<p>Could someone with experience comment on my preregistered first semester freshman schedule? Is it too heavy? Too light? And are the professors that I chose generally okay?</p>
<p>Adv. Spanish 1 (SPAN 101)- MWF- Moreno
Comp. Political Systems (GOVT 121) TRF- King
Problem of God (THEO 001)- MTR- Soltes
International Trade (ECON 243)- TR- Kaneda
Prosem (INAF 100)- W- Hrebanak</p>
<p>Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Welcome to the SFS! My immediate reaction was that you will be taking a few courses that aren’t typical for a freshman, especially for 1st semester. I’m going to assume that you have either dual enrollment college credit or got 5’s on both your APMicro & APMacro which would place you out of ECON 001 & ECON 002 (to be enrolled in International Trade).</p>
<p>I haven’t declared a major yet but had always been drawn to International Politics. With that said, my advisor suggested I take Phil 099 before taking any GOV classes because it lays out the intellectual foundation for what you’ll learn in your GOV classes. It is definitely a recommendation, NOT a requirement to take the courses this way. I’m sure that are others in the SFS who have taken GOV 121 1st semester and they can give you their feedback. </p>
<p>Everything else looks just fine and fairly typical of a 1st semester in the SFS.</p>
<p>Soltes is a hoot, a good choice if you aren’t looking for a traditional POG class. He is also a light load compared to King, Kaneda, and Hrebanak. King is a fabulous professor, but I second possibly waiting until you have a stronger foundation. Your schedule as a whole is totally doable, but maybe switch in an elective for CPS too ease the transition a bit.</p>
<p>honestly a little heavy for a 1st semester freshman. you don’t need to rush, it looks like you already have credits for classes otherwise you wouldn’t be signed up for these classes. the whole transition into college is taxing, and it’s better to ease into things. speaking as a recent SFS graduate</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice! Do you guys have any recommendations for a good elective to replace CPS?</p>
<p>What are you interested in?</p>
<p>It looks perfectly typical to me assuming you APed out of econ. The Hrebenak prosem is a lot of work; I mean a LOT of work (I took it, you can PM me if you want to discuss it). </p>
<p>As for taking PST before CPS, maybe things have changed but back when I was coming along they told you based on the first letter of your last name to take either POG or PST first semester and the other one second semester. Now, I’m a huge advocate of the study of philosophy, especially political philosophy, but the fact of the matter is that it doesn’t lay the foundation for subsequent introductory level work in political science in a meaningful way - I would not worry about having it before jumping into CPS or IR at all.</p>
<p>Personally, I chose to take 006 my first semester rather than CPS. 006 gives you an intro to international relations (relations between states) whereas CPS gives you an introduction to politics within states; 006 is more the bread and butter of SFS (esp IPOL) and may be a better place to start. If your leanings are in the IPOL direction, you’ll find it more interesting. Either way, though, I think it’s good to get your hands dirty with the politics right away - too many SFS students get stuck taking core requirements far from the bread and butter of the school in the beginning.</p>
<p>If you think a GOVT class right away is too hard, you might want to go ahead and knock out a history requirement with one of the easier professors (there’s considerable variation in difficulty from prof to prof so be careful), but I say stick it out with CPS. King is great; you’ll enjoy it, and you’ll better develop your interests moving forward.</p>
<p>I would, though, try to move out Hrebenak and into a lighter and more enjoyable prosem. I know it’s hard to get a spot in what you want prosem wise sometimes, but Hrebenak is not worth the time it’ll take up.</p>
<p>Okay, I probably should have given some background. I APed out of ECON, both of the humanities requirements and one of the required history classes. I also took a course similar to GOVT 006 at a local school and am in the process of transferring the credit (hence my original intent to schedule CPS). The last name system for POG and PST still applies, so I have POG first semester and PST second. I’m thinking about an IPOL or an IPEC major. I’d say my interests lie more in international politics, especially in security studies, but I want somewhat of a quantitative base as well.</p>