Hi everyone! I’m currently a junior in high school, and I’m starting to look into things I can do over the summer. I’m specifically interested in a 6 week long, 4-credit upper division (3000 level) art history course on Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Art history fascinates me and the era this course covers is one of my favorites to read about. I fulfilled the only prerequisite last summer.
I’m excited about the opportunity to take this course, but I’m feeling a little apprehensive about doing upper division coursework as a high schooler. I’m a bit afraid that the other students, mostly college juniors and seniors, would be at different intellectual/maturity levels than I am. Would you say that a 17 year old could handle taking an upper division course or would you not recommend my taking it at all? It would be the only course I’d take during that time for credit, but I (probably) would audit a language conversation class.
By the way, I’m sorry if this wasn’t placed in the right forum. Thank you all for your help.
In theory, it’s okay to take a class if you have the prerequisites. In practice, there are several classes in my major where I would have performed badly if I only had the prerequisites. Upper-level humanities classes might implicitly presume that your writing and research skills are more developed than they are. If your classmates are mostly older humanities majors, they’re likely to be more knowledgeable, and that can make it hard to contribute to class discussions and group projects. I would recommend emailing the professor and asking whether they think the class is suitable given your background.
Unfortunately, I can’t meet with the professor face to face (the university is in another country; I’ll be staying with extended family.) I will reach out to him via email, though. Thank you all for your replies. You’ve been very helpful.
If you can’t meet with the prof, see if you can get a copy of the syllabus to determine what the workload will be; for example, how many books you will have to read? If there’s a research paper, how long does is have to be? You mentioned that the course going to be in another country – will language be an issue? (an upper division college course in a second language is a whole other ball of wax…)
Language won’t be an issue, as it’s an anglophone university in France. I’m relatively fluent in French, too, but probably not fluent enough to write any papers in it. I’ll ask for the syllabus. Thanks for the suggestion!
@halcyonheather nothing’s wrong with email! It’s just that people are more likely to have a more in-depth conversation that will include more nonverbal cues when it’s a face to face interaction. (And some profs aren’t great about answering email.)
Hi everyone. I wanted to thank you all again for your insights and suggestions.
I just received the syllabus for the course. (Well, the syllabus from 2 years ago, but presumably not too much is going to be changed.) It seems pretty manageable in terms of readings and assignments. The grade is based upon one final, an 8-page paper, and a presentation. For reference, in the introductory survey course I took last year at the same university, the only difference was that there was both a midterm and a final. Both courses are/were 6 weeks long, so I think I’m accustomed to the pace.
I’m still deciding whether this is the right choice for me this summer, but it looks like it will a choice. I’m also applying to TASP and to a few other humanities programs.