<p>I've been browsing courses the past few weeks and was wondering if any current students could give some advice on scheduling and other general college questions. Given the Core, I know it's customary for Columbia students to take 5 classes per semester...but I'm a little concerned with the workload and balancing adjusting to NYC life and everything else going on. Would something like this be manageable if I wanted to do work study, a club or two, maybe a sport, CU Orchestra with weekly rehearsals, and explore the city? </p>
<p>1st Sem:
Lit Hum
UW
Advanced Grammar + Comp III [French] or Accelerated German I
Beginning Chinese (W)
Intro to International Politics</p>
<p>2nd Sem:
Lit Hum
FOS
Adv. Gra/Comp French or another class
Beginning Chinese (W)
Principles of Econ</p>
<p>I'm really interested in languages and would like to take as much as possible as long as my major, Poli Sci/Int'l Relations, reqs are filled. Or maybe it might be wiser to take 4 classes first semester to adjust? I'm used to a rigorous courseload but I don't want to drown in work either. Also, I saw certain classes reviewed on CULPA like French Phonetics but didn't find them on the class directory...does this mean they're no longer offered? </p>
<p>Some other questions...
Is it possible to join women's crew as a walk-on? I don't have any experience but would like to try it out.
Can I get a work study [maybe in the admissions office?] even if I don't financially 'need' it?
How do I go about getting internships during the school year? Are they mostly for upperclassmen?
Is it difficult get selected for the Oxford/Cambridge study abroad?
Lastly, when should we buy books? </p>
<p>Sorry, I know that's a lot of questions, but any help would be appreciated! Thanks!</p>
<p>Unless you have the academic abilities of Thoth or some other god (preferably Egyptian) you will not be able to complete this courseload at a minimum level of competence. Although most people take 5 courses, taking Chinese and an advanced language or accelerates German simultaneously will be an extreme burden. Intro to ir is also a reading heavy class. Keep in mind that you will probably not be able to get into intro to ir unless you have a great registration time and get lucky–it’s also difficult to get the profs to sign you on since the rooms have a maximum capacity. With all your ecs, this schedule will drive you into the ground. Honestly, your sched is doable if you don’t do a lot of ec stuff. Most people take 5 classes, but they start fulfilling the global core and sci reqs. So 1st
sem I had lh, uw, sci, lang, poli sci, sem 2 I had lh, fos, gc, english, English. I would strongly recommend beginning the sci and gc reqs as a frosh. And re culpa v the bulletin, the bulletin is what you should go by along with the class directory.</p>
<p>You should buy books after you sign up for classes and are sure you are not going to drop a class. </p>
<p>Playing a sport is extremely demanding.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if you want to start off by taking two different languages in the same semester, especially if one (or both if you take accelerated German) is completely new to you. I think intro Chinese is supposed to be pretty hard, although I have no firsthand experience. And I imagine that accelerated language classes are pretty intense (my friend took intensive ancient Greek, and he said it was the hardest class he’s taken in college). Your workload will definitely be reading and writing-heavy, especially with UW. If you take the French class, you’ll have to do quite a bit of writing for that as well. I understand your love for languages, but there’s no rush to start all of them at once. </p>
<p>I think that the majority of people I know took 5 classes right off the bat. I did as well, and I found that I had a lot of free time on my hands. (My first semester schedule was Lit Hum, FoS, Intensive Gen Chem, Calc II, and French Grammar & Comp I.)</p>
<p>Also, the classes that are listed in the directory (you’re talking about [url="<a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/“]this[/url”>http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/"]this[/url</a>], right?) are what will be offered during the academic year. A few classes might change, but most are as listed. If you don’t see it there, then it’s not currently offered. </p>
<p>Work-study jobs are only for students with WS in their financial aid packages. You can try to apply for on-campus jobs, but not having WS will make it a lot harder. Some people won’t even consider your application, even if you’re great on paper.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply- I guess I was too overly ambitious! </p>
<p>I did consider getting Core reqs out of the way first but thought it might be better to get a start on languages for future study abroad and try out Poli Sci classes for potential changing of major. I’m also a native Chinese speaker so didn’t anticipate Chinese to be that much a a problem. </p>
<p>Probably should drop a few of the ec’s too, I see. Thanks for the help! Clearly I’m not used to the difference between HS and university course levels yet…haha</p>
<p>a wise person who works on the admission committee for columbia grad school once told me “extra classes are just extra classes, nothing more.” So please use your discretion at picking out classes that interest you. Have a goal in mind and make your classes work for you. You seem quite competent with French, if you are interested in another language, stick with chinese OR german, not both. Chinese W is no way a cakewalk. You still have to work, they assume you know some colloquial mandarin, but it shouldn’t hard if you stay on top of it. </p>
