<p>can you guys help me with some courses?</p>
<p>what's introductory chinese like?</p>
<p>or introductory computer music?</p>
<p>are they both letter graded?</p>
<p>As you might have read, electives for 1st semester freshmen are new this year, due to core changes.
I would guess that 1st semester is still pass/fail for you guys but some of the electives listed are also being taken by upperclassmen too (but the two engineering electives are brand new, for frosh only I think), who are normally going to get a letter grade for that class, so I’m not sure on that
Looking at the online course schedule, the Chinese 1A class is already filled (17/17), languages can be pretty intense though since they often meet 4 times a week
I believe Chinese is the only language Mudd offers, for the others, you’d likely be going to Pomona to take them
the computer music class is so-so, I know someone who took it and he didn’t say anything particularly good or bad about it</p>
<p>pick the electives that seem the most fun to you</p>
<p>@nautica: Do you think taking two electives will be a bit of a reach? I want to take one of the engineering modules and Microeconomics but I am not sure if the workload would screw me :/</p>
<p>Also, are these electives offered again next semester? Like for eg, Financial Economics is offered this semester but I do not want to overload myself, so can I take it next semester?</p>
<p>Indian monster: I tried… they won’t let us. It would total to 20 credits with two electives, and 18 is the max. They will not grant first semester freshman overloads. I’m trying to find out if the two new engineering electives will be ever offered again to us or if it is solely a fall freshman opportunity. I’ll post later when I get a response.</p>
<p>As for the Economics class being offered next semester, I’m not sure, you’d have to contact the professor. Sometimes they will only teach a class in either the fall or spring semester, so if it isn’t offered next semester, it will probably be offered next fall.</p>
<p>I believe the engineering electives will be first semester freshman only, seen as this is the first year that these classes have existed at all.</p>
<p>Financial Econ will probably be offered again (Evans taught the class at Mudd every Fall 05-08), and good econ classes will definitely be offered again. There are currently over 100 people signed up for the class - the professor (Evans) teaching it was on sabbatical last year and is something of a Mudd favorite, so everyone’s making sure that they get one of his classes in before they graduate. If I were you, I’d wait until the next time its offered.</p>
<p>I enjoyed Introductory Chinese at Mudd quite a bit. For me, it was a lot of work in terms of volume, but not too bad in terms of difficulty (I’m kind of language nerd though, so ymmv). You learn 30ish characters/week. Character workbooks are due Tuesday (write each of the characters for the week 3+ times and do a puzzle), workbooks on Thursday (fill in the blank, listen to recordings, short paragraph,etc) and then a quiz every friday. There are occasional oral exams and the final project is a skit. Mudd Chinese classes meet in the afternoon M-Th and have a take home quiz due friday. All Pomona language classes meet in the morning M-F (their quiz is in class). I’ve heard good things about Chinese on Pomona too, especially with Prof. Liu. If you really want to take it on Mudd, you could try talking to Prof Tan about the registration limits. A lot of people dropped the class in the first two weeks last year, so maybe she’ll be willing to let in a few extra people this time around. </p>
<p>Also, you’ll be happy that they’re keeping you from overloading. Trust me. You’ll want that time to try new things and get to know your classmates. If you absolutely must take another class, then you can audit just about anything on the course schedule. It won’t show up on your transcript or anything, but if you’re dying for intellectual stimulation then this is the way to go (but seriously, learn to unicycle first).</p>
<p>I agree with what Miru said - go for the engineering electives, you’ll likely be able to take econ in the future.
Since the engineering ones are new, the school’s probably testing them out and depending on how successful they turn out, the classes may or may not be continued.
