<p>Do any current students/parents of students here have a recommendation as far as a good first year seminar to take? I know that they change from year to year, but did you have a good teacher (or a bad one) that you would advise taking it from?</p>
<p>You can look some of them up on Culpa. :)</p>
<p>My hostess talked about Reacting to the Past. It got awesome reviews on CULPA. I'm definitely taking it next year! How do they determine which semester you take it? Is it alphabetical?</p>
<p>I don't think they care. There are already a few people signed up for them, which means that you must be able to take it as a sophomore(?).</p>
<p>calmom--CULPA is my new best friend! I've definitely cut and added some classes to my list because of those reviews.</p>
<p>As with all of these sorts of things, take reviews on CULPA with a grain of salt. I believe my d has had profs that got not-so-great reviews there that were just fine and dandy. She does use it as a sort of guide, though and it is certainly a great resource for helping you decide!</p>
<p>This is all pretty exciting!</p>
<p>It is! I can't wait to actually sign up for classes.</p>
<p>I definitely agree that one should be wary about reviews--if I read through all of them, though, and they are all terrible, I tend to avoid that prof. Also, "easy" classes are usually awful classes, as I've learned from my experience with dual enrollment.</p>
<p>I took Reacting to the Past with Professor Stokes and it was my absolute favorite class thusfar. I highly highly reccommend it. The Women and Culture, Legacy of the Mediterranean and Americans in Paris seminars are all very similar to first year english classes in that you read a given number of books and then discuss and write about them. My roommate took Exploring the Poles and while she found the material interesting, she found it to be wayyy too much reading.</p>
<p>OK, I agree with Churchmusicmom that you should take CULPA with a grain of salt -- I'd suggest looking for consistency of reviews, but don't place too much credence on any single review. Still, I think it's a great resource and will help avoid making major mistakes.</p>
<p>My daughter took Exploring the Poles this semester and I think she has really enjoyed the class, though unfortunately this winter was too mild for any really great snow activities. She didn't complain at all about the reading -- I think she has enjoyed the reading, actually -- but this is the 2nd course that my daughter has enjoyed and then I've heard from someone complaining about reading, so maybe it depends on how much you like to read. ;) I think my daughter is a pretty fast reader, though -- I honestly have not heard a single complaint from her all year about reading requirements. It's also possible that she has a good sense of when she needs to read things carefully and when she can get away with a quick scan.</p>