<p>Regarding women’s crew…prepare for sleepless days and pack up on red bulls, b/c they get up ridiculously early to practice. Your work-study status along with your financial aid all depends on your need. Although you can always try to appeal if you don’t get it or not enough. Casual worker are very rare. Internships are mostly for upperclassmen and not really during the school year. How could you? when you have to go to class. Just make sure your major is right, take some classes, b/c that is your biggest qualification for entry level internships. </p>
<p>Finally, you buy books when you actually know your classes. Just wanting to take them doesn’t mean you will, other kids can take your spot away…(oh the pain of having a 1:30pm registration appointment D: … ) Columbia bookstore is definitely a viable option…but they are overpriced anyways, get their ISBN numbers and go on amazon, its not like you will be keeping these books forever, so make a wise investment and settle for something cheaper.</p>
<p>Yeah, 5 classes first semester is TOTALLY do-able, but UW is a lot of work for some people, and beginning language classes are a lot of work for everyone. So I wouldn’t do that much. If I were you, I’d scope out some requirement for your major that is comparatively easier and which you can take first semester, if you want to take five classes (which I actually recommend, and then you can drop one if it’s too hard).</p>
<p>i hold the opposite opinion. this schedule is absolutely doable, it just calls for reasonable time management skills. it’s not overly ambitious at all. UW, and languages are time consuming, but relatively straightforward assuming you actually like those things.</p>
<p>as far as walking onto crew, sure it’s doable, but not with your schedule. the women’s team will take just about anyone who wants to join at this point. that said, it’s not too bad. the women’s team has a lot of yoyo (your on your own) workouts, so even with morning practices, they don’t have the same time commitment as you’d see of the men’s team. pursue it if you like, but crew is really like punishing yourself for no reason (it’s not without its benefits though ;))</p>
<p>Thanks for all the help so far! It’s really great. I’m wondering, though, what makes an intro language class so much work? Are there projects or lots of essays? Or grammar exercises + reading? Because I really wouldn’t mind the latter, as it’s quite interesting for me. </p>
<p>So I guess crew is kind of a toss-up…I’ll look into it but it sounds pretty intense, especially since I didn’t do any sports in HS. </p>
<p>Another question-how do registration periods work? Is it just a few hours or days? And during NSOP? The way I understand it, we can sign up for classes on SSOL ourselves and switch them around while constantly refreshing to see if anybody’s dropped out…right?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Your impression of the registration period is pretty much correct. Registration appointments are posted a couple of weeks in advance. I think the entire period covers the first two weeks of classes, but it’s not continuous. You’re assigned a start and end time for each day, but it’s really the start time of the first day of registration that matters. And actually, you’re only allowed to refresh the page a certain number of times before you get a time-out (so just pace yourself).</p>
<p>i was under the impression that intro chinese wasn’t offered til spring. then again im getting migraines from trying to figure out what i can take first semester and what i can’t and how the course numbers work and all that. so maybe im completely misreading what the website says.</p>
<p>intro chinese is offered as a 2 semester thing fall/spring…</p>
<p>are you thinking of elementary chinese? the 2 point uber easy class? that’s only offered spring.</p>
<p>Bump.</p>
<p>Can anyone else further elaborate on the supposed difficulty of intro language classes? Thanks :]</p>
<p>Well, problem number one is that they meet every day, so they just take up more hours of your week. This may seem insignificant, but I definitely felt how many hours I was in class when I took 6 classes instead of 5. Being in class for more hours per week hurt more than the extra work. (actually, not really, but it felt like it).</p>
<p>Besides that, I haven’t taken one, but it’s always hard to start a language because you’re learning new foundations for how the languages work, especially if they’re not in the same basic family (i.e, Romance languages, Germanic languages). I had a couple friends who took beginning Japanese and it just seemed like they were ALWAYS working on Japanese. I know they had other classes, but Japanese was the one I heard about the most and saw them working on the most by far. So I get the sense that intro language classes assign a hefty amount of work, above average relative to other classes.</p>
<p>It’s very difficult to learn two languages at once unless you’re already a polyglot. You will experience a phenomenon called retroactive and proactive interference, in which both languages will confuse each other in your mind and you’ll find yourself enacting the rules of one language when writing and speaking the other. Even French and German are too similar to learn at the same time unless you already have a sizable head start in one.</p>
<p>Also, Chinese is intense. If you’re going to take it, take it alone. I’ve had otherwise sane friends in Mandarin Chinese classes who suffered from depression two semesters into it.</p>