sorts. But, even nonmusicians liked the class. You listen to popular music in lectures. Every time.
COS 217 Intro to Computer Systems: I don't know why I kept telling myself that I could get that certificate in computing without prior experience in CS. This class was hard as hell, but made bearable by my preceptor Bob Dondero (if you take the class, get him, because he is amazing). I got A's on all of my assignments because I used days to work on them, but basically failed my exams, so I got a frigging C+ in the end.
WRI 176 Archaeology of Sex and Gender: Super interesting. I'm not a writer at all, but I really enjoyed this class and did reasonably well in it. It's one of the required writing seminars, by the way.
HIS 343 Civilization of the Early Middle Ages: I don't do well with history classes, and I tend to avoid them, but I took this to fulfill the requirement. I actually liked it to some degree, and it's really not hard to do well in it. I actually never dozed off during lecture, which I am apt to do.

I don't have a clue what I'm going to major in, by the way.

Weasel8488

W0mbat, we proved just about everything we were taught in my calc class, but there's a difference between watching the teacher do something and then doing it yourself. I've been working the easier USAMO problems to try to improve my skills.

ptonkatz10

Fall '06:
MAT203 Adv Multivariable Calc (NOT a good idea-- see below)
PHY103 Mechanics
COS126 Intro to Computer Sci
MUS105 Music Theory I

Spring '07
MAT202 Linear Algebra
PHY104 Electricity and Magnetism
WRI101 The Animal Mind
FRS136 Wildlife, Wilderness, and Development in the American West
MAE222 Mechanics of Fluids

as you can probably tell, I'm an engineer (MAE baby!). i'd already taken college-level multi and could have passed out but opted to take the advanced version instead-- biiiiiiiig mistake. this class kicked my butt, and i could easily have passed MAT201 with flying colors and met the requirement for BSE. I really liked PHY103-104 (also required) but then I had a great preceptor. I didn't find COS126 difficult (it was basically an intro java course), even though I had zero programming experience, but a lot of people thought it was really hard. I took MUS105 as a requirement for the music certificate-- if you take it, be prepared to write and transcribe a TON of bach chorales.

My writing sem was great but the prof is on sabbatical this year, sorry. My freshman sem was cool-- it was kind of a wildlife conservation class, which was interesting, and we got an amazing (free) trip to Yellowstone out of it. MAT202 is easily the most boring and useless class I've ever taken. Fluid mechanics (aka "Pipes") was fun and easy, and the prof is absolutely incredible. It requires no previous engineering experience and is easy, but beware-- the curve is nonexistent. Messing up one homework + missing one question on the final took me from an A+ to an A-.

some thoughts-- there will be a lot of pressure to take a freshman seminar, but don't take one if you're not interested in the topic. Also, take courses outside your major instead of just trying to fill prereqs and certificate requirements. my writing sem and freshman sem (the only courses i took freshman year that weren't required for my major or certificates) were probably my favorite classes the whole year.

ptonkatz10

p.s. the emp sequence is pretty cool but really hard, my roommate took it. the hum sequence is also incredibly difficult but rewarding-- my other roommate took that