<p>I had a question if anyone is around to answer it! I am so undecided on a major...its actually a bit embarrassing. But I do plan on taking two languages, and hopefully some history classes I guess. I thought about some classes, and I was hoping you could help me out and tell me if my schedule is too hard?</p>
<p>Spanish 104
Calc 1 i guess...
History 49 S (or Writing 20)
Arabic 1 or Chinese 1</p>
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<li><p>In terms of the spanish, I was in the highest spanish level at my school, got a 4 on the AP, and did pretty decently on the SAT 2. I thought that I should be in 76, but when I went for BDD, the lady at the desk suggested 100 level courses. Is this a death sentence? I chose advanced grammar because I need a lot of work on that...but I do want to continue Spanish for as long as possible.</p></li>
<li><p>Also, anything on the two language choices? I'm having a hard time deciding.</p></li>
<li><p>Any advice on professors would be great. I'm going to do a lot of research tonight...</p></li>
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<p>First of all, it’s not embarrassing at all to be undecided on a major. There will be many, many students in the same position. I too went into my freshman year very uncertain about majors, so I took a bunch of intro classes in fields that interested me and went from there…and sure enough I had decided on a major after one semester!</p>
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<li><p>I’ve heard Spanish 104 is kind of difficult, so I probably wouldn’t recommend it for your first Spanish class (especially if grammar isn’t a strong point). The “intro” to the Spanish major/minor is 101, which is writing. Again, this class has a reputation for being kind of a pain in the butt, but if you put in the effort I see no reason why you can’t do well. I would tend to agree with the BDD advice of skipping 76 if you can…there is SO much busy work.</p></li>
<li><p>Two languages is fine, if that’s what you enjoy and are interested in. Be prepared for a lot of class time with those intro languages though…they meet 5 days a week generally. As for Arabic vs. Chinese, I really have no knowledge of those two so I can’t really give advice as to which one I’d take.</p></li>
<li><p>Advice on professors is difficult without knowing which departments you’re looking at. Check out <a href=“http://www.courserank.com/duke[/url]”>www.courserank.com/duke</a> and search by department, rating, avg. grade, etc…the site is Duke-specific so it’s very helpful.</p></li>
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<p>Also, as for Calc I (which is called Math 31L at Duke) DO NOT take this unless you are thinking about majoring in something that requires it…i.e., math, physics, many sciences, pre-med, Econ. Many students struggle with it so it is not worth the hit to your GPA unless you absolutely need it.</p>
<p>Let me know if you have any more questions!</p>
<p>Thanks for your help! A couple more questions:</p>
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<li><p>What math would you suggest then? The reason I thought calc 31L is because I took calculus this year at my high school, just not at the AP level. I figured I could push my way through the first semester, then struggle through the second one to fill my quantitative studies requirement. Is there another better option?</p></li>
<li><p>How does the schedule itself look? Would the two languages be the most difficult? I’m worried about overloading in my first semester.</p></li>
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<p>1) Regarding math, a statistics course could probably fill the QS requirement and possibly be a bit more useful. However, there are other considerations. Are you contemplating premed at all? If so, take Math 31. If not, then take stock of some majors you may be interested in and see whether a calculus requirement pops up. If many of the majors you like have a math requirement, then not taking math 31 may end up restricting your options. </p>
<p>On the other hand, math 31/32 at Duke is nothing like a high school math. It’s much more competitive and along with Math 103 generally thought of as GPA killers, even for (the many) people who have taken AP Calc. </p>
<p>2) If you want to take two languages, then go ahead and go for it. Just be aware that classes such as Arabic/Chinese 1 meet everyday, sometimes at bad times, and attendance is usually part of the grade. IDK about Arabic, but from my experiences in the Chinese department, they love quizzes. That usually means weekly homework quizzes or oral tests and monthly tests and stuff like that. If you don’t want that kind of stuff in addition to whatever else you’ve got, then it may not be for you.</p>