<p>Varies based on class. Some classes are pass/fail only (i.e. gym, some remedial type courses), some are letter grade only (usually major courses), and some can be either/or (for engineering, the only time we can choose pass/fail is for our liberal arts distributions).</p>
<p>I've got a couple questions.</p>
<p>1) How many courses should a freshmen take their first semester?</p>
<p>2) How safe is the campus? (It's just that it's so big and the idea of walking around such a big place in the dark creeps me out a little)</p>
<p>anotehr student here...</p>
<p>1) How many courses should a freshmen take their first semester? i think no more than 18 credits per semester.</p>
<p>2) How safe is the campus? it's a safe as milk. i've stumbled across campus at 4 am many times. I've never ever felt 'unsafe.' They have the whole "blue light" crap, but i've never heard of an instance where it's needed to be used. Collegetown can be a little less safe, but it's off campus, and there's really no crime at the busy parts. </p>
<p>for the pass/fail option, in ilr, students can take up to like 8 classes as pass/fail. But, you have to take a letter grade for the 'required classes.'</p>
<p>i dont have a camera, but here's my photo album of pictures that people have tagged me with:</p>
<p>and from my girlfriend's album:
<a href="http://cornell.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2006332&page=1&id=420235%5B/url%5D">http://cornell.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2006332&page=1&id=420235</a></p>
<p>hopefully those pictures work.
Sparticus you have a facebook 'add friend' thing comming your way.</p>
<p>How many credits is advisable to take depend upon the credits in question - some 4 credit classes are easy and require little work, some 1 credit project classes take up a lot of time. You can get a feel for most courses during Add/Drop, though, so you don't have to just guess as to how much work your courseload will be.</p>
<p>doglvr88:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>yes step in feet first, i.e. jump off the side. your head goes under. scary I know. practice by jumping into pools over the summer and swimming short distances under water. You should be fine. Being scared is ok. not being able to do it is the problem ;)</p></li>
<li><p>You get frickin awesome professors in intro classes, especially in the smaller departments, like music. You also get awesome professors in big classes though. Some TAs teach classes, but they're usually basic ones like intro calc, where you need a good teacher, not necessarily someone who has had a PhD for 30 years. Most of the TAs I've seen have been as good as most of the professors. TAs don't just get thrown in classes, there are actual mandatory teaching classes they have to do, as well as a teaching resource center to help them out. I had a TA teaching first semester intro calc, and a TA doing my musicianship section for Tonal Theory I. So that's like 1.5 TAs teaching. The math TA was solid, though not particularly exciting. The musicianship TA is a phenomenal pianist (I went to his recitial), and an excellent communicator, as well as a very nice guy.</p></li>
<li><p>Not an engineer, and didn't use my AP credit or didn't use it yet.</p></li>
<li><p>Office hours are great. You go, they help you 1 on 1, and it's all good. Teachers are flexible, willling to make special appointments accomidations, etc. awesome.</p></li>
<li><p>People are very friendly, and even friendlier during O-week and the first month. greek members are very friendly toward freshmen.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>abike11: you can't use a calc on most tests, but the 89 would be most useful for checking HW problem sets. However, the 83+ is fine if you don't want to spend the cash</p>
<p>The grading system is eithe ABC or S/U (satisfactory/unsatisfactory) S/U classes don't count toward your GPA. A C- is passing I think. You can take almost any class S/U but it won't count toward your major or filling a requirement. This means it's fine to explore something new that you're unsure of, but that you're responsible for doing well in classes that are important ot the goals of your respective colleges education and your major.</p>
<p>Reflections: take 4 or 5 courses. I would advise against taking more than the recommended 14-16 credits. Second semester you can start pushing the non-petition maximum of 18 if you want to load up, but first semester is important for adjusting, and I wouldn't say burden yourself too much. Sign up for 5 at least, and drop your least favorite if you're swamped. You can drop up to halfway through the semester.</p>
<p>The campus is rather safe. I haven't heard about any muggings on the physical campus. I'd say you hear of about 1 per month or so happening in collegetown. The place is well lighted, and if you're smart, walk with friends, stay in the light and my main roads etc. you should be fine. I don't really feel like it's any more dangerous than princeton. (being 6'5", 180 lbs, and a black belt helps your safety confidence though)</p>
<p>so does MIT</p>
<p>umm.... sorry
I forgot that this was IVY League forum :)</p>
<p>lol, MIT is too good for the ivies ;)</p>
<p>what is the hardest school, which has the most work?</p>
<p>
[quote]
3) Also, for any engineers on CC, what sort of classes do the freshman take and where did you use AP credits and stuff? Now that you look back, was it a good idea to use the AP credit where you did?
