No does this mean my DD can turn her homework in late since the college didn’t make its deadline either? B-)
Looks like math and chem placement will be available “sometime this week”. :-/
Yes. To make the most of her UChicago experience, you also can pay her tuition late. Then she’ll find out what a “bursar’s hold” is. It will show up the week before pre-registration and make getting into classes extra fun.
Then I suggest swinging by the bursar’s office and tracking down a tuition check that’s been on someone’s desk for two months. It worked for me.
The best approach to the university bureaucracy is to do everything early so their response is only a few days late.
Does this mean that I have a couple of deuces and I’m playing against a full house…
@CU123 Chem and math placements were posted today.
Got the math but not the chem, DD happy to have placed into 15300 and isn’t going to do 16100, not that she doesn’t like math but doesn’t feel repeating it would be worth it.
Ha - D17 placed into Calc. 131. She’s a bit PO’d because she doesn’t like the tutorial requirement. But a quick perusal of the course description indicates that she would have needed “superior performance” on the placement test (she got a 90% average over two exams). She was a B student in AP and tanked her Calculus AB test. Plus . . . she ended up ranking Math as third priority for registration (behind Hum and Sosc). Not sure if that matters for placement but it kinda shows the emphasis she puts on Math as a subject . . . I think the lesson learned is: “don’t tank your AP test” LOL. She can duke it out with her advisor but my hunch is that she is well placed - she might be on the edge where it can probably go either way but with 4 courses this fall quarter it’s ok to have one that isn’t overwhelming. Also, simple truth: they know more about the course than she does.
If I recall correctly, the second placement exam was considerably more difficult than the first, and it would take about 90% on the second exam (with a perfect score on the first) to place into 150s. The standard calculus sequences start right where high-school left off, delve into a fair number of proofs, and rely on a clear understanding of a few key concepts, so the placement test is designed to smoke out students whose mastery of pre-calculus material is anything less than perfect.
The tutorial may be more useful than expected. Most UChicago first-years found hand-holding unnecessary in high school, but even the basic math sequences move at a fast clip in college. Having a chance to hear common questions answered in detail is infinitely more helpful than piecing together an answer based on the textbook (which isn’t very good) and Khan Academy. First Year taught me to take notes religiously, but I still went to problem sessions whenever I could.
As for the importance of pre-registration rankings, the standard math sequences are one area where that won’t matter too much. Introductory classes like Elementary Functions and Calculus (130s) or Calculus (150s) are usually taught by grad students who move on after a year or two, so picking a section by the professor’s evaluations is hit-and-miss at best. Every year, a few sections dwindle to a handful of students as it turns out the grad student is awful, more are full to the brim every quarter because the instructor is great, and most turn out fine - with students switching in and out as their timetables change. Scheduling is the only known quantity, so I’d suggest using the registration period to make schedules work and not worrying too much about the instructor.
Also: keeping in touch with the instructor always helps. Exam marking is generally pretty clear-cut - an answer or a step in the working is either correct or incorrect - but the good instructors will go above and beyond for students who communicate. Case in point: I was a regular at problem sessions and asked lots of questions by e-mail. After I had a nasty bout with the flu and missed several lectures in the run-up to finals, my instructor spent something like a dozen hours getting me up to speed and helped me salvage the quarter. If I’d been face in the crowd #29, or shown up at his door two days before finals, I might be retaking that class this winter.
@DunBoyer that’s an excellent point about the problem sessions - she would be going anyway regardless of which sequence she started. I’ll share that with her. Also, she scored under 90% on the easier test (and over 90% on the more difficult one . . .) - so much for consistency! She is well served to revisit some of these concepts. After all, calculus is pretty basic compared to what comes AFTER calculus. And I really hope she takes advantage of going to the instructor as there is just no down-side to that.
Math 131 doesn’t have any TTh sections (guessing the required tutorials are offered on those days) but she was able to fit it in with no changes to anything else. She chose everything based on class time (not instructor) on the same premise that the schedule is known (instructors can change and reviews can vary . . . . ). At least for 131 it just says “staff” for the most part - the grad student will probably be assigned last minute. Helpful to know she can make a switch if the instructor isn’t any good. Guessing the sections for 131 (or 151) would progress at the same basic speed(?).
