<p>Don't like to be redundant, but...If anyone would like to share their most and least favorite freshman classes, it would be very helpful! Thank you.</p>
<p>Take CS21 - the profs are great, accessible, and make the subject easy and fun.</p>
<p>I highly recommend Intro to Education (the First Year Seminar if you can) (EDUC 014, I believe) if you can. I’m not an Ed. Studies major, or a major in Social Sciences at all, but it was a fantastic course that I think everyone should take. It’s a good comprehensive introduction to educational psych, the major ed. theorists (Dewey, Bruner, etc.), and ed. policy. It was a legit fun course (in addition to knowing a lot about teaching pedagogy, the profs. also know how to actually execute a seminar) and it also exposed me to a ton of issues with our educational system that I hadn’t been pushed to think about in high school. And you can’t go wrong with any of the professors.</p>
<p>^I second that. Intro to Ed was phenomenal. However, I am an ed major so I’m biased. I would never take Religion and Food. Sounds good on the surface and on the syllabus but the professor just rehashed the readings throughout class. Oh also Social Change and Responsibility is not great either. Professor is uber disorganized and a has a bit of a white savior industrial complex.</p>
<p>TU, will consider CS, not sure about Ed, not really my thing. Any feedback on math, physics, econ, philosophy?</p>
<p>Seconding CS21! If you’re at all interested, take it early, at least in your first two years because it’s becoming near impossible to get into as a junior or senior (the lottery prioritizes underclassmen).</p>
<p>I third CS21! Like EnemyCrabs said, It’s accessible and really fun as well, and the professors are all really warm and approachable, even if you aren’t in their class section.</p>
<p>I took Global Capitalism Since 1920 this fall, which I believe is being offered again. I’m ambivalent about it. The professor is really kind and helpful, and the subject is really interesting and important stuff to know, but I was overwhelmed by the material and the other students because my only experience with econ beforehand had been AP micro and macro. I think I was either the only freshman or one of two. (Almost every econ class will be like that your first semester because I don’t think too many people place out of intro, which is a prerequisite for all other courses in the department.) If you’re the kind of person who regularly follows The Financial Times, the Economist, or something like that you should be fine. Overall, I think I’m glad I took the course because, as I said, it’s <em>really</em> important stuff to know.</p>
<p>On the other hand, one of my hallmates was also in my class, and he thought it was really boring because the professor used lectures to highlight or clarify important parts of the readings rather than add new material to them. (Also, the professor is more meek than charismatic, so I wouldn’t recommend him if you want an entertaining lecturer.) Since my hallmate actually understood the readings in the first place (unlike me), he didn’t feel going to class was really worthwhile. </p>
<p>Basically I would recommend the class to you if you know more about global capitalism than me but less than him.</p>
<p>Golub’s the man. Take Global Capitalism if you’re looking for a liberal artsy econ class (which I’d really recommend for anyone, particularly if you’re not a major because you might have difficulty fitting it in between econ theory requirements for a while otherwise). The entire econ department’s pretty good, though you won’t need many recommendations for a while. Typical course sequence is introductory economics followed by intermediate micro/macro and introductory econometrics with a smattering of courses in areas of your choosing afterwards. Personal thoughts: Everyone except for Hollister is great. Kuperberg’s doubly great.</p>
<p>CS21 is a pretty laid-back class (for Swat, at least) and an expedient way to fulfill a lab requirement. All of the professors in the CS department are, as others have said, pretty accessible and friendly.</p>
<p>Highly recommend that you take Math 15 with Grood if you haven’t taken AB calc (or otherwise want to solidify your background before moving on ) - Grood’s a wonderful professor who is especially helpful if you’re not particularly inclined towards math, and calculus is certainly applicable in a wide variety of fields. I’m probably a little biased because I’m pi-rating for this class. If you’re a little bit ahead of the curve for a freshman (Calc II, linear algebra), all I can do is advise that you avoid Prof. Trevino (eg. don’t take honors linear this fall) - though he’s brilliant, his pedagogy leaves something to be desired and he comes off as a little cold and disinterested (in other words, polar opposite of Grood).</p>
<p>I agree with the above posts on Grood in the math dept and Kuperberg in econ, love em both. </p>
<p>For philosophy, I really liked Professor Baumann, but I think he’s on leave next year</p>
<p>Intro to Ed is <em>a lot</em> of work… Probably demands the most <em>work</em> for an intro class.</p>
<p>Go for CS21. Very useful and actually difficult to get into as an upperclassman due to dept. policy. </p>
<p>Also Discrete math in the Math dept. is good, challenging, and will help for developing intuition for math notation in the math department, CS, and quant. social sciences (not that the social sciences, even econ, will demand that much formalism from you).</p>
<p>class I recommend: Honestly, I can’t say I really loved any of the classes I took freshman fall. But I do recommend that you take a first-year seminar. I took one freshman fall, and while I didn’t love the seminar itself, I loved the discussion-based seminar style. I think professors generally enjoy teaching FYS’s; they’re usually engaged in your thoughts, and you get to know a professor very well, and vice versa.</p>
<p>class I advise against: Unless you’ve taken AP Bio, I wouldn’t recommend Bio 1, especially if you’re not thinking of doing pre-med or going into fields where you need to take bio. When I was a freshman I wanted to learn some basic biology, since I didn’t take bio in high school (which, it turns out, is really rare). Taking Bio 1 was a big mistake. I should have just read Biology for Dummies or something like that.</p>