<p>As title says. It's great to be Echols, but all that freedom is also overwhelming. Thought I'd get some advice from you sage ones in the forum, how does this look for my schedule?</p>
<p>CHIN 501 Readings In Modern Chinese
-Near, near, near native speaker</p>
<p>CHEM 141 Introductory College Chemistry 1200-1250 MWF Harman, W
-I want to take BIOL 301 Core:genetics and Molecular Biol. But although my 5 on AP Bio gets me outta 201 and 202, I have nothing for chem. =(</p>
<p>ECON 301 Intermediate Microeconomics
-Predicted 5's on AP Micro/Macro Econ, and 7's on IBS Econ. Wait, UVA doesn't give credit for IBSL right? This looked interesting, along with ECON 355 Economics Of China and ECON 401 Game Theory.</p>
<p>PHIL 141 Forms Of Reasoning
-I'd like to go to law school, and some logic courses were suggested for the pre-law track. It also said to take courses with the words law in them, such as Commercial Law or International Law, but... where are these??</p>
<p>And something fun, purely out of interest. I looked at Greek Mythology, but.. can't find it now. Was I delusional? O_o..</p>
<p>So how does this look? I'm a person with good time management skills.</p>
<p>I've heard they don't like native speakers to take courses in their own language, because you're probably not learning too much and are just taking up space that others could be using (these courses are fairly small and Chinese fills up quickly). You may want to talk to someone about that at orientation, because a 500 level readings course may be different from the standard elementary/intermediate/advanced chinese language courses and they may not mind about that one.</p>
<p>I've heard Harman is a good teacher. 141 is more of a premed course, so you'll definitely be competing on a curve against others striving to get an A/A-. Are you trying to major in Biology? If not, it's probably not worth doing the Biol300s either. It's also full of hundreds of rabid premed bio majors trying to get As and you don't need it for any med/related school requirements (you just need biology credits in general, which you can easily get doing courses like anatomy and physiology and what not). </p>
<p>There is also a Greek Mythology course, I don't know if it's being offered next semester or not, though.</p>
<p>I don't want to forget all my Mandarin so I want to take a Chinese course. Having said that, my friends at UVa right now say there's nothing for people of 'our levels', so I'll definitely talk to someone about this at orientation.</p>
<p>I'm interested in molecular biology, hence that core class I want to take. I want to explore everything I'm interested in to see if I want to continue that study. </p>
<p>When you talk about competing against others on a curve though.. that's the rub. I don't know what academic standards are like in the States, or UVa. I'm coming from an overseas American high school with 99.9% Asians, so we're all grade hungry anyways. Personally anything below an A- is a fail for me, and I don't have a problem with procrastination because I control myself pretty well. So when people talk about competition, I've really no idea where they're coming from. At my school we all say the students in the States are all dumb and they'd flunk out of my school if they came here. =S Pretty arrogant of us I know. I guess I'd count as one of those rab premed science majors haha.</p>
<p>Yep, I'd wondered why out of 3 141 Chem courses the other two had 20-30 people whereas Harman had the largest class but 100+ people already. I looked on ratemyprofessors.com or whatever it is and saw the ratings.</p>
<p>Anyone know anything about those law courses?</p>
<p>The curves aren't that and american students aren't that dumb. The average student at your asian magnet school might pwn a typical american student, but top-end american students would certainly hold their own.</p>
<p>Remember that grades are different in college. You don't need a 4.0 to get into a prestigious graduate school, and something less than a 3.7 is far from the end of the world. Beyond a certain point, there are other, more important things to busy yourself with.</p>
<p>Yeah, the typical Chinese peasant, who is conveniently ignored when such claims are made, isn't going to be that much better than the typical American in one of those schools. China (and India) just have a lot more people to work with.</p>
<p>From what it looks like right now, it seems you're more of a premed student than law student. I don't see any 'law' courses that you are talking about. In actuality there aren't any specific courses dedicated to law, though there is a specialized major called Political Philosophy, Policy, and Law that you can apply to later while you're a student at UVA.</p>
<p>I really don't know haha. Whenever my parents go 'You should be a doctor! You like biology so much!' I go 'I'll probably stick my scalpel in someone when I'm tired of explaining what diagnostic results mean to a hysterical parent'. I don't know, <em>cue for lost mood</em>, right now I'm interested in a lot of things and do pretty well in what I'm interested in.</p>
<p>Yes, I don't get where we get this arrogant attitude from. (Btw, what's the exact meaning of magnet school? =P) It seems that most Asians in American/international overseas schools have have huge heads. At least, that's the case in the Southeast Asia American schools organization mine is part of. Must be the air or something.. haha.</p>
<p>I read about the law courses in a pre-law advising page which once again, I can't seem to find. Are there any courses that you'd specifically recommend for aspiring law students in terms of good preparation and to see if law truly is for you? I looked at the politics courses and they really don't appeal to me. This is partially cause politics is a very hotheaded issue in Taiwan, (those of you who saw CNN's report on food fights in the legislature will understand just how hotheaded it can be). I keep thinking that politics and law are two different things, and they are aren't they?</p>
<p>cavalier -- so true for grades. But convince my parents of that. <em>sigh</em>. Take away the parents and most Asian kids will lose that hardcore academic rep we seem to have. But then I've heard time and time again that GPA and LSAT scores are the only things law school admissions look at. O_o</p>
<p>Yes, it is true that 95% of law school admissions is GPA+LSAT. Undergrad major doesn't really matter, and there aren't really any UG courses that can give you an idea of what law school is like.</p>
<p>melli, I used to think like you as well. I was in a British International School overseas and all of us joked that American students were all dumb and that their courses in high school are easy as hell. My counselor even convinced me that I would "breeze through (my) first year at UVA." However, that was not the case and I've hard to put in a lot of effort and hard work in order to do well since the competition here is stiff. I know in my high school, when I did the IB (which is harder than the APs) I had to "only" score 75% to get level 7 (the highest level of grade) taking into account of the humungous courseload. But at UVA, generally an A- is at least a 90%, and in college it's not easy at all. Just trust me on this one.</p>
<p>Law schools are not particularly interested in applicants with specific majors or courses under their belts, but rather want to see students who have studied a breadth of subjects, know how to think critically and can write well. Accordingly, if you're thinking about law school you should take a variety of courses in the humanities, including philosophy, history, political science and so on, and can choose a major in virtually any subject. As for courses in business law or communications law, while they may be interesting and may expose you to reading caselaw, they do nothing to prepare you for law school and aren't particularly good prerequisites for a legal education. Therefore, you should take a well rounded course of study and love to read and write and do a lot of research. If not, I second the suggestion to reconsider medicine!</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply Cosmopolitan, it was most helpful. =)</p>
<p>tenniscraze: I admit, the IB's harder than the AP in some ways, especially the ways it links all the subject areas. But grading wise, I'd have to say AP's much tougher. But then the only exposure to IB I've had is in combined AP/IB classes, so what do I know? =) I sure hope you're right, it would be sad to find my school's bigotist views were true.</p>
<p>So basically I can take whatever I want and not worry about screwing up, hooray! I'm really in awe of those people who apply for pre-something programs, they must really know what they want and where they're going and know they won't change their minds.</p>
<p>I hadn't reallllllly considered medicine.. but am a bit swayed towards it. How is the biology department at UVa? I've never really paid attention. The rankings look good but you know, rankings. Pshh. It does seem quite popular though, considering how fast the courses filled up. Is there usually a path of courses that students follow? How is the atmosphere like amongst biology majors? (Competition, workload, grades-wise).</p>