<p>i just read the course guide and very few classes made me excited to take them.
did any of you feel the same way?
current students, you find your classes to be pretty cool, right?</p>
<p>I remember feeling similarly before I came to Wellesley. When it came time to register for classes my first year, there was only one class I really really wanted to take. But what I found was that that one course I really really wanted to take was absolutely amazing, and it opened my eyes up to taking more courses, which probably didn’t seem inspiring or interesting when I had read about them before I came to Wellesley… but with some more learning and experience, I realized how much value each of those courses had. I also took some random courses to fulfill distribution requirements and ended up loving them even though I thought I would not have any interest in the subject matter at all!</p>
<p>I’m having a lot of trouble deciding my schedule right now. There are way too many courses I want to take, but I feel as though I do not have enough time. As you live more on campus, you hear certain things about classes: “Oh I love Social Psych so much!” or “Ugh I have to do my #$%$# home work now” and you are guided in that sense. Looking at a course catalog does not do any of the courses any justice.</p>
<p>When it came to registration, I always found that I was interested in more courses than I could actually register for each semester, many of which I hadn’t heard or cared about until I had taken at least one course in that department.</p>
<p>When/how does course registration happen for the new students? Which classes acessible to freshmen would you recommend? I am specifically looking for good math/science teachers :)</p>
<p>Course registration occurs after you come to campus for Orientation Week, which this year should be the last week of August/first week of September (it runs together). There is one day set aside for this – the days before this include department fairs, placement exams, etc so you will have plenty of time to mingle with the departments, hear about classes, etc. Most first years take 100 level classes, depending on the department – for example, the history department does not have many 100 levels so a lot of people take 200 levels. Also, for languages you can place into 200 or 300 levels depending on your proficiency. And in math you can place into a 200 level as well. You will get more info on the math placement exam soon – in the past, it has been done online in June/July and you will get your placement by email from the department chair. </p>
<p>For good math/science teachers:
-Math dept – Stanley Chang, Megan Kerr, Ann Trenk, Ismar Volic (possibly on sabbatical next year?)…
-Science dept – depends on the science… I know for the physics dept there is Glenn Stark, Yue Hu (on sabbatical next year), Courtney Lannert… though I don’t think they are teaching the 100 levels this year. Chemistry - Dr. Verschoor (Dr. V!)… Bio - I had Jeffrey Hughes, but I’ve only taken 1 bio course. </p>
<p>Wait until you get to campus for more professor recs; it’s easier to talk to someone about specific courses you want to take and their professors instead of typing out the entire department. There are also resources on campus about professor opinions (on the email system we have, there is a specific conference about opinions on profs/classes that only students can read). Also, ratemyprofessors.com is really realllly old for Wellesley; don’t base things off of that.</p>
<p>Oh thank god. I thought I was alone. I only have 2 pages folded, and those are the only two classes I WANT to take. the rest are so intimidating…</p>
<p>^^ditto! The only thing that caught my eye was that Science Fiction Bio class - watching movies?? Say when!</p>
<p>REALLY?? I’m totally psyched about classes-- I guess you could see them as intimidating, but I find them fascinating!! I’ve got like, every class they offer highlighted, lol. </p>
<p>Maybe I’m just weird. The idea of reading several books and taking several classes with really long names and quirky teachers excites me greatly. :D</p>
<p>What is the point of taking a math placement test if you have no intention at all of taking a math course?</p>
<p>I think we have to take at least one math course, looking at how they set it up in one of their booklets…
But anyway, seconded. ^ I’m not looking forward to this.</p>
<p>The math placement exam is just to gauge where you are – you might not think you want to take a math course right now, but sometime in your four years at Wellesley, you might want to. </p>
<p>That being said, you do NOT have to take a math course while you’re studying here. Yes, you do have to take a course that satisfies the “mathematical modeling” distribution requirement, but that can be satisfied with a computer science course, an astronomy course, and probably a few other areas as well. You have other options than a typical math course.</p>
<p>^^I took Computer Science, which satisfied my math requirement. A pretty useful class. However, I have been thinking of taking a math course sometime at Wellesley just to improve my mathematical abilities (one of my weaker points). Just get through it, you never know what you will be thinking in the future.</p>
<p>i. am. so. excited.
even though i hate math, it definitely sounds like there are so many alternatives to satisfy credits!</p>
<p>So if your math is not so great, you would take a math course as credit/ no credit?</p>
<p>^^Yes, you could definitely take a math course that way, it just wouldn’t count for your math requirement for graduation.</p>
<p>catsushi,
You can take distribution requirements credit/non and they still count (unless something has changed). Otherwise, I would not have fulfilled my social and behavioral analysis requirement!</p>
<p>However, it’s strongly advised that people (especially seniors looking to fulfill distribution) who suspect they will struggle to pass a class take is for credit because the threshold to pass C/N is a C, while a letter grade pass is a D.</p>