<p>Hi, so I was looking at the list of freshmen seminars
and saw a couple that peaked my interest. But since I'll be new here, I want to take a course that I will really like and can enjoy in terms of workload, content of course, and teaching. I'm wondering if someone can give me feedback on a couple of the seminars that I'm thinking of. Also, I'm premed so I want my freshman adviser (teacher of fall seminar) to be able to give me information about the process in NWU.</p>
<p>If someone could tell me how the classes are in terms of workload, interesting content, good teaching, I'll appreciate it a lot.</p>
<p>Here are the seminars I'm interested in for Fall. They are ordered by my current preference.</p>
<ol>
<li>Angela Grant HEALTH CARE REFORM: WHATS REALLY GOING ON?</li>
<li>Larry Trzupek DRUG DEVELOPMENT & THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY</li>
<li>Kamal Seth SPACE, TIME AND MATTER</li>
<li>Vicky Kalogera COSMIC EXTREMES AND RECORD HOLDERS</li>
<li>Fred Northrup CHEMISTRY OF ART: COLOR, FORGERY & EFFECTS ON SOCIETY</li>
<li>David Meyer THE HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE</li>
<li>Tracy Hodgson THE HUMAN-ANIMAL BOND: WHY WE LOVE CATS AND DOGS (AND OTHER PETS)</li>
<li>Lynne Kiesling COMPLEXITIES AND ECONOMICS: GROWTH, TECHNOLOGY, NETWORKS AND ADAPTATION</li>
<li>105-6-21 Keith Burns INTERESTING MATHEMATICIANS</li>
<li>Owen Priest WHO DISCOVERED HIV: THE HISTORY, SCIENCE & CULTURE OF AIDS</li>
</ol>
<p>I would say check the CTECs. Login to your CAESAR account and go to to “Search for Classes” and enter in the subject, teacher, and class number. Click on the class, and from there you can read the description (if you haven’t already), and you can also check the CTECs for the class and/or the professor. Past students will have given the class a rating in multiple areas, from how much they learned, to how much time they spent outside of class on the class itself. Then there is a large collection of actual comments, which usually give an idea of how interesting the class is, ideas on the teacher, how challenging the assignments are, and so on.</p>
<p>You might also get responses here, but I think the CTECs will probably be both more extensive, reliable, and exact. I just discovered them this morning and it’s been fun to look through them. =)</p>
<p>Do all entering freshmen, regardless of major, participate in freshman seminars? My son is attending in the fall and I do not recall him mentioning this. Is there info online? Thanks!</p>
<p>Only students in Weinberg are required to take freshman seminars, but if there are seats open in seminars, students from other schools can register.</p>
<p>For picking a seminar, I wouldn’t place too much importance on how helpful your freshman advisor will be for premed. There are several other resources on campus that can help you with that, and my experience has been that there are always people who are happy to help with things like that. You should pick seminars that interest you, and definitely check out the CTECs. Also, you don’t have to limit your seminars to ones that are related to your career plans, although you certainly can if you want to. However, they encouraged us to choose seminars completely unrelated to our majors, just so we could have a chance to explore something new and different that we couldn’t have done otherwise. Have fun with the seminars!</p>
<p>P.S. The abbreviation for Northwestern is NU, not NWU. :)</p>
<p>The seminars are generally fantastic fun in an unstressed environment. Very small classes, loads of discussion, great interaction and a real opportunity to get to know professors.</p>