<p>Cav won’t even have most of the options you all are mentioning because as SEAS they give you a set schedule (unless you are testing out of something) and the scheduling isn’t even that big of a deal.</p>
<p>In reference to Spanish, here is what I understood as of 2 years ago. It may have changed since then:</p>
<p>There were many sections of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th sections of Spanish. There are almost no sections of the 1st intro class of Spanish. A student could self-study over the summer before they took UVa’s online placement exam to qualify for the 2nd section of Spanish (1060). </p>
<p>As of last year, you could not take a minor in Spanish because they said they didn’t have enough professors.</p>
<p>One of the problems was that UVa did not allow students to take language classes over the summer at other colleges, but didn’t offer enough language classes of its own. Catch 22.</p>
<p>This situation is irritating because Spanish is such an important subject for so many fields, and because UVa has a language requirement for most programs (which they want you to complete by the end of 2nd year). It is one of the many reasons why I’d love to see UVa hire some full-time instructors with benefits to supplement the current number of professors. These instructors would carry a heavy teaching load, and would be chosen entirely based upon their teaching ability. There would be a line of thousands of applicants for most positions. Those instructors would also be valuable to reduce the enormous sizes and improving the teaching quality of some of the intro science classes.</p>
<p>Oh okay thank you! Yes I’m in SEAS so I already knew I wouldn’t have much flexibility with classes in my first year. On that note, would you suggest I take Calc II or Calc III (assuming I get a 5 on the BC exam this year and have the ability to choose to use the credit or not).</p>
<p>definitely skip calc ii, it is a gpa killer</p>
<p>Does anyone have any tips for pre-orientation schedule planning for a College first-year, as far as knocking out area requirements goes? I’ve already satisfied the FWR, one course each for Social Sciences (PLAP1000T), Humanities (ENGL1000T), and Historical Studies (HIST1000T). I’m banking on STAT1120/2120 and PHYS2010/2020 credit as well. I could also take credit for BIOL2010/2020 and MATH1310, but I’m not 100% confident on my abilities there since there will have been a year-long gap and I only got a 4 on the Bio AP exam.</p>
<p>I already know what I need for my foreign language requirement and I’ve found lots of non-western perspective/SWR courses and other electives that interest me. So, basically all I need is another social sciences course and another humanities course. I’d like to take as full a course load as I reasonably can so I can make the most of my time, so I would really like some tips on how I should start out. I’m pretty strong in calculus but I’d like to take some kind of refresher; is there an accelerated intro calc I can take? Same question for intro biology.</p>
<p>Don’t try and do all of your requirements in your first semester. You have your entire 8 semesters to do your requirements. Don’t feel guilty for taking electives when you still have requirements left, and don’t overload. It’s a great goal to try and complete them by your 2nd year (3rd year for foreign language), but I know a lot of people who were still taking their non-western or similar their very last semester. I would definitely recommend getting them all done by 2nd/3rd year (I got mine done by 2nd year and it was such weight off of my back) but seriously take your time if you need it.</p>
<p>Are you still planning on being premed? I would definitely recommend a Literature course for your humanities course in that case. Social sciences, you could take psych, soc, anthro, politics, econ… Whatever interests you.</p>
<p>If you’re still planning on being pre-med, I would recommend:
Foreign language 1 (not spanish), Chem 1+lab, Calc I or elective (take the AP credit if you can…), Social science class, elective if lab is not too many credits</p>
<p>Otherwise I would recommend:
Foreign language 1 (not spanish), Social sciences or humanities class, Math or science (stat? astronomy or environmental science? consider all options) - 2 if you can or a science with a lab if you are interested in that kind of thing, elective</p>
<p>Thanks hazelorb! Yeah, I’m still planning on premed. I actually placed into SPAN2010/2020, so I don’t think I should have a problem taking Spanish, but I am also probably going to take Korean anyway. I’m not expecting to get everything taken care of my first semester, haha, just early on. Since med school won’t work out financially unless I get into USUHS or win a scholarship, I just want to make sure that my education is as practical as it is enjoyable in case it ends up being my fallback for my career. Thank you for the tips!</p>
