Freshman Year Course Selection!

<p>So i am excitedly looking over what courses i will most likely be taking during my first year and i have a couple questions. BTW i am shooting for a major in physics and i am in the Honors Program.</p>

<p>I need to take some honors math class (coming in with AP credit)</p>

<p>Probably an Honors Physics Class</p>

<p>Foreign language - i took latin in high school, will not be continuing with that so i think i am gonna start fresh with italian.</p>

<p>Great books.</p>

<p>Ok so i think thats what i NEED but i also want to take a music theory class and maybe an econ/poly sci class. Do i have time? Can someone explain how these things work out?</p>

<p>Thanks! Go Blue!</p>

<p>just curious, are you gonna do any seminars?</p>

<p>Not saying this is the only/best way to do things, but just what comes to mind right now.</p>

<p>All the advising people will tell you that your first two years are for exploring and taking a variety of classes, and then junior year you should start your concentration specific requirements. However, I think that if you know what you want to do and are confident you're going to stay with it, I say do at least one class in that subject a semester. That way you can make sure its what you want to do early on, and you won't necesarily have to take tons of physics classes your junior/senior year, because you have a decent amount of required classes to get through.</p>

<p>For math, you'll need to take up to differential equations. Assuming you have credit for Calc BC, that means you need to either do 215/216 (Calc III and DiffEQ) or 285/286 (corresponding honors classes). Eventually you'll need to take physics 451, which is mathematics for theoretical physics. You don't need to worry about it now, just know that you're not completely done with math after DiffEQ.</p>

<p>For languages, you have a little bit more freedom since you're starting anew, so you don't have to worry about forgetting anything. One thing that's not widely publicized, but is a good option is the summer language institute. You can do an 8 credit class in 6 weeks during the spring or summer term, and cover all of either the first or second year of Italian. You don't have other classes to distract you, you're immersed in the language so you learn it better, it's an excuse to stay on campus for the summer, and it's a good way to finish your language requirement if you keep putting it off.</p>

<p>Great Books is a necessary evil, I suppose. Honors requires two "literature and ideas" course. The first one is either Great Books I or Classic Civ, though most do Great Books. For the second one, the main choice is Great Books II, but there's a list of about 10 other "approved" courses every semester you can also look into.</p>

<p>If you haven't read about distribution requirements...I'd go do that, since it dictates a decent amount of your schedule early on. Basically you need a certain amount of credits in classes outside of your concentration in various field like natural sciences, social sciences, humanities. I think a music theory class would count as InterDisciplinary, and econ/polysci count as social science.</p>

<p>So you have these requirements, and not enough time to cram them all in right away, so you'll need to put some off. I think language is probably the easiest one for you to put off until later, especially since you're starting off fresh. You shouldn't entirely forget about distribution requirements, but just keep in mind classes towards concentration kinda go sequentially, whereas distibution classes can be taken anytime. You can probably also afford to put of one or two of the math classes until sophomore year.</p>

<p>I'm not sure why dilksy excludes math 295 from the possible math options. If you're interested in theoretical physics, it's a great class to get started on to start understanding how math works. The physics majors who are serious about going into a theoretical field (like samwise) take it, and they are wise to do so. You should have time to take those classes if you don't pursue many extracurriculars.</p>

<p>I just think that if the goal is physics, Calc III and DiffEQ prepares people more for the kind of thing they're going to be seeing later on in physics classes. My friend who dual enrolled for physics/math classes here and is now at Caltech said that Michigan does a much better job at teaching you tricks and methods of solving problems. He said lots of kids at Caltech were more solid with the theory, but struggled some when actually having to solve problems. You don't really get any of that from the Honors sequence. Then again, most of the people who survive the Honors sequence are capable enough to teach themselves that stuff, need be. So taking 295-396 is an option, but certainly not one for the majority.</p>

<p>I disagree about language. You'll want to go ahead and get that done as soon as possible while you still have patience for non-concentration stuff. As you get older, your desire to take classes outside your concentration will wane, and consequently, your desire to take language. Go ahead and get that done now.</p>

<p>KB</p>