<p>So registering for classes begins on July 11,12, and 13. How do we know what classes to take? Will we have an advisor by then to help us pick classes, or is there some sort of website we consult to help pick classes? Thank.s</p>
<p>There are departmental websites to help out. You will have an advisor by the time you get here; for Pratt, for example, you meet with your advisor on the Friday of orientation week. If you aren’t in Focus, it’s a fairly open book as far as classes go. I’d recommend looking at the websites for the departments in which you have the most interest and going from there.</p>
<p>You’ll recieve a registration guidbook in the mail sometime soon that will explain to you how the registration process works. If you’re not doing FOCUS, you will need to register for 4 full credit academic courses. If you are doing FOCUS, then you will only need to register for 1 full academic credit course. First semester students may register for an additional 0.5 credit course (PE, dance, music) during the drop/add period sometime during orientation week. Regarding specific courses, you will need to register for either a writing 20 or a freshman seminar (course number is 49S - any seminar that you are eligible to enroll is ok actually, including 26S seminars and even upper level seminars that don’t have any prerequisites or which you qualify) In the Spring, you will take whatever you didnt take in the Fall. If you’re in FOCUS, you will do both the seminar and writing requirements in the Fall. Other than that, the other 3 courses are up to you to choose. I’d recommend taking a course in an area you’re thinking about or know for sure you will major in. Also, if you’re preprofessional, I recommend taking some prerequisite courses. You can also consider starting your foreign language requirement as a freshman. Keep in mind that for trinity, there are certain gen ed requirements you need to fulfill (CCI, CZ, ALP, etc.)</p>
<p>so we don’t get an advisor to help us pick classes at the time of registration?</p>
<p>What’s the point of meeting an advisor AFTER registration?</p>
<p>it’s before classes start, so there is time to “tweak” what you sign up for</p>
<p>When I was registering for the first time last summer I had a bunch of questions, so I called the Pre-Major Advising Center, explained that I was an incoming freshman, and they answered all of my questions fully and patiently. Just look up their number on the Duke website if you have any really important questions and call them – they were really nice about helping out.</p>
<p>there is actually a really big point in meeting your advisor after you register for your classes…</p>
<p>that person will be your advisor for at least the next two years. if he/she teaches in the department you decide to major in, and you love your advisor, that person can be your advisor for the rest of your time at duke. between mid-july and when classes begin, there’s a lot of switching of classes – upperclassmen decide to drop or add classes, and things may be open in august that weren’t open when you registered (especially because i don’t think incoming freshmen are allowed to put themselves on waitlists). </p>
<p>and also, your advisor has access to all of your files, etc., all the stuff you write on aces before you register, etc. my advisor met with us in a group and told us that some of us were registered for classes that didn’t make sense. he straightened a lot of people out and informed people of classes that one may not have found initially. it was very helpful.</p>
<p>some great things to do your first semester if you’re not in focus: try to take a writing 20 and/or a seminar. you need to do that as a freshman. start your foreign language requirement. if there’s a department you’re interested in majoring in, take a class in it. explore your options. don’t tie yourself down to one thing (something an advisor will undoubtedly tell you if you walk into his/her office in august w/ 3 or 4 polisci classes), and don’t necessarily worry about filling out your matrix requirements yet. first year is amazing to find out what you love and want to study. i thought i knew my first semester and realized how wrong i was… and as for the requirements, other than the math ones which i have just 1 of left, i finished all my non-major graduation requirements inadvertently in two years solely by taking classes that interested me. it’s not hard to do if you don’t tie yourself down to one discipline. if you’re still stuck-- call duke, they’re so helpful.</p>
<p>In all honesty, you really can’t screw up what you are taking the first semester of your freshmen year so you won’t get much guidance before you sign up for classes. However, when you get to campus, you will meet with your advisor within the first few days, and you will go over it and make necessary changes. A few classes you should consider:</p>
<p>If you premed, you should take Chem 21 or 23 or Organic chem depending upon your proficiency. If you feel pretty comfortable with chem (didn’t have much trouble with it in high school and have some background), then take 23. I know quite a few people who thought they were so behind in chemistry, and later, ended up wishing that they had just taking 23 and gotten done with it. If you have solid AP scores, I would seriously just consider going straight to organic. </p>
<p>If your interested in econ., then take Econ 51. Lori Leachman is teaching again this fall. She is a great teacher and quite the theatrical show at 8:30 in the morning. She has flaming red hair and is quite like spitfire. As long as you do the work and memorize every list she gives you, you should do fine in her class. Some people don’t care for her, but it is usually because they didn’t do their homework, asked her to repeat something after she had already said it 3-4 times (no joke; don’t be one of these people; they drive everyone nuts), or they asked a question that indicated that they clearly had not listened to a single minute of her lecture.</p>
<p>As far as public policy, you probably won’t be able to take PubPol 55, which is the intro course because its already filled up for the most part. This is perfectly okay, and I would recommend taking a public policy elective before you take 55. I had 55 this semester, and it’s one of those courses that’s marginally interesting but that you would never want to take again.</p>
<p>For biology, you’ll likely want to take Bio 25, 26, or 118 (Cell Bio.). If you have AP, then take 26 or 118. 26 is a biodiversity course and bio majors have to take one at some point - however, there are other such classes (one is offered at the marine lab). 118 is supposed be pretty rough, but if you had a great AP Bio class in high school and are thinking that you want to be a bio major, you might want to take this class.</p>
<p>For math, chances are you’ll take 25,31,32,41, or 103. Here is a summary of them,
25 - the easiest calc class you can possibly take at Duke. It is part one of the AP Calc AB exam. (Math 26 is the other half; the 25 & 26 are the equivalent of Math 31)
31 - the first half of single variable elementary calc (limits, differentiation, integration, etc.); it’s like AP Calc AB in one semester
32 - the second half of single variable elementary calc (tougher integration, 3D solids created through revolving lines and area about the axis, infinite series, etc.)
