<p>I received an information pamphlet about this course series and it sounds really interesting. Has anybody taken HUM 216-219? What is it like? Any other prospective students thinking about applying?</p>
<p>One of my roommates freshman year took the first semester. He said it was a very well-taught and intriguing course, but he wished HUM would cover less material and in more depth (I believe they covered the entire Inferno in a couple of hours, for example). The people who take both semesters tend to form a pretty tight-knit group and really enjoy it though. If you’re not sure about the time commitment/pacing of HUM, you can consider “baby HUM” (COM 205-206). I had a lot of fun in 206, where we covered quite a few great works of European literature.</p>
<p>I’m applying! 
Definitely want to take it if accepted…despite the criticism, it seems like such an amazing program.</p>
<p>Y’all might want to take a look at this article: [Comments</a> on “Double-credit courses” - The Daily Princetonian](<a href=“http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2012/04/05/30496/comments/]Comments”>http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2012/04/05/30496/comments/). The comments offer some interesting and insightful defenses (more so than the article, methinks).</p>
<p>FighttheTide, can you elaborate on the differences between 216-219 and 205-206?</p>
<p>I’ll try. When I took it, COM 206 was generally ~200 pages/week with two 50-minute classes and a 50-minute precept. Two five-page papers and a take-home final. Precept almost felt like a book club, where we just got to talk about the works and our impressions of them, cultural and literary references, and whatever else proved interesting. It would be Frankenstein one week, Heart of Darkness the next, and so on, surveying British, French, German, and Spanish works. HUM is like double-intensity COM, plus a large dose of history and philosophy (COM is all fiction). HUM covers nonfiction, touching on The pace is quicker, there’s more writing (a paper every two weeks to two papers over the semester in COM). There’s less continuity in HUM as well, since professors are brought in to talk about their specialties. HUM covers such a great time period and has so much class time that it’s necessary for multiple professors to split the teaching load.</p>
<p>In essence, I guess the biggest difference outside of workload is that COM is a course in Western literature, while HUM is a course in Western thought and culture.</p>
<p>Ok, thank you. I’d like to tell myself that I should take HUM, but the more I read, the more it seems like I would almost get more out of COM. Can you just enroll in COM, or does it require an essay and summer readings like HUM does?</p>
<p>No, you can just sign up for it. Make sure to take a look at the course page on the registrar site.</p>
<p>Ok, sounds good. Thanks for your help. Are you still a student at Princeton? What class are you?</p>
<p>@alexcuad, have you applied yet? I was accepted in the first round but then switched to engineering so I won’t be taking the class.</p>
<p>I have not yet applied for HUM. I’m debating whether I should or shouldn’t. I have a draft of my application ready to send, but like I said, I have mixed feelings.</p>