<p>Will it just simply be a W or WF or WP? And how will it generally affect my chance to a graduate school?</p>
<p>What do you mean, a WF? Like Withdrawn-Failed or Withdrawn-Passed? It’s just a Withdrawn. The whole point of writhdrawing from a class is because you are worried you are going to fail.</p>
<p>But be very very careful about W grades. Yes it isn’t a fail, but at the same time a graduate school will see that Withdrawn and know that you were at risk of failing. It won’t look good, especially if it’s a class that is for your major or future graduate school subject. You still have time left in the semester to try and bring a grade back up if you bombed the first exam.</p>
<p>yeah, it’s definitely not too late to bring up a low grade. I can only speak for med and grad schools, but the general consensus is that one W isn’t a big deal if the rest of your grades are alright. More than 1 is probably a red flag, more than 2 is going to start hurting you. I’d personally take a C over a W, and would only withdraw from a class if I was nearing the end of the semester and was looking at getting a C- or lower.</p>
<p>Also, ditto neuchimie, it’s W… although sometimes you can take a class P/F but the logistics of it aren’t ideal.</p>
<p>For Pass/Fail, it can’t be any class for your major, minor or core requirements. But their is a deadline for when you can let a professor know that you’re taking it pass/fail, and I’m pretty sure that it already passed by.</p>
<p>I am getting my first test result back in few days. I am worried because I don’t get the materials at all. It is an elective class in Economics. And I am an econ major. Will that do a big deal? I am current in my first semester of college.</p>
<p>Econ electives are part of your major for economics, so you can’t take it pass/fail. It won’t matter too much unless you aren’t going to go to grad school in math, finance or economics.</p>
<p>But seriously reconsider your choices if you aren’t understanding economics. A lot of times people think that because they are good at math or business they like business, they’ll be good at economics. It’s a weird subject, and a lot of people actually struggle with it. Most of the economics electives are full of business majors getting an economics minor, and they are always suprised that the class isn’t easy. You can pass principles of macro and micro pretty much by paying attention in class, but some of the electives really make you think about the concepts and if you can’t get those, you are really going to struggle.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to sound super imposing. But you are in your first semester. I was a chemistry major my first semester. So if you do switch, you have PLENTY of time (okay, maybe like a year). But you also have plenty of time to get better at your subject if you want to stay.</p>
<p>Go talk to your professor. He’ll be able to explain things better about the class. Plus, you can talk to him about what you really like about economics and if it’s the right thing for you to study. I started out in economics because I was considering moving into business. But now I’m in it because I love when everything just “clicks”. When the news starts talking about Greece and the euro, I get excited because I can explain to my friends about the macro economic principles behind having a shared currency. Totally dorky, but it’s why I love econ. And if you have some reason why you love it, then talk to your professor to figure out what part your brain is just missing in this class. And if you don’t, it’s not like you’d be the first college student to ever reconsider their class choices.</p>
<p>By the way, which elective is it?</p>
<p>it’s comparative econ ECON4634 I think. I was put in there because other classes were full…didn’t expect it to be this hard. Now Im having two econ classes, Macro Theory and Comparative econ. Im doing alright with Macro Theory…I am doing a dual in Econ + Math so I have the alternative of Math as the major</p>
<p>… It’s a four thousand level course. Five thousand is graduate level.</p>
<p>I know. That’s why I am studying for it like hell. I will try if I can get C+ in the class till 19 November (b4 the deadline for dropping with W).</p>
<p>I got a B on the test fortunately. But I really feel like im struggling</p>
<p>Just go to the professor. I think Bakkal is teaching it… If so, I understand your pain. He can be really great sometimes, and then other times he gives zero instruction and literally just says “you should be able to figure it out”. </p>
<p>Just don’t go up to him at office hours and say “I don’t understand any of it”. Professors can get really mad when you do that, because they feel like 1) you haven’t been putting in any effort to understand it and are only coming in now because of a bad grade (even if its untrue) or 2) you should have come in earlier when they could repair the damage more easily. So have specific questions you want to ask, or specific concepts you want to discuss. You can ask them pretty much everything, but just make sure to phrase it in a way that doesn’t immediately sound like you want him to reteach you 7 weeks of material.</p>
<p>Also keep in mind that a B isn’t bad. I know that’s a small comfort if you are shooting for As or have no idea how you managed to get a B, but at least it’s something. Plus if the class average is really low, some professions will curve it up. In my class with Bakkal, he didn’t curve because the average was a B- but maybe (if he is indeed teaching that class) he’ll curve if the average is lower.</p>
