My D was admitted for the UW Madison L&S honors program and as an international student she will participate at almost the last week of the Soar. Any disvantage on that? Worried not to have so many classes options to choose, as an honor student she made a previous reservation on the Figs Biology 4 and she is still worried because as an IB student she already had a lot of these subjects. Can anyone help ? She really wants to maximize her Wisconsin experience. Thanks
A FIG is a wonderful way to start off academically at UW, as it creates a small, ready-made study group and friend group. The pace and depth of the coursework at UW will be a challenge for anyone, so while an IB student will be well-prepared for college academics, they will still be challenged. With that FIG, looks like your student only needs 1 more class, so they might consider something which meets another Gen Ed/breadth requirement, such as an Ethnic Studies class.
Thank you so much!!! Another classes options like biochemistry, microbiology, genetics, molecular biology, immunology, statistics, anatomy and a physiology class? She will receive her IB scores on July and she already took her placement test.
As a parent, I would recommend a lower-stress course to fill out the schedule. Something which, the student would still have to work in, but would be excited about sitting down to do the work.
All students have to take an Ethnic Studies class, I don’t believe there is a way to place out of it, so that’s why I suggested that particular Gen Ed requirement. Similarly, all students have to do “Comm B” credit at UW, there is no placing out of Comm B, so if a student placed out of Comm A already, they might knock off that Comm B in the fall of freshman year. You might take a look at 200 level classes in the Integrated Liberal Studies department (ILS), or perhaps something from Literature in Translation – some of those can be a real treat (depending on the student – my kid was not STEM, so his “fun” courses were Tolkien, Sami Culture etc., not science!
Great!! She will take a look! Thanks!!! Someone has the experience with the Biocore program?
Navigating the UW web site my D saw that there are available to freshmen honors course sequences in Chemistry, Math, Physics and ILS and after Organic Chemistry the Biocore Honors sequence in biology. This means waiting for biology instead of taking other courses? The Figs Biology 4 could partial fullfill the fresmen fall semester?
I’m not familiar with Biocore etc. – someone else will have to chime in!
Granted, this is coming from the parent of non-STEM kids, so maybe my experience with Humanities/Social Science kids can’t really be generalized but – I do think it is helpful for students to have a range of type of classes. Just as an English major would likely be overwhelmed if all their classes one semester were writing intensive, so too, I imagine, a STEM kid would have a hard time with 4 or more classes involving similar types of studying/skills requirements. My kids preferred having something like several classes in their area of interest, plus a gen ed, plus something else totally different, which perhaps met a requirement or perhaps was just enjoyable. For one kid, that was Tolkein, for the other, it was a Music class which involved a lot of listening and writing about music.
Took 3 of the 4 Biocore classes eons ago. Need Organic Chemistry so instead of taking some other biology class first semester she may want to hold off. Was a chemistry major (excellent dept still) with Chem 115-116- content updated but still same course numbers from my day. Son did the Honors Math (calculus) and Physics sequences not too long ago. Honors program improved from when it was excellent in my day (computers make getting info out so much easier).
I understand why foreign students have SOAR close to the semester start- with Visa rules, making the trip… I wonder if she should contact the Honors program soon with her courses to take questions. She may be better off not doing the FIG and instead take different honors courses that benefit her proposed major. Honors Calculus may not be her thing but other courses may be a better fit than being with a group of students. Taking honors versions of breadth courses may be more interesting. Remember- most will not be in a FIG.
Bottom line- she should send an email to the honors program (specifics?- I’m sure she can figure it out) with her questions. Someone will direct her to whoever can help.
As an honors student I would NOT recommend taking it easy, even if English is not her first language. One can always drop a class but not catch up with an added one. She can handle it! A variety of classes works well- meeting breadth reqs along with the math/science. Up to 18 credits including those extra class hours for chem labs is no big deal.
Tks for all Wis75 and Midwestmomofboys
All the information was really important. My D choose to major in Biology that she really loves and spects to discover a wonderful path at UW Madison.