<p>Ok, so as a prospective Chicago Student
I have noticed that many complaints and worries among fellow prospectees is that
taking classes in the core outside of our interested major is going to bomb our GPA and
hurt our chances at top grad/professional schools, of course that is an extreme assumption
but is it possible to compile a list of the easiest classes in the core to
fill out requirements with a high grade?</p>
<p>I think this might assuage a lot of the fear surrounding Chicago for many students
and would be a good reference point for future maroons</p>
<p>I actually enjoyed the core immensely and found that it boosted my GPA. However I have heard from various friends of mine that if you have no aptitude for science or math the core can be really difficult, and likewise, if you absolutely cannot write but are a genius at math the core is a problem. I don't think there are any set easy courses (except perhaps for the romance language introductory levels) because so much of it depends on your individual strengths. I never considered myself to be very good at math or science, but I got straight As in my core math and science courses. I actually found them a lot easier than my major classes.</p>
<p>not an easy way out,
this is just suppose to be a helpful list for Math/Science oriented kids to avoid the most grueling of HUM/SOCS classes and vice versa
It's suppose to be helpful for students that are planning on going to enter Chicago
Other threads have it, and it seems to have helped a lot of students out</p>
<p>For example,
Analysis Honors- very very very hard
- I'm a prospective math/econ major, so this is a class I am very much looking forward to taking and will profit from its rigors, International Relation oriented students probably wont and should look elsewhere</p>
<p>this would be a really helpful thread for future students</p>
<p>I agree completely. I know there are some other obvious classes that will be ridiculos hard for eng/hist people to take. I doubt many ppl would advise a person who is medicore in matt to take AH</p>
If you're looking for the easy way out, you probably should reconsider your college choice.
</p>
<p>Agreed.</p>
<p>Responding to nblazer, if the course says "Honors", you'd probably want to be fairly interested in that subject before taking the class. The Core is not just a checklist of classes you need to take, try not to approach it that way. Look for classes that interest you.</p>
<p>Also note that if you're a humanities major completing the science core, you do not have to take classes with science majors. There are special courses that are geared towards non-science majors and your advisor will go over all of this with you. Don't stress out too much before you even get here! :)</p>
<p>Nblazer, Analysis (regular and IBL) and Honors Analysis is by invitation only for first-year students. (I believe HA is invitation-only for second years, too). Don't expect to get into either without significant experience in proof and a decent background in Lin Alg. You'll take math or calculus placement exams when you arrive for O-Week, and Chicago really makes an effort to get you into the right level.</p>
<p>S is a math major and sings the praises of his HUM class. He wanted a course that would challenge him to write and analyze well, and he found it.</p>
<p>A thought: if you are worried about courses in areas where you might not do as well, is Chicago the place for you? It strikes me that Chicago is the sort of place where it's important to be open to all kinds of experiences -- you never know what will strike your fancy. There's an entire world out there beyond AP courses, which are what pass for rigor and excellence at most high schools in this country. Just wait, folks. S said HBC was nothing like any English course he'd ever taken before -- both in terms of what they covered, HOW they covered it, and the standards to which he was held. </p>
<p>It also would not shock me if said math major decided to tack on a polisci or philosophy major before he graduates.</p>
<p>jeeze, calm down everybody
I saw this kind of thread on the Duke page and thought it would be a good idea
to calm down a common prospectee fear</p>
<p>i dont need people preaching to me that chicago may not be the place for me, which seems to be the case whenever anyone on this board has any inquiries into "pre-professional" studies at Chicago, the social life, or school stats
Let's not forget, University of Chicago, is still a University</p>
<p>I read your quote "said math major" (referring to S) as "a math major," and started mentally listing math majors I know who have taken advanced poli sci and philosophy in addition to the major. I got up to three before I re-evaluated.</p>
<p>Nblazer--</p>
<p>I think the aversion to this kind of "easiest course" discussion is akin to discussion of "best frat" or "fashion advice" discussions, which get consistently complained at/shot down on other schools' boards. These discussions tend to marginalize, they tend to be unproductive, and they're not the reason I post.</p>
<p>I understand your fears, but I think it's just important to take a leap of faith. Also, the course offerings and professors change frequently enough that I could give you a list of courses that I found easy and it would be irrelevant by the time you stepped on campus.</p>
<p>"this is just suppose to be a helpful list for Math/Science oriented kids to avoid the most grueling of HUM/SOCS classes and vice versa
It's suppose to be helpful for students that are planning on going to enter Chicago"</p>
<p>I very much feel that math/science folks who want to avoid grueling Hum/Sosc should strongly consider going someplace else for college. Srsly. That's not frequently the case in practice, but if you want to go here, you should be prepared for the possibility that you /will/ end up in a grueling hum/sosc class.</p>
<p>We gave all of our easy classes to Harvard. They were really excited about it. Also, I find it hilarious that this kind of thread was posted in Duke's forum. </p>
<p>But in all seriousness, the number of courses here that would be considered "easy" or "gut" courses are probably two or three, mainly for the core sciences. HUM and SOSC will be difficult if you cannot articulate your points. And I'm pretty sure Chicago would not accept anybody who wasn't articulate but that's just my pretentiousness coming up again.</p>
<p>No there are definitely some people I know who really struggled with sosc because they were unable to express themselves. I'm an econ major and a lot of my friends who have 4.0s in the major received Ds or Cs in Hum and Sosc because either English wasn't their first language or they just never learned to write arguments. It also depends on how you define easy. I consider tend to consider a class easy if when I go to all the classes and do the homework I get an A. For me this applied to the Core. It seemed to me, especially in my science and math classes that a lot of people skipped class most days and didn't turn in their homework. For example, in my 150s Calc sequence there would typically be about 20 students there on any given day, usually the same faces. The day of our first midterm, 55 people showed up. I remember the professor commenting on it because he had planned to make us sit every other seat but there wasn't enough room.</p>