<p>I'm interested in applying for this year's EPIIC programme as a freshman, but I'm debating the wisdom of it. I understand that the first semester is quite intense, and I'm also planning on taking a new difficult language, Intro IR, and perhaps intro philosophy. I'm wary of piling on a lot of reading/writing intensive courses in the first semester of my freshman year along with EPIIC. However, I am really interested in this year's topic and I think that taking it freshman year would help set me apart from my peers.</p>
<p>How intense is EPIIC 1st semester, and how advisable would it be to apply for it while taking one, if not two, reading/writing intensive courses (assuming I get in, which I realise is not guaranteed)?</p>
<p>EPIIC is quite a bit of work, usually more so first semester than second. However, doing it is quite possible in conjunction with other classes so long as you don’t <em>also</em> have time-intensive extracurriculars.<br>
This really just depends on how much work you’re willing to do. I will say that Intro to IR, for me at least, was not really that time-consuming. I went to every lecture and paid attention, and this allowed me to get away with doing about 1/3 of the assigned reading, either SparkNoting the rest or just picking up on the significance from lecture, and still do quite well. Who are you taking Phil 1 with? It likely won’t be a huge drain, either.</p>
<p>I had a friend who did EPIIC last year as a freshman and while she loved it, we barely ever saw her. You have to have really good time management skills to pull it off. Now that EPIIC is over she’s rewarding herself with art and dance classes. While I personally wouldn’t recommend doing it as a freshman, I do know several people who did it as freshmen last year. So it depends on your personality, if you’re willing to do the work and maybe sacrifice other things like extracurriculars.</p>
<p>Can a student do EPIIC more than once? I liked a lot about Tufts when I visited, but the EPIIC program seemed really attractive to me, really pushed Tufts into my first-choice schools category. In fact, one of my drafts of my “Why Tufts” essay centers around EPIIC. </p>
<p>For those who have done it already, is it a worthwhile program?</p>