<p>But give yourself some credit. I’m going to graduate without ever taking a four-thousand level course (although to be fair to myself, I have taken 5000 level). I was read somewhere that first-semester grades are always the worst in college, so if you add onto that a really tough class, it’s bound to take a drop. Just work hard the rest of the semester and try your best. If it turns out your best is still a C, then just move on and accept it. Ease up on yourself and take some easier classes. The econ/math dual is VERY easy to finish, even in four years. I’m doing it with 2 co-ops, a summer study abroad, and having only 3 courses from my entire freshman year count towards major/core requirements. So take some easier stuff or some electives.</p>
<p>I also want to add- I know this is a totally long post, I apologize- that be cautious about asking Alper (the head Econ advisor) for help. He told a friend of mine a few days ago, who has never taken economics, that she’s good at math so she could probably just skip principles of macro and go straight to macro theory. I think that is the most insane thing I’ve ever heard. Micro I could see being fine if you are a quick learner, because I personally felt like theory was the exact same class as principles but with less business majors. However macro at northeastern is ENTIRELY dependant on the professor. Some professors tend to just teach the same material but a tiny bit harder. However some, like Simon, teach macro theory MODELS instead of concepts. So if you don’t have the concepts down really well, you’ll be completely lost the whole semester. And yet he advised someone to do that. He’s also kind of a pain when it comes to exempting out of a class (unless he likes you) and I’ve found that he’s not that knowledgable about the opportunities available to students (he had no idea we had a study abroad at the London School of Economics). I definitely get the vibe when I e-mail him that he reads the first line of my e-mail and just stops. Typically whenever I go see him, the meetings are just him reading off my degree audit that I’ve had memorized for years and telling me in really scarily-serious tones that “You know you still need to take this class, right?” </p>
<p>Jekel (head math advisor) on the other hand is awesome. He’s very welcoming, very knowledgable and VERY willing to adjust your schedule/requirements/whatever you want. He teaches a graduate class that is about 80% undergraduate students because he allows it to count towards the capstone. And trust me, capstone is a waste of your life kind of class, so any opportunity you have to take something else instead is awesome.</p>
<p>And to add to my completely obnoxiously long post- when you take co-op next year, PICK LINNEA BASU. She is the economics advisor. Karen (math) may very well be good, but she’s new. Linnea used to do both economics and math majors for co-op until the colleges split up, and now econ/math duals can pick who they want. Even if you are more inclined on the math side, I’d go with Linnea. She has strong connections with the employers, a proven track record, really great advice, and she knows the system really well. Whereas I had a friend in Karen’s class this semester who (on Thursday) had no idea that first round for jobs went out the following Monday. She was also under the impression that you had to meet with advisors to apply to jobs in the college of social science (untrue), and that the jobs all had resumes get sent out on different dates (untrue- it’s one big round). What bugged me the most was that she was so unexcited about it. Linnea definitely psychs people up for co-op. I know that’s ages away, but I wanted to get it out that in case when I graduate I completely forget to post on here.</p>
<p>But that’s just my opinion. My very long opinion.</p>
<p>Oh thanks for your opinion. It’s very helpful indeed. Well yea, for now, there is no reason to drop the class with W instead of getting B (or C maybe), so I guess I will just stick with it. About the co-op thing, wow that’s like a very very helpful information. Thanks. Btw, you are an econ/math major?</p>
<p>Yep. I was econ and became on right after the dual was created. I was only started in 2009. It’s becoming really popular, and it looks great for jobs and grad schools. Econ students struggle with grad school because they didn’t take any of the math that you need to get in (like multivariable and advanced stat), and math students struggle with business jobs because they think they don’t know anything about finance. It’s a pretty awesome dual.</p>
<p>are there any econ classes I should avoid? I am more like a science major but I like econ a lot.</p>
<p>Well… I personally really dislike Alam. He teaches Global Economy and Development Economics (and sometimes there is a class called Critique of Capitalism). I had Global Economics for 1 day and he spent the entire class ranting about how it wasn’t going to be a history class (like the syllabus said it would), and about how he was kicked out of universities all over the world because he’s so anti-capitalism, blah blah blah. If I had been taking that Critique of Capitalism class, it would have been perfect, I guess. But I wasn’t. I was paying over five thousand dollars to learn about the economics of the world, and all he was going to do was complain and go off topic. I’ve heard that he got yelled at since then and he’s toned down a lot, but I still don’t like him.</p>
<p>But that is completely my opinion, and I’ve met people who liked him. I’m just personally really not into professors who use class time to share their views on the world, unless it’s a class for that. The downside is that he teaches all of the classes that are combined economics elective and core comparative study of cultures, which means I’ll have to take some random cultures class.</p>
