<p>I went and picked up my books today (classes start Mon. at SIU) and when I got home, my grandfather made the comment that I was taking some really tough classes. My classes this semester are:</p>
<p>POLS114 Intro to American Government and Politics
POLS130 Law in American Society
POLS278 Domestic Sources of American Foreign Policy
SPCM101 Intro to Oral Communication
UNIV101 New Student Seminar</p>
<p>If you couldn't already tell, I'm a Political Science major with a focus on pre-law. What worries me is how difficult POLS 278 will be for an incoming freshman. And if you're wondering why I'm not taking other introductory courses, I've already taken ENG 111, ENG 112, and Intro to Psychology while I was a senior in high school.</p>
<p>Edit: I should also mention that one of the main reasons I'm concerned is that I received the Presidential Scholarship so I need to maintain at-least a 3.0 GPA.</p>
<p>One word of advice for the high achieving HS student upon entrance to college and selection of classes. In HS the goal was to take as difficult a schedule as possible as it led to scholarships and ease of admission. That was to get there.</p>
<p>Now that you're there..on scholarship with a GPA requirement. Take the easiest possible classes outside of your major. Your major is what matters. I don't know if this is all around good advice as I am sure there are advocates of continued high level studies across the board, but in HS your goal was to get into your favorite college and have somebody else help pay for it. Now that you're going into college.. what's the goal?</p>
<p>Learn as much as possible about subjects that interest you? </p>
<p>...I don't advocate taking high level classes just because (which I admit to doing in highschool!), but if you're interested in the subject, like a challenge, and want to learn NEW things not repeat stuff you did in HS...that's what academics in college are all about! </p>
<p>At the same time, be prepared for it to be tough. Don't bite off more than you can chew, especially with a GPA requirement. In the end only you know what you can handle. Try and contact your teachers and get a syllabus to make sure you know all of the prereq stuff, and use a site like professorratings.com (I think this was the place?) to determine how difficult your teachers are going to be.</p>
<p>Look, if you qualify to take the 200 level class, then that is all there is to it. </p>
<p>If you are worried about the 200 level class, then speak with the professor the first week of classes. Use those office hours, and just plainly speak with the professor and please remind the professor that you took University level classes while still in high school (I think I have that right, eh?).</p>
<p>As long as you totally 100% qualify to take the class, then it is alright. The professor will not throw you out of the office on your ear or anything. </p>
<p>There is no shame in using those office hours the first week of classes and being honest by telling the professor that you qualify for the course, but it is your first ever 200 level course and you would like some advice with regards to any study techniques or essay writing requirements and whathaveyou.</p>
<p>Everyone has been in your shoes before in one way or the other. Gosh only knows how many other students in your 200 level class will be in your shoes. </p>
<p>Just keep it cool in class. Do not broadcast the fact that you are a Freshman taking the class, because folks may get jealous. Choose your pals in the class wisely, rock hard with the studying, and speak with the professor the first week of classes. </p>
<p>BTW:</p>
<p>SPCM101 Intro to Oral Communication
UNIV101 New Student Seminar</p>
<p>...are probably not super hard. As long as you work those two humbly, those are two classese where you can earn a fair mark.</p>
<p>That a course is designated 200, sophomore level, does not mean a freshman cannot take it or that it is harder than a 100 level course. What it does mean is that many of your classmates are likely to be sophomores or higher and used to the college system, are not still working out the kinks of how to take good notes, study etc., and already have written some term papers and know what is expected, and you will be graded in comparison to them. In other words, you can still do very well but you will be up against those with a little more experience. Nevertheless, large numbers of freshman often take 200 level courses and do perfectly fine. I assume the 200 level course does not have as a prereguisite the completion of some other 100 level course (in which case you could not take it). The courses you list for Poly Sci will likely have a lot of reading assigments and possbly term papers. Speech also requires a lot of thought and preparation. I have no idea what the seminar is although it sounds like an intentionally created fluff course designed to orient students to college while giving them some credit at the same time. If that is the case, you would have only four real courses that require usual college level work. One thing you will learn in college is that the number of courses you take in a semester is often more important than the total number of hours. Four real courses for a total of 15 hours can be much easier than having five or six for the same total. Frankly, your schedule does not look in any way overwhelming to me for a new freshman.</p>
<p>While taking a 200-level class as a freshman is fine, I'd advise you take a wider breadth of subjects for your first semester of college to acclimate to the work level. You'll have plenty of time to take lots of classes in your field of interest over the next several years. How about an english, math, or science class?</p>
<p>I agree with matthew. Not only does it acclimate you to how college will actually be, it gives you a chance to explore subjects that you may not have thought you would find interest in. This was my schedule my first year and I planned on being a buisness major:
-elementry algebra<br>
-nature of politics
-intro to sociology
-1st year honors writing
-1st year honors philosophy
-1st year honors colloquium
I ended up changing my major to english/poli sci because I realized that I hated math and I loved the other stuff. You never know. You may just ending finding a field that is as equally if not more appealing then the one that you've chosen now. Had I taken all buisness classes from the door I may not have found this out in time enough to graduate in 4 years. I say if you're gonna pay for college (be it through time, money or both) you might as well get all of you can out of it.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the advice I've been getting.</p>
<p>I should better explain why I've chosen some of those classes.
