<p>i know it varies professor to professor, but in general, what would current students say the workload is like? i am especially interested in hearing about Writing 140.</p>
<p>i wouldn’t say it varies from professor to professor but rather major to major…</p>
<p>writing 140 can be a lot of work but it’s manageable. just try not to do what i did by pulling an all-nighter every time a paper was due lol. still came out of it with an OK grade but it just made for a few stressful nights that could have easily been avoided with better time management. you will only have to write 5 papers but your instructor will want to have a conference with you to go over your rough draft. this means that you’ll essentially have 10 assignments due within the course of 14 weeks and then on weeks 15/16 you’ll turn in your portfolio which won’t include a new assignment, but rather a revision of your 2 best papers.</p>
<p>The advice from josebiwasabi is definitely good, as almost everyone I know who took Writing 140 did do the all-nighter before every paper move, and that includes myself. However, our final portfolio was ONE revision and ONE new assignment. Maybe it varies by teacher. Originally our teacher said we could revise 2 papers, and then told us the department made her switch to the way we ended up having to do it. </p>
<p>Writing 140 is tough to get through just because it’s a pain. But everyone does fine. Nobody really gets below something in the C range overall (even though many get a VERY low grade on their first paper), and MOST people end up with something in the B range. Occasionally you meet someone who got an A-, but I’ve never met someone who got an A (if they even exist, haha). The work required for Writing 140 also depends a lot on the teacher you have and the Category 6 class you take it with. </p>
<p>I would say the workload is tough but manageable. I have pulled a few all-nighters in my first year, but I never felt like teachers were giving me a ridiculous amount of work that I could not handle or was drowning in. I also didn’t feel like I could just go to lectures, do minimal or no extra work, and get good grades. Although, I think some students may feel that way, whether they are correct or not. It definitely depends on the classes, professors, and major you have, but overall most agree, I think, that the workload is manageable. I’ve spent many nights in the library doing work, but I’ve spent many nights hanging out with friends or going to parties too. You have to find a balance and I think that’s doable with the work you get at USC. But you can’t go to a college as good as this one and expect to do nothing.</p>
<p>I got an A in writing. Of course, I took Writing 130 instead, because of my major. It’s not a terrible amount of work, just pace it out over a couple days for each paper. You’ll almost always have the next assignment before the current assignment is due though, so it seems like you always have work.</p>
<p>ladybug1013: Is it really that difficult to get an a in writing 140? I’m going to be a freshman at USC this year but I don’t want to have B on my transcript my first semester of college :/</p>
<p>Im kind of confused, is the Writing 140 class based on the GE we choose for Category 6? Are they interrelated or is it completely independent?</p>
<p>Writ 140 is related to your Cat 6. The only reason it “varies” is mainly about the topics you write about. Ie. I took Diversity and Racial Conflict (SOCI-151 I think?), so all of my Writ 140 papers were about diversity and racial conflict. If someone is in a class about Family functions or something along those lines, then their papers will be on families.</p>
<p>However, all Writ 140 students will write 5 papers. So the work load is “the same”, but the topics vary.</p>
<p>I got an A- in the class and I did what most people do (pull an all nighter to write my papers). I do believe though that my instructor was easier than most, so that probably helped quite a bit, but it is possible to do decently in Writ 140.</p>
<p>I think how your grade turns out might also depend on your professor (wait, can we even call some of them professors? I swear my instructor only got a Master’s… or do they have to have doctorates to lead the class?)</p>
<p>I’m not sure how others’ instructor’s graded, but mine broke it down very systemically: 5% first paper, 10% second, 15% third, 20% fourth, 25% final portfolio which was the fifth essay + revision… I forget what the other 25% was. Even though for our papers she gave letter grades, when we got our final grade she had broken down each of the grades into percentages I suppose, and then actually calculated out everything… so it was pretty hard to get an A and there was no room for a “showed improvement” leeway or anything. On the other hand, a friend of mine had a different instructor and NEVER got an A on any of his papers, yet he still got an A in the class because he had shown signs of improvement on every paper and also became very close with the instructor. Since his instructor did not lay out a strict grading policy like my instructor, he could basically bump people’s grades up and down as he pleased. It sucks but grades can vary by instructor, and unfortunately for writing 140 it’s pretty hard to “choose” an easy one…</p>
<p>Oh okay, so is our Writing 140 and GE professor the same?</p>
<p>No, you have two professors and two classes.</p>
<p>I just finished Writing 140 & it’s a fair workload. There are four essays (so one about every three weeks) and an end of the semester portfolio assigned (revise one of the four essays, write a new essay and a letter discussing what you’ve learned throughout the semester). The essays are 5-7 pages (which is about 1500-2000 words). </p>
<p>WRIT 140 is one of those classes that is a reflection of how much time you dedicate to the writing process. The more time you give yourself to each essay, the better the grade. It’s like any writing class in that regard. You’re not going to do well if you do it the night before but if you put the time in, the results will follow.</p>
<p>The Writing Center is a great resource for Writing 140:
[The</a> Writing Center: Information for students](<a href=“http://college.usc.edu/writingcenter/information_for_students/]The”>http://college.usc.edu/writingcenter/information_for_students/)</p>