<p>My kids got accepted into the program for 2013-2014. I found some threads about the SHP courses, but they are very old. So, I would like to start a new tread. Can any people share their SHP course experiences? like how helpful the course for you to explorer the field, exams, homework, class size, professors, etc. Any particular courses will you recommend? especially in math and biology. Thanks.</p>
<p>Oh this may be too late to help, but I can tell you me and my friends experiences from last year (I like biology, they like math). SHP doesn’t have exams, grades, or homework, and all of the teachers are graduate students. Don’t let that put you off though, cause some of them are absolutely amazing teachers, better than some of the professors I’ve listened to. Class sizes vary, from about 15 or so for some classes to around 50 for very popular ones like neuroscience. About specific classes, I took neuroscience first semester and biochemical pathways the second. Our teacher for biochem actually had a family emergency halfway through the session, so I ended up having to transfer to a genetics and biodiversity class. I’m not sure how biochem will be next year, but the genetics seemed interesting, but i wasn’t there long enough to give a full account. Neuroscience was fabulous, and I absolutely recommend it. The class covered a lot, and had a good mix of both fairly basic information (about memory, senses, neurons etc) and more advanced topics (like using light to control mice). The teachers were also really easy to talk to, and I heard the other neuroscience class was just as good. Also, and classes that have labs are also supposed to be interesting, its just hard to get into those classes cause everyone wants to join them. Math seemed to get worse rep, because the pure math courses (number theory, calc in the complex plane etc) were very very very VERY difficult. My friend who is on the school math team and took multivariable calculus as a junior felt completely lost 15 minutes into calc in complex (number theory was a bit easier). If your kids are really into math, then sure they can try, otherwise I’d recommend against it. Some classes that aren’t pure math, like relativity, might be more interesting</p>
<p>@whisper12, thank you very much for such detailed information. They are really helpful. How about computer course? I only see “COMPUTER PROGRAMMING IN JAVA” listed on the website, and I also see there were assignments under class page. [Science</a> Honors Program](<a href=“http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~pblaer/shp-java/]Science”>http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~pblaer/shp-java/) </p>
<p>Do you or anyone have experiences or inside information? Will it be difficult for a student without any computer background/skills?</p>
<p>uh unfortunately I have no idea about computer programming. However, I remember people being allowed to transfer classes if they talked to the person in charge within the first 2 weeks or so. If your kids are interested in programming, they can certainly try the first day and see what they think. As for the assignments, they may be in class assignments that the teacher will guide them through, but again, I’m really not sure how programming is run.</p>