<p>"As two of Princeton's most prominent public intellectuals on opposite sides of the political spectrum, Robert George and Cornel West might seem to be an unlikely team to lead a freshman seminar.</p>
<p>"That notion, however, is quickly dissolved by watching George and West engage their students and each other in "Great Books: Ideas and Arguments," a seminar that grapples with virtue, truth and justice through the works of thinkers ranging from Sophocles and Plato to W.E.B. DuBois and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.</p>
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<p>Freshman seminars at Princeton are an exciting introduction to the life of the mind. Having West and George engage in public debate in front of a small group of students has got to be an amazing experience.</p>
<p>To have both of these professors would be a priviledge in of itself. Especially for those who don't have concrete political affiliations like me :). Does anyone think class enrollment would be limited for a seminar like this? I imagine it must be extremely popular.</p>
<p>Great Books was an extremely popular option. Only 15 lucky freshman were drawn (it's by lottery) into the class. After all, it's very inefficient to hold discussions in groups any larger. </p>
<p>Freshman seminars are often some of the best classes availabe the first year because professors are teaching seminars on topics their very interested in. I took Globalization and the Good Samaritan with Professor Eric Gregory this last semester and it was AMAZING. Not only is he brilliant, but he really knows how to lead a seminar. Plus, he concurrently organized a Good Samaritan Colloquium at Princeton and is writing a book entitled, you guessed it, Globalization and the Good Samaritan. In our seminars he actually sits and take notes whenever anything we say sparks an idea for his book. How humbling and awesome is that?</p>
<p>Next year's freshman seminars will be different from this year's, but they'll be just as good. That being said, when your deciding which seminars to apply for, check out the professor on the student course guide and see how students rank them. With freshman seminars, I think the professor is the essential reason for its failure or success. Also try to take a freshman seminar in a subject that you might not necessarily know a lot about. I'm more into the sciences, but my seminar was philosophy and religion based and I LOVED it. They are a fun way to fill those distribution requirements.</p>