<p>That's the message D gave me yesterday. Apparently they don't enter in your GPA, except of course if you intend to transfer. Armed with this piece of news, she has told me that she intends to take all her science classes next semester, "since it won"t matter if i get Ds".
is this true, or is there something she didn"t understand correctly?</p>
<p>As I understand it first year grades do count in your GPA, just not in the GPA that is used to determine Latin Honors. I am not sure about that but it is what I remember.
Ellen</p>
<p>Urr, I think something got lost in translation. Ellen (posting as Mini) is correct. Low grades first year won't affect Latin Honors but they will be calculated for things like grad school or professional school and the overall GPA on your transcript that you report on, say, job applications.</p>
<p>LiT, is your D not good friends with Math or is there another problem 'twixt her and science? There are some science classes for non-majors that aren't terribly Math-intensive.</p>
<p>Ellen and TheDad have it right about the GPA thing.</p>
<p>Other things to remember:</p>
<p>you need a total of four credits in an area for it to count to Latin Honors (I emailed the registrar about this a few weeks ago because I still have only three credits in natural science). Four credits can be a combination of more than one class. (So between two 3-credit astronomy classes, I'll be all set.)</p>
<p>it's also possible to take classes s/u (up to 16 credits for traditional students) - then you need a c-minus in order to get an s (for satisfactory) but you don't need to worry about it messing up your entire GPA</p>
<p>One of my friends plans to take "discovering mathematics" s/u next semester, as a senior. She still needs 4 math credits for the latin honors distribution, and will get them by taking her math class s/u (she went to calc I her first semester, it made her cry, and she's steered away from math classes ever since).</p>
<p>Yes, she certainly has a hate-hate relationship with maths. She had to redo 3rd grade (unheard of in France), having got zero on every test in arithmetic, then was saved for a time by the fact that high school allows calculators, but got something around 300 on her SAT, partly due to the fact she thought odd numbers were weird numbers, and that integers were integrals which she hadn't studied!</p>
<p>Borgin, ah, you must have taken the "telescope" course. I envy you.</p>
<p>LiT, I can't help it...but it's funny that your D was LiT when it came to Math.
There are some other pretty non-Mathy classes: Physics includes one on the Big Bang, another on Light, and one on Musical Sound.</p>
<p>Etymological tip-off: whenever I see or hear "maths," it's almost always someone who is a Brit or learned Brit English. English vs. American plurals are interesting. There's a Brit lyric that includes the line, "And the crowd go wild...." In American English, it would be "goes wild."</p>
<p>TheDad, distant collateral relative of Henry Higgins</p>
<p>No, I took sky I: time, but I plan to take telescopes and techniques in the spring. It'll be cold, but I think it will be fun.</p>
<p>LiT,
If the current distribution requirements for Latin Honors had been such as they are when I was at Smith, then I, certified math-phobe, would never have qualified! I guess I lucked out!</p>
<p>But it probably wouldn't have hurt me to expand my views beyond languages, art history, a short dabbling in social sciences, etc.</p>
<p>P.S. give my regards to Reid Hall and rue de Chevreuse!</p>
<p>I was one of the math-phobes when I went to Smith (in fact, a big part of the reason I chose the college was because I wouldn't have to take math...I did calc in high school and it made me cry!)</p>
<p>Then I took Howard Gold's Empirical Methods in Political Science (gov 190) class. and I realized I loved stats (and I got to know my best friend/junior year roommate in the class too, so an added bonus)! Fast forward a couple years and I graduated with a self-designed, stats-based minor, good grades in several classes in the math department, membership in the national statistics honor society, and Latin Honors. I even got to waive out of a semester of stats in grad school and go straight into electives I liked!</p>
<p>All this to say, whatever your math experience before Smith, PLEASE don't let it stop you from taking a math class (or several) in college. The professors are great, there are upperclasswomen to tutor you, and the new Quantitative Learning Center (Smith</a> College Quantitative Learning Center) should make it even easier to succeed.</p>
<p>oh, and I didn't take calc at Smith, but my first-year roommate did, and she RAVED about Mary Murphy. In fact, she liked that class so much she ended up majoring in math and is now an actuary!</p>
<p>cattv: I hope you enjoyed your year in France, as I surmise reid hall is the Smith House in Paris. As a Smithie mother, I will certainly offer my services a</p>
<p>sorry, I'll continue, as a surrogate aunt for future Parisoan transfers
Thanks, Stacy. D really liked stats, and I'll encourage her to try out the American system. She seems to be adapting well, so I'm hopeful, even for maths!</p>
<p>HOGO = AMAZING </p>
<p>HOGO also = Howard Gold</p>