<p>I just got my AP scores back so I would like to try to finalize my first semester courses
HLTH 100 Tu 8-8:50
PACE 101 Th 8:30-9:20
FSEM Game Theory or Risk&Resilience (Of the two, which would you choose?)
JPN 401 TuTh 4-5:15
Eng 101 Expository Writing (need to figure out which topic I like)
Econ 101 Either Professor Banerjee or Professor Mialon - how are they?
Math 211/QTM 120 The professors for 211 aren't listed so I'm worried about getting someone who doesn't teach very well. And the two courses don't seem to have a lot of differences...any insight? </p>
<p>Also, I failed physics so I'm going to need to take a lab course..and I want to stay away from bio/chem/phys...is astronomy a good pick ? (for soph yr) Over the summer we can choose up to 2 courses - which of the above are likely to fill out the fastest? Is a 3.7+ doable first semester? </p>
<p>For reference I have BC, compsci, world, USH, and jap AP credit
Thank you! </p>
<p>Thank you Bernie.
Game Theory seems to also be taught by Banerjee this semester - would you advise against having the same professor for two courses in a semester?<br>
In the ORDER courses, they mention ‘research-oriented’ rather than lecture-oriented - in what ways? Do we do our own research to answer questions?
As far as math goes, I may even go for D.E in the Spring, if I don’t end up hating math due to calc 3. I’m a little weak in visualizing things in another dimension.
As for astronomy, I’ve always liked looking up at the night sky, and space has always fascinated me. Hell, when I was younger I thought I was going to be an astrophysicist. I never liked having to do a lot of memorization for my bio classes in high school.<br>
Matter of fact, I am thinking of BBA + QSS in econ if time permits…I also want to study abroad so I’m not sure how that’ll go. I will definitely look into exploring more courses and delay english until Spring, since none of the topics this semester seem to interest me. </p>
<p>1) Yes, kinda, and plus ORDER is just a more unique experience and already has a reputation so often draws stronger students which makes for a better seminar environment.<br>
2) Yes, ORDER has topics presented based upon primary evidence and literature in each person’s field of expertise and then discussion is generated from that. And of course you do design, carry out, and defend your own research proposal/idea, which I think is something awesome to experience early in the college career especially if planning to go into science or business in some fashion.
3) That’s the difference with bio with the folks teaching it this upcoming semester, they aren’t really about memorization so much as problems and live case studies from lab research and clinical situations which is much different from HS and how most typical universities do it (and how many other bio 141 instructors would do it). While astronomy is cool as a subject, the course here (which is automatically watered down and tailored knowing many are just taking it for a simple GER) will likely just end up more like you HS biology course where you memorize constellations, galaxies, etc. The physics aspect may be essentially removed, thus removing the interest.
4) Rethink a BBA if you are doing econ/QSS and consider a double major in something else and take 4 BBA courses to supplement your experience. With your ability in math, you don’t need a BBA. Find something else cool/enjoyable. The BBA curriculum is not all that interesting overall. I will give it credit for having a good “network” so to speak, but you can find college majors that play to your strengths and are more intellectually stimulating. Perhaps even consider physics w/astronomy major or the minor. I don’t know, but don’t just jump on the BBA hype bandwagon when you have talent and interests in other things. You don’t need a whole program to support your interests in business. There are many ways to facilitate success and opps. in “business”</p>
<p>Thank you for your insight.
I’ll think about bio then. By the way, as it stands, I have 3 classes in a row on Tues and Thurs (econ -> risk and resilience -> jap 401). Will that be too annoying?
I’ll rethink what I want to do during my first year! </p>
<p>You’ll live. It is the reality of the Carnegie unit system (where you should be taking 5 courses quite often). That will happen sometimes. You’ll likely be freer in later semesters. Plus, they aren’t 3 classes that suck or anything. </p>
<p>*Also, that’s another reason I suggest Dr. Lynn’s seminar. It is gives an interdisciplinary presentation of the main topic, so it makes for a nice chance to explore other topics and how they view a certain problem while also establishing a potential mentorship relationship with the experts/grad. students presenting. I can really appeal to those who have multiple or multi-faceted interests. And then the project allows you to craft your own intellectual experience. It’s not a class where folks are like: “I am an econ. major or pre-business, so I must take an econ. seminar”. It’s simply a course for those interested in research, discovery based learning, or innovation of any kind. </p>
<p>Are your 2 priorities econ. and QTM. I would get ORDER before QTM. Think strategically. ONLY freshmen will be competing for ORDER. QTM 120 only has 23/35 spots (that is like 8 spots per class, and if you assume only juniors and sophomore, maybe 12) filled and all other classes have been allowed to enroll. I am willing to bet that relatively few freshmen will opt into 120 when they can also choose 110. Remember that this major/concentration is new and thus has a somewhat low profile, especially among freshmen. The only reason upperclassmen know is because of the internal publicity through things like the Wheel and announcements for things like Datafest, which not many incoming freshmen will hear of. I feel as if QTM 120 will barely fill or allow you to overload. Don’t prioritize that class as the competition is less stiff. Pace and Health are mandatory and thus guaranteed.</p>
<p>I see. QTM 120 used to have 25 filled…guess 2 dropped out. I will prioritize Econ and ORDER then. Still totally at the mercy of when my registration time will be. Apparently whoever gets an earlier time will get a later time when registering for the remainder of the classes on campus. </p>
<p>@bernie12 The semester has ended, and I received my grades. I managed a 4.0 first semester!
