UCSD's 6 colleges

spatel23
Wed, 03 Oct 2012 11:01:52 +0000

and if you are interested in history, ERC is a great place for you. We have this MMW course (it sounds scary, but trust me it is pretty easy if you know how to work things out).
It’s a 5 course sequence from the beginning of humans (the whole evolution thing which is briefly covered in one lecture) to the present day.

SECTION IS MANDATORY (though you can skip section once without it destroying your grade)

MMW 11: No writing, make sure you take good notes, pay attention in lecture, and go to section. It’s just an intro.

MMW 12: This covers the classical period. Here you begin what many students think of as “torture”… yep you will now be writing until your last MMW class. MMW 12 has three essays (unless they change it), they all relate to the what’s covered in lecture and you can only use sources from assigned readings and lecture. In my opinion this is the worst writing (just because of three essays…don’t remember the length but i assume its 4-6 pages)

MMW 13: This covers MMW Medieval times and you get to write only one essay, but it’s a research paper that’s about 8 pages long (or is it 10?). But don’t let that scare you. They baby you through everything so in the end, you have a pretty solid essay (a large portion does depend on how good you can write). The only bad thing, besides the length, is you have to go to the library and do research yourself, ie. the material isn’t given to you. It’s a bit time consuming.

MMW 14: The research paper continues and you get to write another one strictly on this time period: 1750CE to 1900 CE. (I’m in this course right now). I think the hardest part is finding a topic you like, but you get pretty used to everything by now, so it’s a breeze.

MMW 15: You cover all the great wars (WW I, WW II, cold war, etc.). i took this over the summer (no, i didn’t go on the abroad trip to Istanbul or whatever. But if you want to go, be sure to pay attention to when signups start because the spots go by really quickly; i think they will be going to london this summer) and i personally would prefer any MMW course over the summer. It’s shorter, sweeter, and there isn’t any time for each step (that really drives me crazy. I just prefer doing things on my own, instead of taking steps… so frustrating).

But it all depends on the TA you get. Nice TAs grade better, mean TAs don’t (personally i don’t really think MMW has any “mean” TAs. They just have different expectation levels, which in the end, puts you in a better spot). Ok, yeah MMW does sound like a lot of work, but it really sounds much harder than the true experience (at least for me, and I’m a bit of a slacker)

I’m sure you’ve read this but in case you haven’t:
[The Six Colleges of UCSD – A Ranking Guide for Applicants | The Rebertian Times](Blog — chrisrebert.com)

don’t base the college on just the GEs. That is important, but you’re gonna be living there so be sure to look at ALL angles :D

Good Luck,