<p>I'm taking placement soon, and it will affect my class schedule basically. But a few questions.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Do people normally take 200-level classes as a 2nd semester freshman after they completed the intro course 1st semester?</p></li>
<li><p>Do you spread out your GE requirements over the years or do a bunch your first year?</p></li>
<li><p>I am going to double major, credit wise it isn't so bad. I was planning on taking a major required course each semester, and I'm part of a GE program, so that's another class, and the fourth slot I will use each semester (thru Junior Year) for another GE requirement, does this sound right?</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li><p>It depends on your major and how the course numbering works at your school. The introductory science courses are usually taught as two-semester sequences with consecutive course numbers (e.g. Physics 101 and 102). Other subjects work differently. For example, if you took Intro to Sociology in your first semester, you could take an upper-level Sociology of Religion course in your second semester. Yet other fields (like English) may not have a designated intro course at all and you could jump straight into 200-level courses.</p></li>
<li><p>Students approach general education requirements differently. If you know what you want to major in, it might make sense to start working on your major right away and spread the general education courses out a bit. If you are undecided between a few fields (e.g. sociology vs psychology vs political science vs history), it might make sense to postpone general education requirements to decide on a major first. If you are completely undecided, it might make sense to work on gen eds first to get a bit more exposure to different areas.</p></li>
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<p>As a rule of thumb, you want to try to start working on your foreign language and math+science requirements in the first year. The longer you wait, the more you’ll forget in the meantime.</p>
<p>My school is letting me take almost all 200 level classes as a second semester sophomore. The only 100 level class I’m taking is the second part to a required course series.</p>
<p>Personally I don’t really put any stock in class numbers/levels at all. I’ve had 200 and 300 level classes that are a piece of cake, and 100 level ones that have been absolutely brutal.</p>
<p>I couldnt spread out my GEs because I was a community college transfer, and I dont recommend doing that. Then you have all your hardest classes to take at the same time in your last year or two. I ended up with 200-300 pages of reading per week per class (5 of them) my last year. If I could go back I’d have spread it out so I’d have a more balanced load all four years.</p>