<p>Yeah, just check into if they accept AP credit, and if they do require a year of English.</p>
<p>You can definitely try and graduate a semester early - I had a friend from very rural VA who did that and she paid off all of her loans already! Worked out perfectly for her, though I missed her terribly.</p>
<p>The more popular non-western classes may be hard to get into your first semester. I’d suggest waiting till 2nd year to meet that requirement, so you have a bigger and better selection (because you will then be registered before all of the first years).</p>
<p>One of the advantages of getting many of your general education requirements out of the way is that they need to be done regardless of major. Many people will change their major.</p>
<p>Why would Calc II kill someone’s GPA anymore than Calc III? I hear that a lot and I keep thinking that people say that only because a majority of people who are in their first year of engineering start out with Calc II and are already not strong at math so they don’t do well. That’s my theory but if it’s not true please explain why Calc II would be any worse than Calc III?</p>
<p>Go on the course forum, you can see average GPA and it is in fact much lower in Calc II (2.something) vs Calc III (3.something). They teach all sorts of random stuff in Calc II here like double integrals etc. I think they are probably tested with more difficult problems and told to grade harder. We are not making this stuff up just to mess with you, you should probably believe us. Anyways…</p>
<p>So, Calc II sounds like bad news, but I’d like to take higher-level math and physics courses later on and Calc II is one of the stepping stones for the course path I’m trying to plan. I don’t think there’s any way I can place out of Calc II, though, since I only took AB. Also, it looks like the corequisites for 1600 series physics courses won’t match up with the calculus I’ll be taking (I’ll be a year ahead in calc). What would you advise?</p>
<p>Oh, and I’m also curious about 1400 series chem vs. 1800 series… I hear the 1800 series professor is great, and I’m willing to put in the work. I imagine 1800 series looks better to medical schools as well. But if the 1800 sequence ends up being too tough, will I be able to drop down into the 1400 sequence without issue?</p>
<p>I heard that the order of the material may be different for 1800 than 1400, so it may not be easy to change after the first couple weeks. The 1800 series is mainly designed for students who received AP credit for intro chemistry, but are not ready to jump into the 2000 courses.</p>
<p>Sangchu, you can take the easier/premed version of Calc II which is not hard at all. It has 12… instead of 13… in its course number. However, then you can’t take higher calc and math courses.</p>
<p>If you’re really trying to do premed and math/physics courses, then I would suggest trying to take Calc II at a local university (not community college) over the summer before matriculation (showing up in the fall). I do know someone who did excellent in Calc II (English major actually!) so it’s not impossible, it just takes a lot of work.</p>
<p>Usually the recommendation for premed is do to the easier sequences, like 1400. But you’re right that if the professor in 1400 is terrible, you might reconsider.</p>
<p>After you receive your UVA email address, register for [url=<a href=“http://www.thecourseforum.com%5DtheCourseForum%5B/url”>http://www.thecourseforum.com]theCourseForum[/url</a>] and read the evaluations of profs for various classes. It may help you make up your mind. For Chem 1400 series last year, my son said one prof was a much better lecturer than the other, but he thought some of the questions on the tests of the more interesting professor were irrelevant to the material.</p>
<p>Charlieschm, that’s just it, I’ve been reading reviews and the one professor for the 1800 series chem has really great reviews while the two 1400 profs have mostly neutral/negative reviews. Hazelorb, I do want to take higher level math and physics courses since I’d like to build up to quantum physics, but if I end up having to focus on other subjects instead, it won’t be the end of the world. More than anything, I just want to get into med school on scholarship and to be really well prepared for it if I do get in. If that means I should avoid the more rigorous and time-intensive mathematics courses, I’m fine with it. Thanks again for the advice.</p>