<p>So this is just a word of advice from a freshman at UW-Madison. Take a FIG (first year interest group)! There you have it. The whole process at SOAR of signing up for classes can get really stressful, especially if you have a later session when most of the good classes have filled up (luckily, for those un-figgers, if you just wait it out...people drop and you can get in later in the summer or after the first week of school). So taking a FIG usually takes care of 10 credits or so and you can take another course or two if you wish independent of the FIG. For fall semester 2008 I took "Human Nature, Animal Nature" (Honors FIG). I don't know if they are offering it again this coming year, but you can extrapolate from my experiences. </p>
<p>I had the most amazing professor ever (Chuck Snowdon) for my core class (on the subject matter..only FIG students which is about 20 or so). You write three papers and a final research paper (note - don't procrastinate like i did) and spend most of the class time talking about the readings. i learned A TON! then i took philosophy 101 (with filler, great class) that had two papers (challenging but interesting) and two tests (not hard if you study). finally, anthro 105 (with hawks..good class but lab was pretty pointless..fyi, first lab practical is easy and the second one sucks..but you can still get an A). i think there were three tests? easy to get honors credit for the class as well. </p>
<p>So anyway, i made two close friends and have a few others in my classes this semester. everyone was really nice and we clicked well. we even spent time outside of class as a group hanging out. you can study together for tests as well. especially for those that really want to make friends, FIGs are the thing for you.
Good luck!!</p>