<p>I am taking Western Civilization as my complimentary course this semester. I hate the teacher (who always takes this annoying and snobbish kind of tone) and I cannot keep up with the reading. The teacher asks us to read about thirty pages every week, which is a lot because this is only a complimentary. I had computer science as my complimentary last semester, and we had almost no homework. BTW,I am more of a math and science student, so I really can't care less about the war between different ancient greek cities. </p>
<p>Do I have to tell the adcoms if I drop the course? My school has already sent my mid year report, so they won't know until they have admitted me, if I don't tell them. Will it seriously affect my chance of admission? If I keep the course, I will probably end up with a grade in the low 80s. If I drop now, it won't even appear in my final transcript.</p>
<p>You definitely need to update admissions about any curriculum changes you make. Your current application is based on the rigor of your classes–if they change, your profile as an applicant changes.</p>
<p>Are you aware that the liberal arts curriculum at Harvard requires many core classes beyond your math/science major (called a concentration)? History, arts, social sciences, etc., will all be required for your college graduation. Western civilization will be a necessary foundation for these classes.</p>
<p>Princeton, Columbia, Yale, etc., ditto–have you researched what the core requirements for the Ivies? Unless you are at MIT, CAl Tech, etc., you will have a wide spectum of required liberal arts classes, no matter what your major.</p>
<p>Quote:“Your current application is based on the rigor of your classes–if they change, your profile as an applicant changes.”</p>
<p>I don’t think this really applies to my situation. In Quebec, high school ends after grade 11, I am now attending a cegep (2 years program), which is kind of a college, but they don’t call it that. I am in the science program and am taking the hardest science courses available to me, enriched mechanics, enriched cal II, and linear algebra. A complimentary course is just a random course you have to choose. During the 4 semesters most students spend here, they can choose 2 complimentary courses. So If I drop the course this semester and don’t get accepted by any of the college I apply to, I will have to take another one next semester. (If I don’t drop it, I can’t take another one next semester) In addition, a wide range of complimentary courses are offered, ranging from a third language class to computer science classes. And which course you choose is decided by luck, because everybody choses their courses and schedules at the same time and all the good courses (psychology or art of reasoning) are often gone during the first several minutes of registration. So I really don’t see how the complimentary course reflects the rigor of my classes, when I actually wanted to choose more challenging classes, but couldn’t because places were limited and I didn’t get lucky. </p>
<p>Quote"Are you aware that the liberal arts curriculum at Harvard requires many core classes beyond your math/science major (called a concentration)? History, arts, social sciences, etc., will all be required for your college graduation. Western civilization will be a necessary foundation for these classes."</p>
<p>Of course I am aware of that, and I actually talked to my interviewer about it. He told me that there were lots of courses to choose from at Harvard and that I would find sth I like. And quite frankly, despite being a science student, I love politics, 20th century history, english and french literature and many other things. I am just not interested in people who died 4000 years ago, because they don’t have much to do with the world we live in now.</p>
<p>Well, let’s first admit that your argument is fallacious because you are picking but one event in the rich history of the Greek city-states. The question you would ask if you were to argue fairly would be, “how did ancient Greece impact the world we live in?” If you don’t understand this, your grasp of history is worse than my ten-year-old nephew’s.</p>
<p>But, since you asked about the war in particular, I can think of two direct effects of the war between Sparta and Athens:</p>
<ol>
<li>Thucydides. Thucydides was a general for Athens and later traveled as an exile throughout the Peloponnesus recording eyewitness accounts and analyzing primary sources, later composing History of the Peloponnesian War. The significance of Thucydides was immense; he was one of the very first (after Herodotus) to record history as we understand history today, i.e. based on empirical facts, and he was the very first to explain the causes of political events without reference to the supernatural. The History of the Pelponnesian War is still studied at advanced military colleges today, and </li>
</ol>
<p>
</p>
<ol>
<li>The preservation of Athens itself. After Athens’ defeat, Thebes and Corinth urged Sparta to raze Athens and enslave its citizens. Sparta refused. As you (don’t) know, Athens was tantamount to the spread of Greek/Hellenistic culture by Alexander the Great from the Mediterranean to Central Asia. There simply would have been no Athenian culture to spread if not for the decision of Spartan leadership to make the odd choice of showing mercy to a rival. Hellenistic culture can be said to be a precursor to many scientific and cultural achievements in its own right, but more relevant is Rome’s adoption of Greek achievements and so on in history.</li>