<p>Most of my professors have been okay though, at least for economics. Math is sort of a toss-up, but you sort of have to take things in order so you don’t have much of a choice with professors. What I think is most important about economics electives is taking ones that will interest you. </p>
<p>So if you think you might want to go into a financial services area, try taking Money and Banking or Public Finance. If you might go into research, try Government and Business (taking it now- GREAT professor), the upper-level random ones like Health Economics, or a region-based economics class. If micro is really interesting to you and you think supply chain is in your future, try Managerial Economics or something. There is a pretty wide range of classes, it’s just a matter of when they are available. So keep an eye on the schedule and see when an elective you might like is popping up so you can plan for it. This summer 2 for example (and many other summer 2s) Money and Banking and Public Finance were the only econ electives offered. As a math and econ dual, you only need to take four economics electives.</p>
<p>You need to take two out of a list of four math electives, and the four are VERY different. Game Theory is a one thousand level course full of non-math majors who don’t understand basic probability, so take it if you need an easy class. Real Analysis is a very tough class that should be taken after Linear Algebra, but it looks AMAZING to graduate schools if you can manage to pass-- most economics majors don’t even take multivariable calc, so real analysis is awesome. Numerical… something… I forget what it’s called, but the next one, is like an advanced Differential Equations class that focuses more on actually numbers and data. Only take it if you really like diffeq and if you think it might help you in future jobs/research. The last is Statistics and Stochastic Processes which is the highest level statistics class offered in the university and is even harder than the graduate level Statistics class (even though that one is 5000-level). However I love statistics and my friends who took it loved it too. But if you hate stat, clearly it isn’t a good one for you to take. Some are only fall and some are only spring, so keep that in mind.</p>
<p>Lastly, as a math/econ major you should really look into the study abroad we have at London School of Economics. It’s during Summer 2 and it’s 6 weeks long. You take two classes (one for 3 weeks and one for the next 3 weeks). They are very very intensive and the grading is pretty tough and the British university style is very different than ours, but it was an amazing experience and I loved it. I took Econometrics there in a classroom half full of incoming graduate students and after a week and a half, the professor declared “to all of you American students, we have now covered the entire material in a one-semester Econometrics course”. We covered Time Series, which the northeastern class doesn’t. It was crazy, but truly one of the best experiences I’ve had at college. Plus I took an Economics of European Integration class, with a professor who had worked in 4 countries, while the european bailouts were happening… Can’t get much more real life than that. So look into the program if you can. The only thing I’d caution about is it that when they say “needs intro macro” they really mean our Macro Theory, and even then there were a few models I had never seen before. So you might want to wait until after your second or third year to do it, if it interests you. But I definitely suggest it, especially since math and econ don’t really offer too many classes during the summer anyway.</p>
<p>I will definitely look into that. I have some friends going there for college so surely I will definitely look into that. About the math classes, I have been really thinking about them since I looked at the requirements. But yes, I think I would decide when I get to there. If we have some spare classes, we can take more classes right? And we can probably take three of them?</p>
<p>Yeah, you can totally take random electives. I’m graduating in four years with two co-ops and I’d say I’ve taken/will take like 7 classes that aren’t towards anything… It depends on how much credit you came in with. You could take more advanced math classes or extra econ electives if you like. Personally, I think minors in whatever topic interests you (like business or political science) might be helpful during job searches so that you can at least say you know the basics about those topics, but they definitely aren’t necessary. I don’t have a minor and I’ve done a business co-op and just got a full-time job in finance. Most of my electives have been random history classes or education classes…</p>
<p>neuchimie this is tremendous information!</p>
<p>My son is currently undeclared but is really leaning towards the Math/Econ combined major with a Writing minor. He has already been to a co-op event and the people there were very enthusiastic about the opportunities out there with that major and minor combination. He doesn’t visit CC but I will make sure he reads this info!</p>
<p>teen hang in there! What neuchimie said about first semester is good to hear as my son is also struggling with a couple of classes-he probably was too ambitious with his schedule but he’ll survive-and so will you!</p>
<p>An econ/math major is pretty marketable, I think. My math major friends have all found pretty sick jobs post-graduation.</p>
<p>And yeah, don’t worry too much about one bad grade as a first semester freshman, people understand that it takes some adjustment. If you’re a good student, that C/B- isn’t going to have much of an effect on your overall GPA, and if you’re thinking grad school, admissions aren’t going to care about one low grade your first year. Especially if it was in an upper level course!</p>