This is what I believe the typical credit breakdown will look like:
Math - 3
Chem + lab - 4
Physics + lab / Writing (half semester each) - 4
C.S. - 3
Elective - 3</p>
<p>That totals to 17, which is 1 credit short of the max 18. 17 is a good amount for first semester.</p>
<p>I think the info sent to the 14’s says the writing course is 1.5 units. So…is the physics half-semester class 1.5 or 2 units? Anyone know?</p>
<p>yes, half semester courses such as freshmen writing (WRIT001) are 1.5 credits</p>
<p>Nautica, is the half-semester physics class going to be 1.5 credits also?</p>
<p>physics is 1.5 credits and physics (and chem) lab is 1.0</p>
<p>by the way, it looks like chem is also divided into two half semesters (1.5 each): energetics and structures</p>
<p>Here is the actual breakdown Mr. Jacobsen sent me:</p>
<p>Math 25 (3)
Chem 23S/23E (3)
CS 5 (3)
Physics 23 (1.5)
Writ 001 (1.5)
Chem or Physics Lab (1)</p>
<p>This totals to 13. Add the additional 1 credit given to PE in the new policy, and you have 14 credits. An Elective is 3 credits. This would thus total to 17.</p>
<p>Does anyone know what the General Chemistry Intensive is for? I saw it on the schedule for Fall. </p>
<p>Also, I am under the impression that whatever lab you choose for the fall (Math/ Physics) you take the other in the Spring. I’m not sure though.</p>
<p>And I believe the CS class includes a once a week lab as well (no credit, part of the class).</p>
<p>My guess is that freshmen who have a stronger chem background can choose to take General Chem Intensive (since there are fewer spots and its a semester long). You’d probably have to do well on the proficiency quiz and maybe take another placement test. This is a new course because in the past we rotated through modules every half semester.</p>
<p>It does appear that you’ll take chem lab one semester and physics lab the other.</p>
<p>CS labs are once a week. How they worked in the past was that, although optional, going to labs would get you full credit for the lab problems even if you didn’t finish in time. Plus, there are professors and tutors there to help you.</p>
<p>The website says General Chem is a companion course?</p>
<p>[Chemistry</a> Courses](<a href=“http://www.hmc.edu/academicsclinicresearch/academicdepartments/chemistry/curriculum1/courses.html]Chemistry”>http://www.hmc.edu/academicsclinicresearch/academicdepartments/chemistry/curriculum1/courses.html)</p>
<p>I’m almost thinking that means the exact opposite of what you’re saying… that it’s for people who have a weaker background and need the extra boost? It is offered once a week and for .5 credit each half semester, if I’m reading the catalog correctly.</p>
<p>On a side note, what does Rp stand for in the course catalog? There is a column labeled this.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.hmc.edu/files/registrar/hmc%20fa10%20schedule.pdf[/url]”>http://www.hmc.edu/files/registrar/hmc%20fa10%20schedule.pdf</a></p>
<p>Blackroses I think you’re right about the chemistry class, I read the credits incorrectly earlier :(</p>
<p>Rp stands for repeatable, which means you can repeat the class for credit</p>
<p>If I pick a humanities elective, will it count as one of the 11 humanities classes?</p>
<p>And is it a good idea to pick classes with the *, ? I’m interested in Intro to Psychology and the engineering electives, but I’m worried they’ll be huge class sizes (for Mudd at least).</p>
<p>I’m quite sure there will be caps on the class sizes, first come first serve sign up.</p>
<p>The Intro to Psych class, Psych 53 (not the intro to social psychology class, Psych 108) doesn’t seem to appear in the course listings… or in the course catalog… my guess is it’s a new class for frosh or else it would have been in the listings for everyone else. If this is the case, and seeing that the other four colleges try to keep their frosh on campus the first semester, this would mean only HMC freshman would be enrolling… and i don’t think there will be that many who will. I don’t think the class will be too big. I’m assuming it would count towards the 11 humanities classes… I don’t see why not.</p>
<p>This is just my guess though. Maybe someone who’s more knowledgeable (ie a current student) could inform us better. : p</p>
<p>Also, itsjj, the engineering electives I believe are only for the fall of freshman year. I’m interested in psychology as well, but I’m thinking of holding off for a different semester. </p>
<p>However, for the writing topic selections, the “Machines vs. People: Perceiving the Human Face” consists of readings not only regarding computer science but also psychology. I don’t know if you filled that out already, but it might be a topic you’d want to consider. : )</p>
<p>I found the psychology classes in the 09-10 catalog under the list of humanities programs, though it took me way too long to find. 
[Humanities</a> and Social Science](<a href=“http://www.hmc.edu/academicsclinicresearch/catalogue1/pastcatalogues/catalogue07081/departmentprograms1/hss.html]Humanities”>http://www.hmc.edu/academicsclinicresearch/catalogue1/pastcatalogues/catalogue07081/departmentprograms1/hss.html)</p>
<p>It’d be nice if the catalog was a pdf and I could just search it lol. So I guess Intro to Psych and Social psych will both be with non freshmen. I wonder how big they are. This probably sounds spoiled since I know other people will be sitting in intro classes with 300 people.</p>
<p>Oh, that topic sounds interesting! Though I see that a lot of people have already submitted their selection. D: I hope I’m not too late.</p>