For the umpteenth time MATH 155A VS. MATH 150A! Please answer!

vandycentremom
Tue, 05 Jun 2012 11:48:56 +0000

I think Pancaked gave you excellent advice. I can’t improve upon it, but I can tell you what my son did as a freshman and why. He went into his first semester at Vandy planning to be an econ major ; now he is an econ and political science double major. He went in with 34 AP credits, of which he has forfeited four, and those were for AP Calculus AB. His high school did not offer BC. He got a 5 on the Calc AB exam, but still he wasn’t so sure he was equipped for going straight into 155B because this isn’t high school anymore. He took 155A AND 155B because for an econ major, one semester of calculus is a prerequisite for Economic Statistics and Intermediate Micro and Macro and, according to the Department of Economics, “two semesters is [sic] better.” He didn’t even think about Math 150 because of what nicole07 and other posters three years ago said, and after talking with those in 150, he knows he made the right decision. He did not have a choice for professor, however. (This is not the case after first semester, you will find. He actually chose the same professor second semester.) First semester his schedule merely said “Staff.” He ended up with Whitehouse and the comments for '09 and '10 on RateMyProfessors jibe with his opinion; that is, Whitehouse is very entertaining but very difficult. Whitehouse said the final exam was going to be easy. I think my son’s exam grade for 155B was in the 60’s–and he is not one of those slackers to whom Pancaked referred, but Pancaked is right that they do exist. He got a straight B for both courses and felt lucky to get them, and these have proven to be the lowest grades he has gotten at Vanderbilt so far. And yes, like the comments about Whitehouse on rmp.com, he did think he was good at calculus going in haha. I can tell from your posts that you are already studying RateMyProfessors.com, and I think that is wise. My son has done that throughout his first three years. Even the two best picks, who seem to be Chance and Bova now, have hard final exams, according to the comments on rmp.com… My son found that while his high school calc teacher was very generous in giving partial credit for problems, Whitehouse was not. Also, the proofs first semester were hard for him. I think it’s great that you are doing some research and finding out things about college calculus before hitting campus.