<p>Is it a good idea? For a reference, these are the five classes I plan on taking:</p>
<ol>
<li>First Year Writing Seminar (to be determined by ballot in August)</li>
<li>ECON1110: Introduction to Microeconomics</li>
<li>ECON1120: Introduction to Marcoeconomics</li>
<li>GOVT1817: Intrdocution to International Relations</li>
<li>MATH2210: Linear Algebra</li>
</ol>
<p>As you might guess, I intend to double major in economics and government and plan on getting as many requirements as possible out of the way. I'd like to know if its common or at least, manageable, to take five classes in my first semester at Cornell. Anecdotes are most welcome.</p>
<p>First half of the Semester, ECON 1110 and 1120 will cover the same material and have about the same questions on their individual prelims. So life will be easier.
Considered taking a PE now?</p>
<p>You’re workload is going to be very manageable.</p>
<p>What do you mean CayugaRed2005? I haven’t taken APs in either micro or macro, so I don’t have the credit for the two prerequisites. I’d rather get 101 and 102 done with in the fall and move on to the major itself starting in Spring '11.</p>
<p>ECON 3010 and 3020 are what I like to call “Intromediate” Econ. They count for the requirements of both Intro and Intermediate Economics. I took ECON 3020, and it was pretty mathematical, moreso than what i saw from friends in ECON 1120. I can’t comment on how Intermediate Macro was compared to 3020 though.</p>
<p>Would you recommend either 301 or 302 to someone who hasn’t taken economics formally in high school? (Though as a debater, I consider myself familiar with its basic principles) Or is it a safer bet to stick with 101 and 102 first semester and do 301-302 in the spring?</p>
<p>I came into Cornell with the econ APs, but when I took 3010 I didn’t really call on any of that info. everything I needed to know for that course was contained in the course. it’s possible that some of the terminology was more familiar because of my previous experience with econ, but if you know any basics you probably have the vocab down, or you could look it up somewhere.</p>
<p>I highly doubt debate taught you much about real economics. Economics isn’t a collection of arguments about policy.</p>
<p>Note that the intro to econ classes generally have means of B, which is pretty low for Econ classes. It might be because the stuff taught is pretty hard (not really), but I find it much more likely that people in those classes are… shall we say, “unqualified”. So I’d imagine that if you fancy yourself intelligent, you might find it easy to beat the curve in intro econ. </p>
<p>One of my professors expressed surprise that I got an A in ECON 3130 despite AP’ing out of the intro courses, so I suppose that they expect people who take intro econ in Cornell to be better prepared in the future.</p>
<p>Intro Econ (atleast 101 under Abowd) is not curved. I’m a little disturbed by your theory that unqualified/unintelligent people actually attend Cornell. The statistical probability of getting a certain grade isn’t going to change the actual ‘value’ to me from taking a certain class. I’m far more interested in whether jumping ahead to 301/302 is a sound move for someone without prior experience in economics proper.</p>
<p>i think it’s fine to jump straight into ECON 3020 without prior economics. I took it without any preparation in ECON and did quite well. Granted, I feel I didn’t take much away from the course, but that’s because I found that I didn’t like the subject at all.</p>
<p>And while it may be that everyone who attends Cornell is qualified, you will definitely find that some people have an easier time, and some have a much, much harder time.</p>
<p>Tschh. After spending 2 years as a TA here, I could horrify you with stories of the idiocy I have encountered. If you thought everybody here would be a genius, you will likely be very surprised.</p>
<p>I didn’t think everyone at Cornell would be a genius (I, for one, am not) but it’s a little hard to accept that introductory economics would be a challenge to most of the students at Cornell, save for a very small, (probably more unmotivated than unintelligent) minority. That said, I am coming in with the impression that I’ll be able to have meaningful intellectual conversations with the majority of my classmates and it worries me to hear some of your comments, especially if you’re not exaggerating the extent of ‘idiocy’ as much as I hope you are. </p>
<p>As far as economics goes, my present thinking is that spending my first semester on the introductory sequence may be useful in acquainting me with college-level work in the social sciences. I went to a high school specialized in math and science, and therefore didn’t have much of a chance to explore social science classes. And while I’m confident in my abilities, I wouldn’t want to start out on the wrong foot, especially since I’m in no hurry to graduate early or anything of the sort. That said, if anyone thinks its a novice move to go for the introductory classes instead of 301-302, please do tell me why. I’m most interested in the actual content of the classes, but also important to me are the workload/time commitment (I intend to pursue one or two time-consuming ECs) and the ability to perform well without an disproportionately high effort-to-result ratio (GOVT 1817 and MATH 2210 might make my schedule pretty rigorous as it is).</p>
<p>srrinath u sound like a very motivated and intelligent individual (serious).
are you male or female? lol</p>
<p>i have heard that people who actually major in economics dont bother taking econ101/2 though i’m not sure how many actually do skip it altogether.</p>
<p>Having a strong math background, you probably have more of a preparation and an edge in economics than the students who normally would be taking econ. Intro econ is a very popular course and therefore does attract a fair number of people who are dumb. If you are used to rigorous math, skip out of it. Anecdotally, I also came from a strong math/science school, and took Econ 1120 and didn’t feel intellectually stimulated by what I felt was very basic material, while I watched others in my sections struggle to understand the most basic of concepts.</p>
<p>Yes, you will be able to hold intellectual conversations with most people, but please don’t expect everyone to be an expert in every subject. Some people are just dumb in certain subjects. Your history major friend might not know anything about black hole physics, in the same way that your engineer friend might not know the difference between the Battle of Gettysburg and the Invasion of Normandy.</p>
<p>@campusscsi: I’m male, though I’m not sure how that matters in any way here.</p>
<p>@chendrix: Thanks for the advice. I’m curious, how did you perform in Econ 101/102? While I am inclined to believe that as an introductory course, it will not be as stimulating as I’d like, I’m concerned that the median grades for both courses have recently been in the B/B+ range. While what you’re saying (that some people will struggle with the concepts) might help to explain that a little bit, I wouldn’t want to be skipping a class simply because I feel I can, especially if it’s ‘rigorous’ enough to leave a fair number of rather motivated/intelligent students with grades of B and below. As far as mathematical rigor goes, I’d say my preparation in math might have been slightly above average among Cornell freshmen (5 for Calculus BC, additional classes in complex numbers and game theory) but it’s been quite a while since I’ve done math considering that I finished high school in November.</p>