English/Math Majors

<p>Would like some information on how academically challenging these courses are at Geneseo. My D is interested in both these subjects and very talented at writing. I think she may lean more towards the writing.</p>

<p>The intro calc classes here aren't very challenging: we use a pretty standard text (calculus by James Stewart) over 3 semesters. This as opposed to a two semester course using Apostol, Spivak, Courant, etc, which go into more depth in less time. I'm not positive, but I'm willing to guess that upper level courses aren't using Rudin for analysis, or Artin or Herrnstein for algebra.</p>

<p>Generally the calc texts I've mentioned are used by honors classes or MIT, Berkeley, Caltech... (Apostol teaches at Caltech and Artin teaches at MIT). The upshot is, you can find all of those books in the library (except Apostol and Artin), and since the calc classes aren't a huge burden, you could learn on your own.</p>

<p>bumping this up...any english majors out there?</p>

<p>Hi, I'm a freshman English major here...
First off, there are two parts, or "tracks" of the English major- Literature and Creative Writing. If you want to get teaching certification, you would have to take the Lit track. I am planning on doing the Creative Writing track, but both tracks have a few overlapping courses. In both tracks, you have to take ENG 170- that's a requirement for the major. You also have to take British Literature pre-1700 and post-1700, and American Lit. After that, the two tracks differ. The Lit track has more specific kinds of required courses, like a Shakespeare class, or a class in a specific genre of literature. In the creative writing track, you basically get a bunch of creative writing electives to pick and choose from.
Right now I'm taking two English courses: 142, which is an elective- this is actually my favorite class this semester; it's a class focusing on memoirs and autobiographies and it does not have too heavy a workload at all. My other English class, 212, is British lit pre-1700. It is markedly harder than my other English course, but it is my only 200-level class; also, it really all depends on the professor. Some just assign more work than others. Also, remember that you don't have to take that specific course for the Brit Lit pre-1700 requirement; there are other courses that will satisfy that requirement- the one I am taking is a general survey course.</p>

<p>Thanks! I am grateful that you replied. My D will be quite happy to know that there is a track for Creative Writng. She is an amazing writer!</p>