Freshman Questions

<p>i'll be at penn (wharton) in the fall and had a few questions? would really appreciate it if somebody could offer some advice.</p>

<p>1)are freshman seminars really popular? cuz a lotta them are sem 1 only but i feel like most frosh do their writing seminars sem 1... also, if you're in wharton, can they count as one of the GenEd requirements?</p>

<p>2) i self-studied for ap microecon and think i did all right on the exam, but i still dont actually get the material as much as i would like (i crammed princeton review in 2 days)...but if i get a 5, would you guys recommend i go ahead and take econ again anyways? because i know macro really well but honestly know little to nothing of micro....and if that's the case, econ010 or econ001?? im leaning towards econ010 right now only cuz i feel like there'll be more wharton freshman in that class than in econ001..but correct me if im wrong?</p>

<p>3) also, is it normal/suggested for a student to take 5 courses sem 1 freshman yr?</p>

<p>thx</p>

<p>also would you guys recommend classes or seminars taught by grad students? because they're not on course review..</p>

<p>If you AP out of macro I'd take econ 1. You'll have enough classes with Wharton freshmen that one fewer will be fine. </p>

<p>Some freshmen take 5 courses. I'd recommend taking 4 your first semester, but you can lighten your load later on by taking 5.</p>

<p>I'd recommend taking Management, Econ, Foreign language, and Math. If you pass out of BC Calc and/or your language consider taking a writing seminar or Stat 101. I've heard mixed reviews on freshman seminars. Some are good. Some are jokes. Some are pretty bad. If you want to be safe I'd take a history/science requirement with good reviews like Psych or Greek History.</p>

<p>What kind of math requirement is there? I mean, with regards to the sectors and foundational approaches stuff, must we take a calculus-like course or could we do something more fun--say linguistics--to fulfill the requirement?</p>

<p>From what I understand, most freshman take Math 104 as their first math course. Math 104 covers the topics in discussed in Calc BC. Students who have a 5 on their AP Calc BC test (or pass an internal departmental exam) take Math 114, which is multivariable calculus. For those who are completely unfamiliar with calc, you may be placed into Math 103 which then feeds into Math 104.</p>

<p>About the course registration, how can I put alternatives for my choices?
How the system will understand that this is my alternative- I don't really want to be placed in 2 writing seminars- understand what I mean?
And how many alternatives you guys recommended? for every class? or maybe only for the recitations? If the recitation I want will be full will the system try to put me in another one?
I really DON'T understand how is all this working...
PLEASE some one explain...</p>

<p>thanks :)</p>

<p>do a lotta (wharton) frosh take math114? if i get a 5 on bc, i was planning on it, but i heard it's a really hard class. and on a similar note, do most wharton kids (frosh or not) even take math114?</p>

<p>and for those of you who have taken it, who's the better professor? chinburg or crotty? penn course review and rateyourprofessor seems to have mixed reviews about both of them</p>

<p>mango7: i haven't played around with the site too much yet, but where are you seeing that we can put alternate choices for classes?</p>

<p>haha sry, two more questions. </p>

<p>do ppl usually take both a freshman and a writing seminar? like how popular (REALLY) are the fresh seminars...</p>

<p>AND... do freshman seminars count as credit for GenED for wharton kids.</p>

<p>I read about the alternatives on the freshman packet with all the information about the courses.... But I don't really understand how is this system working.... ANYBODY?</p>

<p>When you add a course you put your first choice and then your second choice (the alternate). For recitations I don't remember if they automatically place you in one or not.</p>

<p>Most of my friends in Wharton did not take Math 114. If you are interested in a math minor or dual degree in math/physics/econ, you will need math 114. If you want to concentrate in statistics, you will probably also need math 114. I would say that most students who don't have to take Math 114 for their major will not take it. Math 114 is a really tough class and it seems the weaker professors teach it in the fall. </p>

<p>I would say that most of my friends did not take a freshman seminar. Unless one really interests you, I wouldn't take one.</p>

<p>thanks venkat, that really helped! do you need math114 tho if you plan on concentrating in finance? i'll def talk to my advisor about it i guess, but i wanna hear it firsthand from a student</p>

<p>venkat89,
Thanks... so I can put on my registration list as many courses as I want and the system will know how to manage with it? class and their alternatives?
It will not put me in 2 freshman seminars or in 2 recitations for math right?
And by the end of the day I will have a schedule with 5cu? And if by any reason my choices will be full? can I end up with only 2-3 courses? Or the system will put me in any course just to fulfill the requirement of 4 courses per semester?</p>

<p>another thing.... do you know anything about AlcoholEdu?
What is it?
What we need to do?
How is it working?
I never heard about such thing.</p>

<p>You'll see when you do the preregistration on PennInTouch how this all works with putting in alternates.</p>

<p>PennInTouch will not put you in random courses to get you to 4 cus. Last year I accidentally signed up for SEAS Chemistry (I'm in SAS) and was not placed into that or either of the writing seminears I wanted. I had to go back myself and register for the correct Chem class and wait for a good writing seminar to open up.</p>

<p>Have any of you guys decided which writing seminar you plan to take this fall? Looking through the guide, some of them seemed fairly easy, like the one involving movie reviews...So, that leads me to my second question: are some of the seminars known to be easier, or are they all around similar level of difficulty/work required? I want to be able to take a writing seminar which will not mess up my first semester GPA.</p>

<p>I'm with you... good question.. anybody there?!</p>

<p>Look at Penn Course Review. If a writing seminar professor has a difficulty rating above 3, don't take it. It will be hard. From talking ot my friends it seems that most professors grade pretty easily. Some are tough. My professor gave you an A if you did all of the work on time and put forth a decent amount of effort. One of my friend's professors wanted high quality writing for the student to earn an A. The majority of professors are easy though.</p>

<p>Seeing as advanced registration ends on Friday, I was wondering what happens if I do not list a course alternate for some of my classes? And when one is listing a course alternate, is this just an alternate section of the same course or a completely different course?</p>

<p>If a course (accl. elementary german) takes up 2 cu, does that mean that one can only take two other courses (which add up to the 4.5 limit)?
This may be a silly question, but I really wanted more than three courses in my schedule and I'm kind of in denial...</p>

<p>nativelady, not a silly question. That's totally doable..just ask your adviser to change your course limit!</p>