Freshman Seminar?

<p>For those of you who have had daughters/sons attend Swat, what did they think of their freshman year seminar? I was browsing the list of next year's seminars, and trying to look at those I would be most interested in taking. Do students usually take seminars in subjects they think might be their majors? I am fairly sure I will end up an English Literature major, but the two seminars that appeal to me most are a sociology/anthropology seminar and an education seminar. Is it out of the norm to take a seminar in something new to the student?</p>

<p>"Is it out of the norm to take a seminar in something new to the student?"</p>

<p>Not at all. You are expected and encouraged to take classes and seminars in different and unfamiliar fields. Freshmen seminars are designed for freshmen, and do not presume any previous knowledge.
Keep in mind that seminars are caped at 12 students, and many popular ones end up being lotteried. Sometimes you may not get into your seminar of choice, so you should have some alternatives planned. That said, sometimes you can get in even if you lotteried out, as some people decide to drop out or pick a different class.</p>

<p>tkdgal, Where did you see the list? My D hasn't received hers in the mail yet, I don't think.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.swarthmore.edu/Admin/registrar/page.phtml?sidebar=coursesinfo&content=FYSlist%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.swarthmore.edu/Admin/registrar/page.phtml?sidebar=coursesinfo&content=FYSlist&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>You can see the descriptions of each in the course catalog.</p>

<p>My daughter took two freshman seminars, one in the fall, one in the spring. She also took an intro Physics seminar for potential Physics majors (Physics 006) -- that one is not an "official" first-year seminar even though it met once a week for three hours and was capped at 12 students, just like a FYS.</p>

<p>Here's how I would recommend tackling course selection: Sit down with the catalog and skim through the departments. Make a list of your potential majors and other departments with interesting courses.</p>

<p>If you have five or six potential majors, list the requirements for each one on a piece of paper. You want to preserve as many of these as options as possible with your freshman course selection. For example, if Physics is a potential major, then you know that Physics and Calc will be two of your first-year courses. You would take the pre-req 006 seminar rather than the 001 first-year seminar. Or, if you are thinking Poli Sci, then you should be planning to take one of the pre-req courses. Etc. </p>

<p>Also make a list of courses that you would like to "dabble" in at Swathmore. For example, you may have no intention of being an Art History major, but you might want to take the Intro to Western Art for fun. So that would go on your "plan to take them sometime" list. You always want to have five or so courses from your "sometime" list in your hip pocket when you go to register -- preferably including a couple large courses that won't be lotteried. That way, if you get lotteried out of a course, you can just go to your "sometime" list and fill in the slot with "Intro to Western Art", "Intro to Psych", or whatever it may be.</p>

<p>I would also recommend making an honest evaluation of the writing preparation you received at your high school and based on that evaluation, giving serious consideration to the freshman writing course (Engl 001A -- Insights into Academic Writing). It is not a required course, but four years at Swarthmore would be pretty tough without solid preparation for writing. If you went to Exeter, probably no sweat, you'll get plenty of writing instruction in the "W" courses. But, if you went to an "average" public high school and feel like your writing background isn't that strong, I would strongly recommend this course and the sooner the better.</p>

<p>As for freshman seminars: you want a list of perhaps a half-dozen in mind because the majority of the seminars will end up being lotteried, so odds are that, if you fall in love with one particular seminar, you won't get it. For example, I guarantee that the "Fairy Tales" and "Jane Austen" seminars will be lotteried. I see that they added a second section of "Utopias", as it was lotteried last year. I think my daughter ended up getting her third choice freshman-seminar last year, which worked out OK because she really enjoyed it and now plans to major in that department.</p>

<p>If you get lotteried out of all your seminar choices fall semester, you will have priority for a second-semester first year seminar. That is true of ANY course you get lotteried out of the first time around.</p>

<p>Just glancing at the list, the only professor that jumps out as being highly recommended is Cothren who is teaching the "Making Art History" seminar. Everyone who takes one of his classes LOVES him. Daughter took his "Intro to Western Art" his year and raved about the class. There are probably others on the list, but his name jumps off the page.</p>

<p>You can check the class times at the Tri-Co Course Listing:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.trico.haverford.edu/cgi-bin/courseguide/cgi-bin/search.cgi%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.trico.haverford.edu/cgi-bin/courseguide/cgi-bin/search.cgi&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Just select Fall 05, Swarthmore, and the department name.</p>

<p>Thanks a lot, interresteddad, for the advice. It's so funny to be thinking about what courses to choose when at this time last year, I was obsessing over the fact that I would "never, ever, ever" even get admitted to Swat! This is very overwhelming. I think the problem is that although literature is my main academic interest, I am very curious about almost half the departments at Swat, and have never taken classes in any of these areas - political science, psychology, Chinese, anthropology, etc. I'm sure a lot of Swatties feel exactly the same way. Hopefully I have a good advisor.</p>

<p>" I am very curious about almost half the departments at Swat"</p>

<p>That will work to your advantage - you'll never have a shortage of classes to take.</p>

<p>"Hopefully I have a good advisor."</p>

<p>You will be assigned an advisor, but if you are not happy with the one you've got, you can always switch.</p>

<p>tkdgal, I remember you from last year. I'm so glad you're going to Swat. Enjoy yourself. You have earned it!!</p>

<p>Thanks :) I am excited to be a Swattie. Four years of foregoing sleep in order to overbook myself like all the current students I've met. I'm all for that.</p>

<p>Isn't it great that we've volunteered for and are paying for another four years of overbooking ourselves? LOL. It's so great to be a Swattie.</p>