<p>I am wondering what classes Caltech freshmen are taking this semester. I'm curious about how it compares to what my S (a Caltech admit) is taking at a different university.</p>
<p>If you have an intended major, please mention what it is.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Oops, I just realized that freshmen probably haven’t registered for classes yet! OK, so post here when you do :-)</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>First term freshmen don’t get a huge amount of options in choosing what they take, generally.</p>
<p>All freshmen are required to take introductory calculus, chemistry, and physics, unless they place out of one of them. In addition to this, they’re heavily encouraged to take a PE class (we require a year of PE for graduation) and a humanities class (we require four years of humanities/social science for graduation). This leaves room for one more class; I’d estimate a third of students take introductory programming, and probably another third take one of the required lab courses. The rest either leave the spot empty or take a course related to their major.</p>
<p>So a typical first-term Frosh schedule at Caltech is basically the following:</p>
<p>Ma 1a: Single Variable Calculus (9 or 12 units depending on the section)
Ph 1a: Newtonian Mechanics (9 units)
Ch 1a: Introductory Chemistry (6 units)
Freshman Humanities (9 units)
Elective (9 units)</p>
<p>Additionally, frosh tend to take a PE class or a couple Pizza classes, classes that introduce research in a discipline during lunch.</p>
<p>For a more concrete example, here are a couple schedules of my friends:</p>
<p>My roommate, Chris: (Option in Mechanical Engineering)
Ma 1a, Ph 1a, Ch 1a (27 units)
ME 170: Mechanical Engineering Lab (4 units)
Ch 3a: Chemistry Lab (6 units)
E 2: Introduction to Engineering Research (Pizza class) (1 unit)</p>
<p>Daniel: (Option in Chemistry)
Ma 1a, Ph 1a, Ch 1a (24 units)
CS 1: Intro to Computer Science (9 units)
Frosh Hum: Hum/Pl 8: Right and Wrong (9 units)
E 2: Introduction to Engineering Research (Pizza class) (1 unit)
Ch 10: Introduction to Chemistry Research (Pizza class) (3 units)</p>
<p>Mine: (4-year Option in Mechanical Engineering and Business and MS in Aerospace Engineering)
[placed out of Ph 1a]
Ma 1a, Ch 1a (18 units)
Frosh Hum: Hum/H 3b: Early Modern European History (9 units)
Ph 2a: Quantum Mechanics and Waves (9 units)
E 2: Introduction to Engineering Research (Pizza class) (1 unit)
CS 9: Introduction to Computer Science Research (Pizza class) (1 unit)
PS 12: Introduction to Political Science (Intro Social Science class) (9 units)
PE 95a: Men’s Tennis Team (3 units)
PA 70a: Introductory Korean (3 units)</p>
<p>The above are all fairly normal schedules.</p>
<p>Then we have my friend Kurtis, who is amazing at Chemistry:
Kurtis: (4-year Option in Chemical Engineering and MS in Chemistry)
[placed out of Ma 1a, Ch 1ab, and Ch 41abc [organic chemistry])
Ph 1a (9 units)
Ma 2a: Differential Equations (9 units)
Ch 144a: Advanced Organic Chemistry (9 units) (Graduate Class)
PE 14: TaiChi
Hum/Pl 8: Right and Wrong (9 units)
Ch 10: (3 units)
ChE 62: Chemical Engineering Lab (6 units)</p>
<p>I hope this all helps</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the breakdown of examples :-).</p>