<p>This might have been discussed in the Parents thread, but a search didn't find it, and it also didn't appear in posts from the past year or so.</p>
<p>DS has mostly decided his high school path on his own, but would often bounce thoughts off me as a sanity check. As often as not, he would disregard my advice, and truth be told, his ideas usually wound up being better than mine, but I comfort myself with the idea that it was our back and forth that refined his thinking into the wise choices he made ;-)</p>
<p>Anyway, it has been a while since I understood the Math or Physics that he does. We've discussed, in principle, what he wants to achieve in his first year at Yale: sufficient learning to make it worth his while, but enough time and manageable stress levels to make friends and settle in. </p>
<p>As he bounces course selection ideas off of me, I don't have the background to evaluate his course selections. His current thinking is that a difficult Math class (230) and somewhat difficult Physics class (260), rounded out by introductory courses (Psychology, Economics, etc.) is probably in the sweet spot. Taking 5 courses is an option for the second semester, but he thinks 4 in the Fall is probably wise as he gets his feet under him. Who, among the various advisers and faculty, is likely to help him figure out if his choices are wise? Is the shopping period sufficient to figure it out? </p>
<p>His Dean, faculty adviser, FroCos and any other upperclassmen-- especially any who are STEM oriented can be of assistance. The latter two are probably more accessible. Perhaps he should start his schedule with five – see how it goes – esp if he takes the fifth as a less-demanding class or and easy “gut” class. Have this fifth class be something completely off the radar – it can be very fun to take an oddball class with a passionate lecturer. These turned out to be sanity savers for me during semesters when I had to grind it out. Taking a class to learn something fun/new/unexpected is a great blessing at Yale. He can always drop if it’s too much w/o any penalty if it’s before the generous drop deadline.</p>
<p>Google “porn in the morn”— famous & popular class at Yale. Sadly no longer offered, I believe.</p>
<p>Unless they reinstated it, 'Porn in the Morn’ is no more as of 2009, but I take your point. A class with minimal out-of-class work might be okay, but he’s counting the hours required of M230 on his fingers and toes. </p>
<p>My son, a rising senior, did something unusual when he selected his first semester freshman classes. Rather than look for specific courses related to his interests, he went through the Blue Book (<a href=“https://ybb.yale.edu”>https://ybb.yale.edu</a> – as of today, courses for Fall 2015 are not yet available) and looked at the professor’s ratings, reviews and the courses they taught. He then took 4 courses that intrigued him from highly rated professors with comments such as “This course will be the absolute best course you will ever take in your 4 years at Yale.” Although the courses were all over the map, he loved every minute of every class his first semester freshman year; it was a great way to start his college experience!</p>
<p>@gibby, he’s been looking at reviews for his non-STEM courses. Iirc, it was one of those “best course in my 4 years” reviews that steered him to considering a psychology intro course. I wonder if he’d consider that approach for everything other than M230. </p>
<p>@Saona63 , if there’s a meeting he will attend it, but he’s probably pretty well positioned for taking the course. From what I gather, there is no shame in having to drop M230, as it happens many times each year. Apparently the teacher this year is new, so it’s unclear what effect that will have on anything. </p>
Your son should not go into his first semester with that kind of thinking, especially if he takes 4 courses his first semester. If he drops M230 after the first 3 weeks of school, then it’s very difficult to add another course and make up all the missed work. So, he would be down a class for the semester.</p>
<p>@gibby, I’ve been told that there’s an accepted glide path from M230 (go to M120). He got the M230 textbook and has worked his way through some of it this summer. I would be surprised if he had to drop it, but apparently the initial roster of 60-80 drops to 20-30, presumably kids most of whom thought they could handle it. </p>
<p>He feels that 120 would be “boring” (he knows the material well) and 230 will be “challenging.” I know him: he’s a kid who steps up to challenges but becomes a PITA if he’s bored. </p>
<p>Just to be on the safe side, maybe he should sign up for 5 classes. If he does well in M230, but the workload is too intense, he can drop one of the other courses or take the 5th course for credit/D (he has to sign up for Credit/D at the beginning of the term and then decides midway through the semester to take it for a grade or pass fail). If he starts to tank M230, he could drop it and still carry 4 courses for the semester. Or, as you said, he could drop down to M120 if it ever comes to that. (Keep in mind, that unlike other colleges, Yale requires students to graduate with 36 classes, so students take 5 courses per semester for half their time at Yale anyway.)</p>
<p>@gibby, he understands about the 36 classes, and his inclination has always been to take too many courses rather than too few, so I expect the first semester to be the outlier. I asked him about the allure of M230, and he told me something about differential manifolds and that this is really the only undergrad course that goes into them. Gun to head, I could not tell you what that means. :-)</p>
<p>Keep in mind that some science courses also have associated labs that require a fair amount of time. Many freshmen also have language courses that meet every day (and count for 1.5 credits). Add in the additional evening ‘sections’ or tutorials in some courses, and 4 courses can end up feeling like quite a lot.</p>
<p>@bookmobile, DS is postponing his language classes for precisely that reason. He expects that M230 will take 10-20 hours per week outside of class, physics 260 hopefully a bit less. </p>
<p>My kids found the advising to be pretty good. One piece of advice I repeatedly give is to beware of the foreign language level the placement test says you should be in–you might want to drop down one level if you don’t think your language skills are very strong.</p>
<p>@Hunt, no problem convincing DS to drop down any number of levels on a foreign language – it’s his weakness. We were wondering if the foreign language teachers at Yale would be much better than in DS’s high school. He attended a relatively rigorous private school with some standout teachers, but between my two kids we experienced French, Chinese, and Spanish teachers, and we were not impressed with any of them.</p>
<p>My kids thought the French teachers were good, but I can’t compare with anything else. I didn’t think their HS language curriculum was that great, because they didn’t speak enough.</p>
<p>I’m not sure which course numbers, but I know my son was able to switch his math classes to get out of one he was not well-enough prepared for as a freshman. I think he figured it out by the end of shopping period and the professors of both classes were very available and helpful in advising him to find the right math sequence.</p>
<p>Also, just something to consider, summer session is a great time to fit in language courses. He had only taken Latin in hs, and an ISA grant allowed him to take a beginning Italian class and spend 5 weeks in Siena with a host family. Great experience and obviously a big boost in becoming fluent.</p>
<p>Just a word of warning, I’ve heard that the French summer program is super intense, if that’s the one that your son would do. One of my friends was in it and had three hours of classes followed by 8+ hours of homework everyday and seemed totally miserable. The summer language programs are great for fulfilling requirements, but keep in mind that it’s a semester’s worth of work in about half the time.</p>
<p>@Bulldog17, 11+ hours a day of French wouldn’t be in DS’s wheelhouse. He and I spoke this morning, and he said he’d be more likely to want an internship at CERN to practice his French, but not to take an actual course. </p>