41 - Math 31 and 32 in one semester
103 - multivariable calculus (vectors, directional derivatives, max-min in 3 space, volume of 3D objects, centroids, moment of inertia, vector calculus, green’s theorem, divergence theorem, stoke’s theorem, etc.)</p>
<p>What you should take depends upon your math background and AP tests - if you got a 5 on BC, definitely take 103 or 41. I took 103 this past semester after not having had math since my junior year and I did just fine. In general, I would not repeat a class unless you really feel that you need to - you’re just wasting your time.</p>
<p>For stats, if you want to take Stats 103 (the one required for econ.), it’s largely already full so you will need to take it another semester.</p>
<p>Last, you will need to select you writing class or seminar as one of your classes for your first semester. Usually writing fills up first, so if you’re the last registration window, start looking at seminars. If you’re the second window, you may or may not get into a writing class. This just means you’ll have to take it second semester.</p>
<p>Hopefully, this will give you a bit of a handle on what you should take, but again, you can’t really screw it up. Also, this is written from the Trinity perspective. I know all engineers have to take EGR 53, but other than that, I don’t know what you’ll be taking (other than writing, of course)</p>
<p>somebody told me that the “packet” tells us what sem to take our writing20. I was planning on taking both writing and seminar in the fall…</p>
<p>You can’t take both unless you are in FOCUS - it’s either one or the other.</p>
<p>So wait, there’s an alternative to Writing 20? Or is “seminar” just another name for it?</p>
<p>From the engineering side of the house, for those not in FOCUS (hereafter referred to as Blurry Engineers):
- EGR 53L, 53L9, and 53R. OH yeah.
- MTH something - whatever is next in your sequence (31, 32, 103, 107, 108) or STA 113 (need multivariable for that, though)
- CHM 21L and 21L9. Unless you have AP, in which case you may want to take CHM 23L and 23L9 (2nd chem for BME, natural science for CEE or MEMS) or BIO 25L (bio for BME or ECE, natural science for CEE or MEMS)…or an ECON course or some other social science / humanities course
- WRI 20
4.5) EGR 10 (optional pass/fail seminar on engineering)</p>
<p>If life gets more complicated for whatever reason (generally, BME’s with AP credit for CHM and enough MTH that the upper level MTH conflicts with CHM 23 and yet didn’t get into WRI 20), Connie Simmons will figure everything out… You may not believe me now, but you will :)</p>
<p>Note: I know this looks inflexible - it is just that the first few semesters set up the foundation for an engineering degree. You still get to take classes in Trinity that you want and get that coveted double-major-with-certificate-in-Global-Health</p>
<p>Novah - Trinity students must take WRI 20 as well as a seminar-based class; they are two different things</p>
<p>Ahhhhh. Okay. Thanks! <em>keeps being glad she’s in Pratt, not Trinity</em></p>
<p>Wow, thank you for the very helpful stuff.
Another question: can I take an econ. class my freshman year in Pratt? I mean, I seems like everything is already planned out for freshman, but I really wanted to explore different classes and I want to take a class in econ. as a BME major. Is it possible? Can I use it as my humanities/social science elective?</p>
<p>Yes, I knew quite a few engineers in Econ 51 last semester.</p>
<p>So, say I was interested in a ME/CE double major, coming in with a math, biology, and two humanities/SS (in USABLE APs and predicted scores.) How feasible is this, especially if I want to do the five year masters in ME? The CE would be on the structural path, not the enviro path. Do I need to start with a working overload in spring of my freshman year? Sorry if this is off topic…I just like to start planning early!</p>
<p>Dukestudent2009 how familiar are you with the econ program? I plan to major in econ. I have 5s in both AP macro and AP micro. I apparently can skip econ 51D and go to 55D. How tough is 55D? Am I better off doing 51D?</p>
<p>I hope to take Writing 20 and a language class as well. Ay ideas for a fourth course?</p>
<p>Here goes:
UF: You can absolutely take Econ 1st semester - Among other things, Pratt folks have five required Trinity slots, of which no more than 2 can be AP. Econ can either be a social science credit or your fifth “free” social science / humanities credit.</p>
<p>Novah: I’m gonna need to be in the office for that one. I also need to get the ME/CE double spreadsheet (though life is certainly easier going structural than environmental on that). If it’s OK - if you send me an e-mail (mrg at duke.edu) with the APs you are expecting, I can send you a spreadsheet I have for Blurry Pratt Dimes. With 4 APs, though - especially the ones you have coming in, I don’t think you will have to overload too much. Also depends somewhat on the kind of masters (terminal or thesis or Masters in Engineering Management) you want, but still likely doable.</p>