</ol>
<p>My answer has myriad oversimplifications (granted, these oversimplifications help rather than hurt your point) and I’m certainly no classics expert, but I hope someone lurking around here can give a better answer.</p>
<p>@DwightEisenhower I admit that I was wrong about the irrelevance of the course and I admire your knowledge.</p>
<p>But I still have many other reasons to drop the course, ex. 30 pages of reading every week or the unbearably annoying teacher. What I really need to know is whether dropping the course will affect my application to Harvard, since it is a complimentary course that I can retake next semester, provided that I don’t get accepted by all the colleges I apply to.</p>
<p>@WindCloudUltra Just exactly when did you see me ■■■■■■■■? Try asking all the Harvard freshmen about the significance of the ancient greek history and see how many of them can answer your question.</p>
<p>Umm… the Greeks invented Western Civilization (does democracy ring a bell?). We basically owe our entire society to the Greeks.</p>
<p>With your immaturity, you’re not going to get into Harvard anyways. But to answer your question, you must update the adcom whenever you change your schedule. It’s not about this one lie - they will start to be suspicious about your entire application.</p>
<p>If you do get into Harvard, you could easily have 600 pages of reading every week; I usually have 400-700. Although this is above the norm, and high school and college can be a lot different, 30 pages of reading should not be making a potential Harvard student drop classes.</p>
<p>@guitar19- I think you might be underestimating the ability of Harvard freshmen. In any case, your statement “I am just not interested in people who died 4000 years ago, because they don’t have much to do with the world we live in now” itself is problematic. It’s problematic because it’s a generalization. You seem to have an active disdain for anything not modern. Much of modern geo-politics/history makes absolutely little sense without a panoramic and deep understanding of history…yes…history going back 4000+ years. Likewise, the key to understanding many fields of science is history. In fact, ancient history–esp biology (genetics for one) and cosmology. But since you’re a science kid, you should know that. </p>
<p>If you think that’s an unfair characterization, you should think twice next time before cavalierly writing such generalizations. If comes off as naive. This is more than about the relevance of one historical battle between Athens and Sparta. I’m talking about an entire attitude towards education.</p>
<p>Finally, I’m not sure why you even bother to ask whether or not you need to update the admissions committee on dropping a course–even if you think the course if insignificant and is only an easy elective/complementary course. It’s a matter of integrity. If you can’t figure that one out on your own…I’m really not sure what to say.</p>
<p>I honestly think you should just suck it up and wait until your decisions come out. Then drop the course and tell the admission office if your accepted.</p>
<p>Honestly, 30 pages a week is nothing. For AP US History we read AND outline about twice that amount each week. Plus we’ve a quiz on the reading weekly.</p>
<p>btw, as much as you guys like to get off topic, just let OP have his way. If he likes math/science, then so be it. He can be ignorant, but a couple posts on CC won’t make him hate history any less.</p>
<p>I second Captrick’s opinion. Try reading 140 pages of Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury” for AP English in four days. Add that to another 4 AP classes ;)</p>
<p>If you think 30 pages is a lot, you’ll probably pull a Quentin Compson after your freshman year at Harvard, providing you get in… haha.</p>
<p>For the record, I am not dropping the course. Thank you for all your friendly replies.</p>
<p>BTW, I don’t hate history, I just don’t care much about it, the same way many of my friends don’t care much about derivaties and antiderivaties. It’s only normal that people have different interests, if everybody just studies history, who will be responsible to send people to Mars.</p>
<p>@ all those who think I want to lie to the admission officers
My school submitted my mid year report 3 weeks ago, I have no idea whether I should continue updating the admission officers on my curriculum. Now that I think of it, maybe I should, but it has never been a question of integrity. I have never had any intention of lying to the admission officers.</p>
<p>@Jayster007 Try studying Riemann Sum and antiderivaties in two weeks. </p>
<p>I am a science student, I have other things to do, including three pages of math assignment and two pages of physics assignment every week. As I said before, I never really expect any homework from a complimentary course.</p>
<p>By the way, I also have my 900 pages Calculus book that I read regularly.</p>