<p>I’m going to be a freshman next year at Brown, and I’m totally lost in choosing classes. I want to pursue a Sc.B in Computer Science:</p>
<ol>
<li>What is a typical schedule for a CS major? What classes would one take first year typically?</li>
<li>What is a first-year seminar? What should I pick? Am I required to do so? What if I don’t pick anything during the lottery?</li>
<li>How many classes does one typically take in a semester? 4? 5 (is this overkill)?</li>
<li>What if I want to continue on with Spanish, but on a pass/fail basis? Is that an option/class for me (I’m taking AP Spanish Lang right now)? </li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li><p>There are better people on this forum than me to answer this, but I believe many potential CS concentrators take CS 15/16 or 17/18 their first year.</p></li>
<li><p>A FYS is a chance to take a small seminar-style class with only freshmen. Not required, but I’d definitely recommend you take one. Do anything that sounds interesting to you - no need for it to be CS-related.</p></li>
<li><p>Typically, students take 4 classes a semester. Some take 5 later on, but do not take 5 classes your first semester.</p></li>
<li><p>If you get a 5 on AP Lang, you’ll be automatically given placement into HISP 0600. That’s what I did, and it’s definitely worth taking. It’s the top-level course that isn’t all about literature analysis, and the class sizes tend to be small and fun. You can take any course you want S/NC (pass/fail), so do that if you want. Past HISP0600, you can take literature/culture courses that will be conducted entirely in Spanish and you will have the placement to go abroad in any Spanish-speaking country.</p></li>
</ol>
<ol>
<li>Take 15/16 or 17/18. 15 is very graphics-driven (it is taught by Andy van Dam, after all), with a lot of procedure and less algorithm. 16 is algorithm-heavy, whereas 17/18 spread algorithms and design throughout the entire year. I’m not well-versed in the specifics of the courses, but that’s my best understanding. Moreover, 17 teaches functional languages, whereas 15 uses Java. Both courses use Java in the spring.</li>
</ol>
<p>Sometimes people will take a theory course (45, 51) as well, but I’m not sure how advisable that is first semester.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I didn’t take an FYS, and I don’t regret my decision. On the other hand, I had a French seminar class first semester. I’d look for a small class (20 people or less) if you opt not to take a seminar because it’s nice to get personal attention.</p></li>
<li><p>What bruno14 said.</p></li>
<li><p>I also started in a 600-level language course and have gone on to take upper-level courses, all S/NC. It’s great because you can focus on speaking and writing without the pressures of grades. I actually take nearly all courses outside of my concentration S/NC, and I don’t regret it at all.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>If you have a background in Java, I’d recommend 17-18 (or start in 17 and try to get into 19 in the middle of the term). Having seen the 15,16,17, and 18 assignments, and being friends with many of the TAs, I believe that 16 is much better for theory than 17-18, but 17-18 is much better for programming language related work, and possibly for programming overall. 15 is sort of a fun course that does a lot with Swing but would be very easy if you have a background. 19 will be completely different this year, so I don’t have much to say on that matter.</p>
<p>Generally, first years take a yearlong intro sequence (or 19-32, but I advise against that having done so myself) and 22 or 45 or 53 to start satisfying other requirements. It’s not a bad idea to try to get the math requirement out of the way, and some people get the science requirement done (while many put it off as long as possible). One thing I’d advise against trying is Physics 7, Math 35, and CS19 all together. Many people find that overwhelming (it’s doable for others, but you really won’t know if you’re one of those until it’s too late).</p>
<p>You’re not required to take anything, except the courses that are required for your concentration, or pre-requisites for other classes. So, no, you’re not required to take English. You do need to prove that you can write, though, and that is done through your normal classes, I believe, and not through a required course. So, if your writing is found to be lacking, you might be required to do some remedial work.</p>
<p>Ahh, they’ve changed the rules for '15 and on, presumably. You need to take a writing intensive course (in any department) in your first four semesters (not something that we needed to do, so it didn’t occur to us). Wouldn’t hurt to get that out of the way early.</p>
<p>@Stonrsn:
Relax. All of your concerns will be answered in the fall in Providence. It’s absurd and, frankly, simplistic of you to suppose that you should have complete mental control over your freshman year three months before it even begins.
I don’t know what the culture of your family home-life is, but allow me to be presumptuous in saying that you badly need to tune out whatever pressures it may be exerting.
Your 1500 fellow freshmen are in the same situation as you, and do you see them panicked here in College Confidential?
