<p>Should I take the course number into consideration when I register for certain classes? There's a poli sci class that I'd like to take with a 200 course number. It's also not listed in the freshman course timetable, but I don't think that really matters. Any current students willing to share?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Check out the polysci departments guide to undergrads. Page 9 answers your question. <a href=“http://www.polisci.upenn.edu/undergrad/ugbrochure09.pdf[/url]”>http://www.polisci.upenn.edu/undergrad/ugbrochure09.pdf</a></p>
<p>Genearlly, if a course is 200 level it is going to have more difficult material and have more upperclassmen which leads to tougher competition. I wouldn’t jump into an upper level humanities course first semester freshman year unless your high school curriculum was very rigirous in terms of reading and writing. Also, if a course is not on the freshman timetable you can enroll, but it is generally a course that freshmen never take either due to prereqs or difficulty.</p>
<p>Very helpful…thanks Venkat.</p>
<p>UHS, what is the specific course number? If it’s first semester freshman year, I wouldn’t recommend taking a course that ends in 98 (i.e. 198, 298, etc), as they are seminars which, though very rewarding, will give you upwards of 200 pages of reading a week. However, the following courses would be challenging but very doable for a first semester freshman who is very into the humanities (in order from most doable to least doable): 233, 232, 281, 271. </p>
<p>Honestly, I would recommend PSCI183 (American Political Thought), taught by Prof. Anne Norton. She is a TERRIFIC professor who is very interested in what she does and can give a phenomenal lecture. I’d also recommend PSCI150 (Intro to Int’l Relations) and, though I’m not a particular fan of his assessment style, PSCI130 is taught by the legendary Prof. John DiIulio, and everyone I know who’s taken it has loved it.</p>
<p>Chris the course number is 224 (pol econ of development). I originally signed up for econ 050 (intl econ) but the psci class seems much more interesting. I found an old syllabus from 2007, and although the reading seemed a little heavy, there were only two short essays and two exams for the class.</p>
<p>The rest of my load is math 114, mgmt 100, writ 026, and span 130. I wanted to hit a global requirement for this semester, but psci 183 sure sounds good too.</p>
<p>The PSCI class will certainly be more interesting than ECON050. It has a max enrollment of 51 students and is an upper level PSCI course. Though it doesn’t say as much, it assumes that you have taken PSCI110 (Comparative Politics) and ECON002 (Macroeconomics). It is definitely a good course, but I wouldn’t recommend that a freshman take it. You may be able to handle the work load, but your classmates will be almost exclusively upperclassmen PSCI majors who have taken other political economy courses.</p>
<p>Since you’re in Wharton, I would suggest waiting to take an upper level PSCI course until at least your sophomore year. Your workload for this semester is going to be consistent and heavy with the other four courses, so I would honestly recommend just going with ECON050. MATH114 is extremely difficult, MGMT100 is not necessarily hard but requires dozens of hours of work outside of class, writing seminars are easy but require a consistent amount of work, and SPAN130 is going to give you homework every day. It’s very tempting to let work in a class like PSCI224, which has very few assessments, pile up by saying “I’ll do it later.” By the time you have to catch up, it’s nearly impossible, and it won’t be like ECON050 where nobody is caught up; the majors keep up with the reading since they put the in-major courses at the top of their list of priorities.</p>
<p>PSCI183 will give you fewer reading assignments, so if you miss a week of reading, it won’t be murder to catch up the next week, and unless you are super-freshman, you will miss a few weeks of reading this semester!</p>
<p>haha thats very true! I’d probably let at least one week of reading slide with so few assignments and then have a couple hundred pages to read to catch up. I’m sure I’d be able to handle it, but it might not be the best thing to do. </p>
<p>I wish this course was offered every year, but I’ll take your advice. Thanks for your help…you definitely gave me good info.</p>
<p>You could enroll in the course P/F instead of for a grade to take away some of the pressure.</p>
<p>I have a friend who is Wharton and Polysci and he told me that polysci is hard. I don’t think he’s had too much trouble in Wharton stuff (outside of maybe honors finance), if that gives you some perspective.</p>
<p>I remember reading that we’re not allowed to enroll P/F the first semester (or was it for the first year?). How many P/F marks to people typically have on their transcript at graduation? We weren’t allowed to take classes P/F in HS so I’m not that used to the idea too much…</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure the most P/F you should have on your transcript is 2, with most students never taking a course P/F. Not sure if you can’t take a class P/F first semester, which would be strange because many of our peer colleges have first semester P/NR.</p>
<p>never took a pass/fail, don’t think it was ever necessary or warranted</p>
<p>You’re allowed to take 4 classes pass/fail if you’re in the college, not sure about Wharton, though I know that a lot of people take foreign languages pass/fail since you don’t need to take them for a grade to fulfill the language requirement.</p>
<p>I personally don’t find PSCI too hard, though my grades don’t reflect that opinion… actually the PSCI major has close to the lowest GPA in the College, so maybe it actually has tough courses, but whatev. Polisci is just a ton of work. It’s just a bad idea to miss reading assignments because you get completely lost, and some professors actually cold call people during lecture (read: Prof. Hirschmann)!</p>
<p>The work you get in Wharton is VERY different from PSCI. Wharton courses are all built as practical pre-professional courses, so they are going to be based significantly on the real world. On the other hand, PSCI is very theoretically based; though you have practical concentrations such as Political Economy, that still requires that you know the theory behind everything. Wharton is concerned less with theory than with application, so your Wharton classes will grade you based on performance more than knowledge (I mean just look at MGMT100!). PSCI grades primarily on knowledge and doesn’t really give too much regard to practicality, with a few exceptions.</p>
<p>Take this with a grain of salt, since I’m a Political Theory concentration who’s taken a few Legal Studies courses and heard all about FNCE100, MGMT100, etc.</p>