<p>I was wondering if anyone had advice on courses/majors? In particular what they found in their experience were easier classes/majors to have As in. Small or large classes? Are there classes u recommend to avoid or take? Professors to avoid or take? Math/science or humanities? Is it easier or harder to earn an A if the class is curved (ie premed classes)....I'm also debating between an econ-or major or biology major. I'm premed in CC. Thank you :)</p>
<p>So...are you confused about a major in general or are you debating between econ and biology? If you're a premed it makes sense to be a bio major, and double major in econ if you like the subject because (a) It's useful and (b) your career choice may surprise you. I'm a neuroscience major, and none of the biology classes I took were 'easy A'--they all required a decent amount of work.<br>
Pretty much all classes at Columbia are curved. If they're not, that's according to a professor's discretion. In general, it's better if the class is curved. Also, bit of advice: don't pick your classes based on how easy they seem to be, because you may be missing out on some really great classes, and may regret it. I know I did.</p>
<p>also beware of classes with easy material that are curved, if you find it very easy, people will work hard and kill it, if you do badly relative to your peers, well below average you will get in the B-->C range</p>
<p>if youre pre-med, youre going to be taking alot of math/sci classes. im seas so i know what thats like. my best advice is not to get ahead of yourself and enroll in the higher level chem/physics courses. youll have to balance your quant classes with the college's core, so theres no reason to burden yourself with harder classes when you would do just fine otherwise. from my experience, quant classes are a double-edged sword. the typical chem/calc/physics classes are pretty large and have generous curves, so if you study and do well, you can quite possibly get an A+. on the other hand, theres no cushion, so if you slack off, well, its people like that who give the others the nice curve.</p>
<p>are there any econ majors who can talk abt how their experience? </p>
<p>how are the professors, classes, workload, difficulty, advising system, etc. in general... i know it should all depend on the professor and the course, but there should be a general consensus abt the columbia econ department, compared to other subjects..</p>
<p>Principles of Econ is pretty difficult to pull a flat A in, but I also think that this depends on your professor. But from my perspective, you're going about the grading thing all wrong. You won't be able to pull some BS work and get decent grades, regardless of your major. Believe me, I've tried.</p>
<p>The real only way to do well is to just work your ass off.</p>
<p>i don't mean to hijack this thread nyc2012, but yeah i have a question that somewhat relates to your original post</p>
<p>I don't want to look like someone who's lazy and is trying to take the easy route (i'm fully aware of the unchallenged mind, unfulfilled life saying), but as a professional or graduate school being a goal after Columbia, and the very competitive nature of each successive class, I wanted to know if would be better just to graduate with a concentration instead of a full blown major if you're trying to go the premed route?</p>
<p>You won't be looked down upon if you graduate with a concentration. There's absolutely nothing wrong about this if you're just looking to apply to med school, as long as you get those requirements out of the way. </p>
<p>This packet tells you pretty much everything you need to know about pre-med at Columbia:</p>
<p>"are there any econ majors who can talk abt how their experience?</p>
<p>how are the professors, classes, workload, difficulty, advising system, etc. in general... i know it should all depend on the professor and the course, but there should be a general consensus abt the columbia econ department, compared to other subjects.."</p>
<p>I'm not an econ major, but i've taken many econ classes, the professors (i've had among their best) have be life changing, almost all of my econ profs have been spectacular in every way, i've been riveted in their classes, and find my grasp of econ to be stronger than peers who have taken the same classes at a comparable univ. But i've chosen profs wisely, dunno about advising. One thing i can say is that the prof will make a huge difference (much more than the class) to your interest and understanding of the material because there is a lot to learn that is not straight-forward but very useful (how insurance markets function for example).</p>
<p>quantitative econ classes are a cake walk for an engineer or math/physics major, though they still are tricky. non-quant classes are very popular and thus difficult to do well in. The department instructs profs to curve to Bs and all econ classes at least principles and intermed micro, macro, econometrics are curved to flat B. some of the higher level ones might be easier on the gpa but probably not by much, it's one of the largest majors and if you add # of majors and concentrators and minors it'll be the largest by far, so grade inflation is non-existent.</p>
<p>I've found econ classes to be more useful and intellectually stimulating than other classes (that's just me), profs to be top notch, workloads to be normal, and curves not be too easy. Principles really hurts people, because the material seems all intuitive and easy at first but the level of rigor in testing is high.</p>
<p>thanks a ton!</p>
<p>and sorry but can somebody explain to me wat "curving to flat B" means??</p>
<p>That means the class average is given a grade of B.
So, although on an absolute scale an average of 65 is something like a C, in a curved class it's a B. People above and below that are graded relative to the average based on the standard deviation.</p>