During September shopping period, you’ll meet your advisors (including concentration advisors) and, best of all, you’ll meet your fellow students, who are very smart.
On campus in September is where you’ll begin to be acclimated. Not now. And sure as heck not in College Confidential.
Your questions about the computer science concentration will be answered by its faculty, by its concentration advisors, and by its concentrators.
In September.
When you’re surrounded by them.
Understand?<br>
Now try to enjoy your summer.</p>
<p>Sumarepsoedni: no need to chastise him/her. I’m assuming the forms for choosing FYSes just came out, so this is definitely a relevant time to start thinking about these things.</p>
<p>And not a bad idea to pick a FYSE as part of your schedule if it looks interesting to you. They almost always get rave reviews by students who take them. It’s relatively hard to get into one later if you are not signed up (although there is a lot of shuffling during shopping period) and you can always drop and change during that week if it doesn’t fit with other classes you decide you want to take instead. Some students end up changing every one of their classes during shopping! You will meet with your Mieklejohn (sp?) adviser in the first week, as well in some cases a department adviser re classes, but it doesn’t hurt to ask for other’s advise. My student has advised a LOT of students in their class, as well as lower classes (and if I was a CS I would be thrilled to get Uroogla’s words of wisdom!) You will find once you are on campus that others will be very happy to share their course advise if you just ask. Some upperclassmen would post all their prior courses on their door at move in to help freshmen in their dorms. Now it will only be the RAs in the freshman dorms. One drawback to the all freshman dorms that I doubt was well considered. Seek out more upperclassmen that first week to get more insider tips.</p>
<p>sumarepsoedni: I think it’s completely reasonable to think through these things before arriving on campus. I spent a lot of time over the summer looking at classes because I was excited to start, and because I wanted to make sure I made the best out of every semester. I know many people who didn’t put enough thought into the classes they took their first two semesters and ended up regretting it later when they had no room for electives because they didn’t take the right classes early on.</p>
<p>A big piece of advice is to not underestimate your ability, but be realistic. It’s best not to take 5 classes your first semester, but there are exceptions when it can make sense. And follow guides each department posted about pre-reqs. If you already took AP Chem, don’t take CHEM100 at Brown because it’s a waster of your time.</p>
<p>Back to the original question: You should definitely take either 15/16 or 17/18. I took 17/18 and I felt that it prepared me really well for later classes, and I know some people in 15/16 didn’t feel that way all the time (though both are valid options). You don’t need prior CS experience for 17/18, and there are many people in that course track that have never programmed before. I wouldn’t take CS51 your first semester, but CS45 is an option if you have programmed before and want a probability class. </p>
<p>I’d recommend taking a math class, because CS and many other Science concentrations require you to take at least a few math classes, and its often better to take them while you still remember what you did in high school. Additionally, the CS concentration requires you to take a 2-course sequence in another science (Engineering, Physics, Geology, Bio, chem, etc). Taking one or two of them your first year would help you work towards your CS degree and see if you’d be interested in another science (Computer Engineer, Comp Bio, and many others are concentrations related to CS that you may be interested in). But don’t feel like you need to take 3 classes towards your concentration, it’s just helpful to know in case you are undecided between two classes.</p>
<p>Finally, about the writing requirement and first year seminars my general rule of thumb is to look through all of them and take the class if you’re interested in it. I didn’t take a first year seminar because none of them interested me. I shopped one, but didn’t really like the professor so I didn’t take it. I didn’t take a writing intensive class till my sophomore year because I didn’t find a writing class that fit into my schedule my first year and I was taking a bunch of science classes while trying to decide what to concentrate in. I found one I loved my sophomore year, and I was fine waiting to take the class till then.</p>
<p>That sounds good to me. I’m assuming by “english” you mean a humanities course, or something of the like? Don’t feel as though you need to take a course specifically in the English department - many other courses in the humanities will have extensive reading/writing involved.</p>
<p>Bio 200 is offered in the spring, so you’d probably want to take CHEM 0330 (the intro physical chem course) in the fall.</p>
<p>-CS: 17
-Math: Math 170
-Science: Chem 0330
-English --ENGL0110 CRITICAL READING AND WRITING I: THE ACADEMIC ESSAY</p>
<p>-Spring</p>
<p>-CS: 18
-Math: Math 180 (or should I take Linear alegebra???)
-Science: BIOL 0500 Cell & Molecular Biology (does it matter which one I take??)