Taking a look at 131 vs 151
Last fall, 131 used Calculus 9th ed. (Varberg, Purcell, Rigdon) and covered chapters 0 (precalc), 1 (limits), and 2 (derivatives).
151 used Calculus: One and Several Variables 10th ed. (Salas, Hille, Etgen) and covered chapters 1 (precalc), 2 (limits), 3 (derivatives) and 4 (Mean-Value Theorem and applications).
So does that mean that the 130’s won’t be learning the mean-value theorum? That doesn’t seem right. The two sequences are supposed to leave the student with the same command of calculus.
Edit/update: Nvm. Just looked through the chapter description for Calculus 9th ed. They integrate the Mean-Value theorum within the individual sub-topics (ie for derivates in chapter 2, Integrals in chapter 4, etc.).
Yeah, you learn the mean value theorem in the 130s
Huh. Just checked with D17 who confirmed that they used Wiley (the 151 textbook) for her AP class. Oh well. She also told me that they didn’t really use it much at all which might explain a few things . . .
@JBStillFlying Add/drop generally continues through the first week of the quarter, and classes can be dropped online until the end of third week.
Switching sections after 1st week might be more of a hassle than before, but the math department knows this happens. Barring exceptional circumstances, a conversation with the department chair can clear bureaucratic obstacles in a hurry. I know one student who talked his way into analysis during O-week (I forget why this was necessary) and had a classmate last fall who dropped from 161 to 151 several weeks into the quarter (shortly before/after the first midterm, IIRC).
I wouldn’t suggest switching sections the day before a midterm, and doing so after might be complicated, but making a lateral change is very doable provided it’s early enough and your D’s preferred section has space.
My daughter is putting these as her first choices: Classics of Social and Political Thought, Human Being and Citizen, and Honors Calc I (she was invited to take 152 or 161 or 1611; she will take 161), plus one more class (Italian, Chem, or Bio- she’s still deciding). Is this a reasonable workload for the first quarter? She took Calc AB and BC, got A+ in both classes and 5’s on both exams, Multivariable Calc in senior year with A+. She also got 5’s on AP Chem and AP Bio.
She started learning Italian over the summer, and she’s considering continuing by taking an intermediate level class. Also, any recommendations for her fourth class?
@“Cariño” Classics and HBC will make for a hefty amount of reading, but was doable for me and several friends.
I can’t personally speak to 161. Two friends who took the 160s last year spent some long nights in my dorm’s dedicated study space working through problem sets - and recommend the class to others anyway.
Three tough classes and a fourth TBD can still be reasonable, but much will depend on the difficulty of Italian/Chem/Bio. I can’t comment on any of these.
Did your D take a placement test for Italian? IIRC a number of online placement tests were available for languages last year, but maybe that’s changed. This is probably a good indication of your D’s readiness. Talking with/e-mailing the professor is one way to get an even better idea.
@DunBoyer Yeah, my daughter took the placement test for Italian and was placed in ITAL 20200, which judging by the number I assume is a more advanced class.
Honestly maybe the reading that she’ll have to do for Classics and HBC + the work she’ll have in Honors Calc will be a large enough workload to have in her first quarter. I think she’s planning on starting with four and later dropping one if she feels the need, but the problem is which fourth class to request. Italian shouldn’t be very difficult/time-consuming, but taking Chem or Bio would help get rid of those Core requirements. Maybe she can just call an advisor next week and see what they recommend?
Don’t know what Chem and Bio she’s looking at, but labs can take a lot of time (pre-lab and lab reports as well as time actually spent in lab) on top of weekly p-sets and discussion section. My daughter really appreciated the French course she took 1st Q – the workload was very consistent/predictable/manageable and if you put in the effort, you did well. It was a writing course in her case, so no language lab and not a lot of reading.
Slight change to classes, how about
Math 153
Italian 110
HUM 115 Philosophical Perspectives or HUM12050 Greece and Rome
Chem 111
Look about right or any perspectives on the humanities courses?
@exacademic Oh ok, thanks for the help! I think now she’s leaning toward taking Italian as her fourth class. Personally I think it’ll definitely be a large enough workload for her first quarter without the extra work and time that taking Chem/Bio would entail. 