[/quote]
Freshmen engineers are required to take:
Math 191 (Calc BC equivalent)
Math 192 (Multivariable Calc)
Physics 112 (Mechanics)
Chemistry 211 (or 207) (basically AP Chem)
CS 100 (either Introductory Java or Java and Matlab)
2 Writing seminars
and an ENGRI course, basicaly an introduction course to one of the engineering majors.</p>
<p>I would recommend accepting the AP credit if you have it; for example, I took Chem 211 even though I only had regular high school chem but found most of the material to be review. I'm sure that everything I would have learned in AP Chem would have been enough for that class. I skipped out of Math 191 and Physics 112 with AP credit and I'm doing fine in Math 192...</p>
<p>I second tower pumpkin about AP credit; take as much as you humanly can. I took 47 AP credits and it was the best decision I ever made; most intro-level classes (i.e. the engineering core curriculum) grade MUCH harder than their equivalent higher-level classes, and also rely on either insane problem solving instead of concepts (i.e. giving difficult limits of integration/difficult functions to integrate in Math 192 instead of just testing our conceptual knowledge of how to do surface/double/whatever integrals) to test people.</p>
<p>If you're an engineer, you can get out of a lot of work with AP credit; you can get out of chem, 2 semesters of physics, and CS if you want to, depending on your major.</p>
<p>Also, I highly recommend getting AP credit for AP English (you can't get out of both writing seminars by taking both AP English's (I tried), so just take one) - the writing seminars are useless if you're a good writer (since they focus on making really bad writers readable) and take up a disproportionate amount of time (because they require mandatory page amounts of papers).</p>
<p>what is the hardest school, which has the most work?</p>
<p>really tough to answer. the bio and chem majors are very difficult. engineering has also been rumored to be difficult at times. the architecture program is very intense as well, students spend hours and hours working on their projects. ilr isn't too bad, though several of my profs and TA's have told me that since ilr doens't curve grades that the average grade students get in the introductory ilr classes is generally lower than the average grades students get for other intro classes in other majors (like psych, languages, english, and so forth). In ilr, if a 93 is the cutoff for an A and you have a 92.9 ... most teachers will still give you the A- (my HR prof. even said this at the beginning of the semester). The only school where i've never heard any "this is sooo difficult" is the hotel school. I'd like to take all of my electives there.</p>
<p>lucifer, </p>
<p>Do you need a 5 on the English exams? I got a 4 on the Lang. and Comp this year but I'm planning to take Lit this year only if I need a 5 obviously.</p>
<p>live- you could also retake the other exam. see <a href="http://admissions.cornell.edu/downloads/adv_placement_intl_credentials.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://admissions.cornell.edu/downloads/adv_placement_intl_credentials.pdf</a> for AP credit information</p>
<p>They take a 4 on the English exams</p>
<p>"Freshmen engineers are required to take:
Math 191 (Calc BC equivalent)
Math 192 (Multivariable Calc)
Physics 112 (Mechanics)
Chemistry 211 (or 207) (basically AP Chem)
CS 100 (either Introductory Java or Java and Matlab)
2 Writing seminars
and an ENGRI course, basicaly an introduction course to one of the engineering majors."</p>
<p>A few questions...
1. I am doing an independent study in MV calc at my school with 2 other students and the department head. Is it worth my while to try and test out of it at Cornell or should I just take it and hopefully it'll be easy?
2. I have BC Calc, AP Chem and AP Compsci (AB) as all 5s. My school doesn't offer AP Physics but my honors physics class supposedly prepares me enough for the mechanics physics C test (according to the teacher). Assuming I get that credit...then what does Freshman year look like with all this stuff considered? Is it then open and dependent on major (I'm said and am planning on doing AEP)?</p>
<p>The rest of the core engineering requirements include Math 293 (diff eq I think), Math 294 (Linear Algebra) and Physics 213 (E&M). Actually, just take a look at this flowchart:
<a href="http://www.engineering.cornell.edu/student-services/academic-advising/engineering-handbook/2005/major-ep.cfm%5B/url%5D">http://www.engineering.cornell.edu/student-services/academic-advising/engineering-handbook/2005/major-ep.cfm</a></p>
<p>Engineering only takes 5s for writing; basically, its different for every college.</p>
<p>for engineering, can you get credit for the "liberal distribution studies" classes (5 classes if I'm right) from APs? (I'll have AP History, AP Pysch and if I want I can take Econ if it matters...if not I won't)</p>
<p>Yeah, Brown is cake... Safety school... lol</p>
<p>(sorry, delayed reaction to yesterday's posts)</p>
<p>What exactly is add/drop? And also.. I dont know if anyone would know this.. but if I wanted to take like a theatre or dance class for fun would that be easy to do or are theatre and dance majors usually the only ones who take them?</p>