-English–Don’t know!!!</p>
<p>What do you think? Can you answer the questions above?</p>
<p>***Also: The student must also satisfy a two-course sequence in one of the following departments: does that mean I have to take 2 classes within the chem department or does that mean I can take one chem class and one bio class???</p>
<p>The two science classes have to be in the same department, with one as a prereq for the other unless you can get an advisor to make an exception. Meaning Chem 33 would probably have to be followed by organic chemistry. This is not to dissuade you from taking chem 33, but I must say chem 33-35 does not strike me as a great pair unless you legit want to take orgo.</p>
<p>If you do CS for an Sc.B., you will need 2 terms of math beyond math 17 (though CS53 counts). Linear algebra has more utility than multivariable calculus, but multi has uses in CS too. I think you’d be fine with either.</p>
<p>You do understand that you don’t need a year of English, right? You may if you want, of course, but there is no requirement that you do so, or that your one writing course is in the English department.</p>
<p>I would shop both 15 and 17. 15’s not very useful, but I feel very strongly about 16 being an excellent course. I do know that the HTAs are great for both 15 and 17. Ugur will teach Java well in 18, and Amy will be great for 17. In the end, you’ll be fine either way, though.</p>
<p>-CS: 15
-CS:17
-Math: Math 17
-Science: Chem 33</p>
<p>-Spring</p>
<p>-CS: 16
-CS: 18
-Math: Math 18
-Science: Chem 35 (highly debating this unless someone suggests something else)</p>
<p>3 questions: </p>
<p>1.does is it look “bad”, persay, not taking an English course in college? Seems sort of, for the lack of a better term, ghetto. Won’t a graduate school like berkeley frown upon it (don’t worry, I’m not thinking too ahead of myself, but it is a legit concern )</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Isn’t it redundant for me to take both CS 15/17 and CS 16/18 freshmen year? Won’t they overlap somehow? Or are they all useful?</p></li>
<li><p>Are you supposed to be well-rounded in the courses in college? Or not? I just really want to learn CS–it looks really interesting to me. It’s not to say that I’m not going to take any “fun” courses or outside of my major in the future.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I think what the others meant is you might want to shop both CS15 and 17 and see if you prefer one over the other. You’ll end up just taking one of those. Doing 15 locks you into 16 for the spring, and likewise for 17 and 18.</p>
<p>Also, I feel that you shouldn’t worry too much about fulfilling the science requirement this early on. You don’t need those as pre-reqs for anything else, and could wait to hear from your science major friends which courses they enjoyed. CHEM33 and Orgo strikes me as a strange way to fulfill that requirement, especially when there are so many other options available. If you haven’t had AP Bio, BIOL 20 with Ken Miller is perennially popular, and there are a bunch of interesting bio courses you can take after that as your second course.</p>
<p>And no one will think you are “ghetto” for not doing an English class. If your main concern is learning how to write well and express yourself clearly, that are plenty of ways to do this outside the English department. Most humanities classes, naturally, have a major writing component to them, and even some science classes as well. As a science major, I did a whole bunch of writing for my philosophy classes. I never did an English class and never would have.</p>
<p>To clarify, you’re not locked into your proposed schedule at the start of the term. You have a couple weeks to attend however many classes you want, in order to decide what to take. I would use this time to choose between 15 and 17. Admittedly, there wouldn’t be a ton of overlap, but it’s really not worth taking both.</p>
<p>Graduate (not professional, like med/law) schools care pretty much exclusively about your performance in courses related to your discipline, not about how well-rounded you are or whether or not you took English. There is potentially value in being well-rounded in your course selection, but you get to make that decision at Brown. I focused on 3-4 areas. I know of someone who took something like 30 math classes. You should take what you want (which may include courses you think would give a wide background, if that’s what you want, and/or courses that will help with grad school admissions).</p>
<p>If you would like to take chem 33, certainly go ahead and don’t worry about it counting towards the science requirement or not. If you are taking chem 33 only to satisfy the requirement, then I’d advise you not do so freshman year (wait and see how you feel about everything, and perhaps you’ll decide to continue or to take another sequence). At this point, you’re not locked into this proposal, so don’t feel that you need to decide what your sequence is now.</p>
<p>I’d also like to echo aleph0’s comments on English. There’s nothing wrong with taking courses in the English department if you want to, but you shouldn’t feel like this is expected of you. If you look, you’ll find that even some spanish courses (0730 and 0740) satisfy the writing requirement. There are geology classes that do. I think CS1800 might. Look and see if anything interests you. FWIW I don’t think anyone I know actually took an English class.</p>
)</p>