Intro to Gov. and Politics is a Core Curriculum class as well as a Political Science required course.
Oral Comm. and the New Student Seminar are required as part of the FIG (Freshmen Interest Group) that I'm in which allows 20 freshmen to take 2 of the same classes together as well as live in the same dorm on the same floor. Not to mention that Oral Comm. is another Core Curriculum class.
American Foreign Policy just seemed like an interesting class, although it's also a Core Curriculum class and a Poly Sci course.
Now with Law in American Society, I was told by my advisor that it'd be a good class to take to see for sure if I wanted to go into law.</p>
<p>In my first post, I should have also mentioned that I've already taken Art Appreciation which transfers as Fine Arts as well as a Computer course.</p>
<p>So far I have 16 equivalency hours as well as 8 general transfer hours even before starting college. With regard to the Computer course, it was a dual-credit course through my high school. I took all of the other courses at the local Junior College during my Junior and Senior years of high school.</p>
<p>I'm planning on talking to my FIG advisor as well as my professor about my 200 level course, although I plan on staying in it. Next semester I'll probably take some general science courses and/or some history courses along with my Poly Sci courses.</p>
<p>4 out of 5 of my classes in one semester of my first year were 200-level classes and did well. I had a first year friend take a couple of 300s and did better than me. It always depends on the student. Just try it.</p>
<p>I took a 200-level class in my first semester and did fine. Just make sure you study for it, and you should be okay.
I actually just took a 400-level as a Sophomore. I wasn't too bad, but it was kinda weird being the youngest person in the class, though.</p>
<p>Like other posters have said, the fact that you were allowed to enroll in that class shows that the school thinks you're able to handle the workload. The fact that you already have experience in the junior college definitely works in your favor; entering the 200-level class won't be your first time setting foot in a college environment, so I think that gives you an advantage. </p>
<p>People have different agendas upon entering college. I've decided to ease myself into the first semester by taking mostly 100-level courses. Some people I've talked to, on the other hand, want to challenge themselves as much as possible. To each his own, I guess. :)</p>
<p>as a fellow political science major, it concerns me that you havent even taken all the intro classes before you take the upper level. If it is your first term, I would wait to take all the pre-reqs before taking the upper level. You will enjoy the class more after you have better info in general. Its not that you wont do well, but you might not get a full experience out of it.</p>
<p>I got placed into a 200 level Spanish class, I didn't really think it was a big deal. Is it? =\ I don't consider myself to be great at Spanish, but that's what the placement test told me..</p>
<p>to echo what flgirl04 said, the other thing that taking that foreign policy class means is that most of the other students in there probably have a better background in the subject than you do.</p>
<p>I took a 300 level class on Latin America, and you might be surprised at the number of students in there who were fluent in Spanish, even though it was in no way a requirement (the professor was also fluent). There are all kinds of people at colleges. You will likely run into a couple people in that class that spend tons of their free time reading up on the topics, because that is what they are interested in. In my LA class, we started off before colonization and discussed what was happening in Europe at the time, and some of the students had a lot of knowledge about European history, and I did not (and still do not). There were sometimes references made to things that I didn't fully understand because I didn't have the background. These things didn't hurt my grade in the class, but there were definitely people with a broader knowledge base than I had.</p>
<p>And regarding languages, 200 level (201/202) is most likely 3rd and 4th semester of the language, and basically 1 year of high school = a semester of college language, so yea.</p>
<p>The fall of my freshman year I took two 300 level courses... one history and one math. I did fine. You will too. </p>
<p>This semester I'm taking two lab sciences, two math courses(one 400, one 300), and a engineering course. I don't know what I was thinking when I registered... I was a bit too ambitious that day I guess and now I'll be working my butt off the whole semester because of it. </p>
<p>Don't worry about it. You'll be fine. If anything you'll learn how to work hard and manage your time quickly and that will help you throughout your college career.</p>
<p>I took a bunch of 200 level classes and one or two 300 level classes as a freshman. the level of the course has nothing to do with how much work is associated with it or anything like that. If you really have questions check with your advisor, otherwise it should be fine.</p>
<p>200s are generally not much harder than 100s. In fact, if you know the material beforehand, it feels like 200s are easier because you go straight to the material, but in 100s, you have to learn boring simple definitions. At least this is true for Politics, Psychology and Philosophy. But if you have no previous experience in the field then taking 100s is a better idea. I’m a Psyc major so I take 3 classes (200 level) in psyc in my freshman year. If I take only psyc, I can practically graduate in the begining of my junior year.</p>