<p>What are some of the best introductory-level courses that a freshman can take to better knowledge themselves about the different majors that are available?</p>
<p>Econ 199 (Introduction to Macroeconomics) with Allen Sanderson is probably the most-liked and most popular of all intro classes. </p>
<p>The Introduction to Poetry/Introduction to Fiction classes through the English department are AMAZING, and good for non-majors and majors alike.</p>
<p>Other than those particular classes, I think that the core does a good job of rounding out introductory material in many, though not all disciplines.</p>
<p>Anything Robert Pape teaches. I believe my son took his Strategy course as a first year.</p>
<p>A LOT of people take ECON 198 (micro) and 199 (macro). I had a friend who took the intro to poetry and really loved it.</p>
<p>I would venture to say that most first years don't take any major introductory courses, because they're usually taking 3 core classes (math, hum and either sosc, civ, bio or a language) and maybe an elective. But there are definitely people that take part of the introductory sequence to a major (most majors have 2 or 3 intro level courses that need to be taken, either sequentially or not, as a prereq for more specific classes. for example, Sociological Methods for sociology or Colonizations 1, 2 and 3 for anthro).</p>
<p>In your HUM and SOSC class you'll get a good feel for certain departments. Most HUM teachers are in the English department; most SOSC teachers are in political science, anthropology, history, sociology, etc.</p>
<p>aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....i better get into econ at chicago</p>
<p>The new HUM class - HUM 170: Language and the Human - is FANTASTIC. The professors are all from the Linguistics dept and a few of them are in other departments as well. Mine was Classics and Linguistics, another was Linguistics and Scandinavian languages...</p>
<p>^^ Good to hear! I've been wanting to know how that class was going.</p>
<p>Speaking of great intro classes, intro to ling (especially with Jerry Sadock) is SUPERB.</p>
<p>I've heard lots and lots of great things about Linguistics.</p>
<p>Leon Kass is also a remarkable teacher. Current students should look him up on evaluations. I've never seen an evaluation like that before.</p>
<p>It's really good to hear that the intro econ classes have great teachers at UChicago. My AP econ teacher (junior year) is one of those guys who is superb at econ but he doesn't care at all about teaching. I slept all year but I'm still interested in majoring in econ and I need a good treatment of the basics.</p>
<p>Wait so would an intro linguistics course classify as a humanities course? I think I would be really interested in taking it. </p>
<p>Also, can someone comment on how well the honors introductory compsci course is taught?</p>
<p>Geez, I wanted to double major in math/econ and now I'm thinking of all these electives I want to take.</p>
<p>The intro linguistics classes for the linguistics major do not count towards the core for humanities (nothing in the core counts for a major, besides sort of the language requirement). There is a new core hum course this year though called Language and the Human, which is a hum class that I believe has a focus on language and linguistics. It is a non-traditional hum course since it combines lecture and discussion; usually hum courses (such as Readings in World Lit or Human Being & Citizen) are all discussion. I've heard nothing but good reviews of both classes.</p>
<p>I'm not sure about the compsci course.</p>
<p>I would pass on introductory econ. If you do not skimp on your intermediate econ textbook readings, alongside of the math based assignments, you will end up learning everything at much greater depth in due time. Further, having introductory econ puts you at no real advantage in the four intermediate courses over your classmates. </p>
<p>I would add Hussein Agrama (Sosc), Herman Sinaiko (Hum), and John Mark Hansen (Poli Sci) though to the list of top profs.</p>
<p>Snipez90 - If you are looking for the best econ / math synergy, you really only need to do real analysis and algebra. Minoring in math is quite effective in this vein. </p>
<p>Also, Chicago is stringent about only letting those courses that are in the core be counted for the core. You can find complete listings at collegecatalog.uchicago.edu under liberal education.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I would pass on introductory econ. If you do not skimp on your intermediate econ textbook readings, alongside of the math based assignments, you will end up learning everything at much greater depth in due time.
[/quote]
Not every student is an econ major, Uchicagoalum.</p>
<p>I agree with uchicagoalum on Sinaiko for HUM.</p>
<p>Also...</p>
<p>Jonathan Lear for anything philosophy-related.
Margaret Mitchell for Intro to the New Testament.
Katy Weintraub for Western Civ.
David Bevington for History and Theory of Drama.
James Redfield for anything, literature or Greek.</p>
<p>Okay, so besides HUM and Western Civ, none are introductory courses (core, that is), but they still are courses which one can take with no knowledge of the subject!</p>
<p>If you are interested in probability theory, Lalley is a pretty amazing teacher.</p>