ORDER was a phenomenal seminar - the topic was on stigmas/taboos, and “seeing things differently.” We ended up discussing bacteria, drugs & the brain, Alzheimer’s, impact of cocaine, women’s gender & sexuality, and failure & depression. I loved all the discussions that took place, and ultimately my final research topic was on the differences in perception of academic and social failure by students between Eastern and Western backgrounds. I was very proud of my first legit research poster (42 x 54 inches!) and the teacher-scholars all loved it as well during our poster session. We also got to tour in some of our teacher-scholars’ labs in the Whitehead biomedical research building, and we saw some cool stuff (rats being trained, experiments, staining slides showing parts of an Alzheimer’s brain, etc). The seminar was much different than I had expected when I enrolled in the beginning of the semester - no regrets! </p>
<p>@AlacrityPain: Excellent Dude! Glad you enjoyed and got something outta the seminar. Also, don’t allow that 4.0 to discourage you from continuing to challenge yourself. That number can be addictive, but you also want to continue to focus on making your Emory experience worth it. Or if you do keep it, you want to have at least had a run for your money a couple of times. What do you plan to do next semester?</p>
<p>Definitely; I anticipate having a lower gpa next semester.
I think I will just go on the Math+BBA track afterall. I took Multi over QTM, and Korean just to know another language.
Next semester I am enrolled so far in
BUS 350, Eng 101, Linear Alg (with Robert Roth - this’ll likely be tough), Korean, Racquetball(or macroecon, not sure).
I’m waitlisted for differential eq, but I hope I get in. </p>
<p>Linear Algebra isn’t hard. It’s literally adding and subtracting matrices. Maybe a 2 hour time commitment every week. If I remember correctly, they made the course much easier around five years ago. Math 321, Vector Spaces, is <em>real</em> linear algebra… if you want to take that. </p>
<p>I don’t think it’s necessary to take Diff Eq. Unless you really want to. It’s literally “most Differential Eqs can’t be solved by hand. Here are the five-ish types that can be solved” for the entire semester.
I don’t think it adds much to your goal.</p>
<p>Math 250, maybe Math 361, or CS 170 would be better. Every college student should take CS 170.</p>
<p>I’m planning to take 361 first semester soph, since only 362 is offered in the spring.
I also took 3 years of CS in high school, and have credit for 170. I don’t really like programming all that much though.</p>
<p>They screwed up the waitlist system for freshmen early on, so it’s impossible to get into 250 for next semester…very high demand and long waitlist. That too I plan to take next year. </p>
<p>In that case, it seems like you have a good idea of what you are doing.
No need to take more coding - seems like you’ve done enough to have a foundation for logic and also to realize that it’s not what you want to do.</p>
<p>For a lot of the cool internships (NSA, Garmin, etc), your letter of recommendation is much stronger if you’ve taken an upper level math class in addition to 250. So make sure you take them ASAP sophomore year. In addition to doing well… become better acquainted with the professor.</p>
<p>Going deeper into the economics sequence could also be useful… if only to give HR something they can relate to on your resume. You won’t learn much in it at Emory. But there’s some interesting stuff there.</p>
<p>Although there are a couple professors who I really like… Bannerjee and some guy who teaches intermediate micro… Can’t remember his name off the top of my head… But nice guy and really smart.</p>
<p>Cool! Those internships seem to be more engineering/CS-based - what kind of internships do math majors typically do?
I had Helenius for 211 and I regret not going to his office hours and chatting with him…he is really chill and we both graduated from the same high school! I don’t think I really got to know any of my professors; I oughta change that next semester. </p>
<p>Also, can you tell me more about 250, what is covered, and why it’s so important for everything?</p>
<p>I took econ with Mialon this semester instead of Banerjee because his section filled up 
</p>
<p>A math major who can’t code is pretty limited (I’m defining ''coding" very loosely. In business, understanding how to write formulas in Excel counts… and VBA is a huge plus). Having a math degree won’t exclude you from anything CS related (and vice-versa). They really go hand in hand, so you should have no trouble getting those internships as a math major.</p>
<p>In a nutshell, nobody is going to ask you to solve a math problem by hand in any internship/job. You’re going to be asked to throw it into a computer… Hence, the coding!</p>
<p>250 is a logic/proofs course that really builds the foundation of upper level math. There’s no calculator use… Just reasoning and problem solving. </p>
<p>A class like Calculus or Diff Eq, you can pick up a book and figure out - there’s a right answer. The reason a proof based class like 250 is viewed so highly is that it allows you to have someone critique your way of thinking and reasoning - which is vital in upper level math - where you’re doing much more thinking and a lot less blind calculator-punching that we had to do in the past. They can pick out holes in your arguments, show you where you’ve assumed too much, etc… Which is pretty tough to do with just a textbook and no mentor.</p>
<p>I’m not saying that you should definitely do upper level math. It’s hard and it very easily could ruin your GPA (you’ll very, very rarely see a math major as an investment banker, partly because a high GPA is such a stringent requirement). But, if you’re thinking more about specific types of consulting, actuarial science, tech, prop trading, etc., then math could (and probably is) the way to go.</p>
<p>Interesting, thanks.</p>
<p>I was leaning more towards accounting/CPA, and I felt that taking additional math courses would be pretty useful.
I might just stop after 250, 361, possibly 362 then. Do you think lin alg is good to take not as a requirement, but to learn some things that can be applied in the future? </p>
<p>Linear Algebra wont apply to accounting, no. No college level math class will. </p>
<p>Still worth taking for self-fulfillment, though, as your BBA requirements will cover everything you need to know for that. </p>
<p>It’d suck to spend 250k and realize there were things you wanted to accomplish in college. </p>
<p>I think you’re doing a good job so far. </p>
<p>I wish you luck! </p>
<p>Thank you!! My course planning for the future has become clearer now.
Fortunately I’m blessed to be able to attend almost free of cost, so I am determined to take advantage of that opportunity given to me to take a lot of enrichment/other interesting courses. </p>