Engineering Freshman needing help with course selection

Colleges & Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

Two major questions I have:

  1. I don’t have APs for Japanese, German and French – But I am advanced in all of them. Is there a placement test for foreign languages? (In the orientation guide, it only shows time for Math/Physics/Chem placement tests…) What is the procedure?

  2. I noticed there are several AEW (Academic Excellence Workshops) for Math / Chemistry / CS . I am planning to register for all three (“fear of missing out”), but I wonder whether someone could provide some insider perspective on whether this si a good or bad idea…

2

At the beginning of the semester you can take placement tests for different languages to tell you which level to place into. However, register for whatever level you think you are in during pre-enroll and you’ll be able to change your classes and the language department can help more than.

I really enjoyed the AEW for Chem but dropped the CS one my first week. It depends how you learn. Keep in mind that these hours do add up. I would register for the one or two AEWs that you think will be the most difficult. I only did the AEW for Math 2930+ 2940 and didn’t find it helpful for 2940. It really depends on who the facilitators are.

3

  1. Not sure about language advancement, you can contact a professor in an intro to class to inquire possibly.

  2. Most people I know take 1-2 AEWs, 3 is pushing it a little. These AEWs usually last 2 hours.

4

Finished freshman year in biomedical engineering here.

Language are always tested if you did two or more years of the language in high school. It’s mandatory to present AP results or the language test results to place into higher than intro level. Again, asking the language department is probably better for whatever your exact situation is.

I only took the intro chem (chem 2090) AEW my first semester so far. It took a few hours a week, so it adds up if you do multiple. You will get some review of the weekly material and then do some practice problems the facilitators (fellow engineering majors running the workshop) make for you, at least if yours are good like mine were. They might even host special review sessions for exams. Your experience may vary, and I would recommend focusing that effort on your hardest class, and shop for the right facilitators. It’s not really something to be too sad missing out on as long as you’re comfortable with the material.
Oh, and by the way, you can only miss four sections of your AEW to still be marked satisfactory completion/passing(and that’s important to stay in good standing in the engineering college). So you can’t skip them too much.