<p>I would like some help from people on the forum as to making a decision regarding this. Today was my first day of classes as a student at Columbia and at 6:10 I went to my first calc 2 class. It was nice since there were only 18 people in the class but I noticed that almost all of them are from the school of general studies. I’ve heard some great things about having classes with people from GS and some terrible things. I’m wondering if it is a disadvantage to take a class with people from GS in it or is it an advantage, or does it not matter. The professor is Sultan and he seems like a great guy, (kind of quiet though, but I sit in the front at all my classes), and he went at a pace that I liked but I’m still worried about this. Can anybody give me advice as to whether I should drop this class and take another and stay in it?</p>
<p>What, specifically, are you concerned about? Throwing off the curve?</p>
<p>Most of what I heard was bad was because of that. I also heard that even though he was going slow now he won’t later because they will just dedicate all their time to the class.
[Calculus</a> II](<a href=“http://www.math.columbia.edu/~hsultan/calculus2.html]Calculus”>http://www.math.columbia.edu/~hsultan/calculus2.html)
there’s the class page if you want to look at it. I don’t notice anything about a curve or anything in the grading. I’m kind of confused, thanks for helping.</p>
<p>Just from my POV, the presence of GS students should not be the deciding factor if you’re trying to figure out whether to take a class (assuming everything else is a good fit). I took calc II at that time in my first semester, and there were a lot of older students in the class (mix of GS and non-GS students). Many people were just taking the class because they needed to for their jobs, and they always rushed in from work. Nothing was curved in that class, but a really high percentage of students ended up getting As (and the majority of the class was undergrads). I also took physics with a lot of GS and post-bac students last year, and I did just fine.</p>
<p>While the non-traditional students might be more committed for a variety of reasons, it doesn’t mean they study better or are more intelligent. (Sometimes they’re so dedicated that they actually don’t study effectively. Last year in physics, the post-bacs were crazily dedicated, but I realized - just based on conversations I overheard - that they tended to study everything instead of the most important things.) Plus, even if they’re not taking a full courseload, many of them have other time-consuming commitments like taking care of families or working jobs.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t assume that taking a class with other undergrads will make things easier. What if they’re a particularly strong group? Plus, you can always argue that most GS students haven’t taken calculus in a long time, so it’ll take them longer to adjust to the material, while you, who just had calc in high school, are still comfortable with it. I mean, there are just so many intangibles that I don’t think it’s worth it to agonize over this one variable.</p>
<p>I’d actually be more worried about the time that the class meets. I was pretty miserable taking such a late class (it did not feel natural going to class in the dark while everyone else was heading to dinner), but if you can stomach it and like the professor, then I don’t see why you shouldn’t stay.</p>
<p>thanks. I think I’ll stay. I liked the class and everything and I love the time (I’m more of a night person anyway). It was just that when I got back and told everyone about it the upperclassmen in the dorm gave me mix reviews(I’m in Hartley), some were like oh that’s awesome, and others were like they screw up the curve and instead of getting an A you deserve you’ll get a B-</p>