<p>Chicago prospective chiming in. I'm not that great at science, basically getting Bs in almost every science course I've ever taken (honors and APs). Obviously, I won't be majoring in science. Will the Core still destroy me?</p>
<p>Core science is not designed to be especially difficult, but it can still be pretty challenging. I'm not great at bio (solid B in non-honors bio in high school), and, surprise surprise, I'm not great at Core Bio/ bio topics here, it just means that for most people they are easy snoozer classes, and for me, they are harder classes with some challenge to them.</p>
<p>(I'm very bad at remembering certain kinds of information, and so far, that's all I've found bio to be. I'd rather write you a 15-page paper on Paradise Lost than try to remember all the parts of the liver and how they function).</p>
<p>The science requirements of the core will definitely not destroy you. My daughter is not great in sciences and in high school she was not in honors science courses and basically got high B's with lots of work. In fact, when her physics teacher asked her where she was going to college and she told him the U of chicago, he told her that she must be a good writer. Anyway, she is now finishing her second year, has done great in her core science requirements and actually enjoyed them. So don't worry.</p>
<p>Ditto for my D. Math and science were her weakest subjects in HS and she has been very successful in Core Bio and the 130 calculus sequence.</p>
<p>One of the not-so-secret aspects of the Core is that no one who is actually interested in science takes the Core science classes. The mainstream introductory science courses satisfy all of the Core science requirements except for bio topics. So the Core bio and phy sci courses are aimed straight at the people who wouldn't be caught dead in Biology, General Chemistry, or Physics. And, while the bio topics classes are supposed to intermingle scientists and non-, in practice I believe that some self-segregation goes on, and that hard-core science-phobic humanities types can get through their Core requirements without going outside the Chicago version of Special Ed.</p>
<p>sorry to de-rail this thread, but to the people who have completed or are completing the core, how writing intensive are the hum, sosc, and civ? i heard hum has a writing workshop type deal with it, so i imagine thats the big writing class. but for like sosc, is it that much writing? writing is one of my weaker areas (compared to other chicago people) so i figured this would kill my gpa if they all required lots of writing.</p>
<p>I've looked at the core website several times, but just for clarification-- if you are interested in science, are you able to take a higher-level substitute for the "easy" core science? This seems to be the case, but I wanted to be sure.</p>
<p>I'm in the easy core, but I imagine that higher level works. Bio majors would want to scoop their eyeballs out with a plastic spoon if they were told to take core bio-- it's that boring for a bio major.</p>
<p>Hum, sosc, and civ are all writing intensive. Hum has a writing seminar that typically meets 3 times in the first quarter (in 5-6 person groups with the writing TA). In the second and third quarter of hum, my writing TA (the same person for both 2nd and 3rd quarter) just wanted at least one office hour appointment with each of us in the class.</p>
<p>If you need more help in writing, there are core writing tutors along with the writing TA who helps out whoever is teaching the class. You will be a gentleman if you pipe up early, some time in the first week, and, either in person or by e-mail, explain to your TA, your prof, or whomever that you think you might need a little bit more help in writing. Remember that they don't know anything about your writing abilities until you hand in the first assignment, and that the kids like me, who went to Ivy League Prep High School, are used to college-level writing, while the kids who went to Most of Us Go to Two-Year College High might not be used to writing thesis statements and defending them.</p>
<p>You also never really stop writing instruction. Just today in my English class, my prof took about 20 minutes of class time to go over some writing tips and techniques based on what she had read from our most recent papers. As one of my favorite professors likes to say, "If writing a paper were easy, we wouldn't have to talk about it."</p>
<p>Every hum/sosc/civ class will give different amounts of writing, but it's pretty standard to expect 3 essays within a 11-week period for hum and sosc (somewhere in the 3-8 page category, probably), and one final, 10-15 page paper for civ.</p>