<p>Hi! I'm an international student and just scheduling my classes.
i'll mainly take courses in Social science or Humanities.(my intended major is Poli Sci)
but i just don't know how to schedule well in this coming semester..
among about the 6 courses of my first semester, how many 100-level courses seem okay?
i mean what was/is yours?
and can you recommend some good courses for me? if you tell me your favorite profs as well, it would be helpful.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance :)</p>
<p>First years generally take 100 and 200 level courses during their first semester. You say that you plan on taking 6 classes? I would say then you should take 4 100-level courses and 2 200-level, just to be on the safe side. Although with expository writing in the mix (if you decide to take it first semester), perhaps you should consider doing only 5 courses – four 100-level and one 200-level</p>
<p>One class I will recommend is Planet Earth with Lauren Neitzke. Some might find the class a bit boring, but she was a nice teacher. She gave an opportunity for extra credit points at the end of the semester with an assignment (the assignment I had was to go to the Geology museum here at Rutgers and answer questions based on the exhibits). Her projects (2 of them) were quite simple and manageable – something you could spend a day doing. And you were able to get easy points in class by answering questions using this device called the iclicker (which can be purchased at the campus bookstore). And she uploaded her powerpoint slides online (it still paid to go to class though!). She may look young (and often you might mistaken her for a student), but she definitely knew her stuff ;)</p>
<p>Another course I took that I liked was Topics In Math For Liberal Arts. Ok, I didn’t love the class. But for liberal arts majors who don’t really care for intensive math classes like calculus but want to fulfill one of the SAS liberal arts math requirement, it’s a good class to take. The teacher I had – she was very nice! But I don’t think she is teaching the class this fall =[</p>
<p>I will give you a tip in scheduling classes – have variety! My first semester classes had a variety (English classes, math class, science class, psych class) and I enjoyed it. This semester, my classes were bland and boring because they were practically the same, especially since I didn’t take any math or science classes.</p>
<p>Take a math course. Take one science course. Take a course that might interest you and that fulfills one of the liberal arts degree requirement for SAS, like Introduction to Psychology (it’s a popular course amongst first years during first semester). And for PolySci — maybe two courses that are at the 100-level for the Major Requirement.</p>
<p>Thanks Mush. well i’ll register my courses via mail cuz i live in Korea.
btw i know Rutgers is such a huge school and think it can take long time to get to one campus from the other one. i dont really want to be pressed for time and lose my composure. i’ve never been Rutgers and that makes me much harder to schedule my classes. cant imagine the size of the campus(i’ve heard about the bus system but it doesnt seem that comfortable and nice. people say that it’s crowded and even annoying sometimes)… it might sound stupid but that even makes me wanna take classes only in Douglass/cook.(i’ll live in DRC) can you help me?? and i’ve just checked the web reg site and some classes are already full and closed. i doubt i can take the courses i want because Rutgers will send me information about completing the course request in late June…</p>
<p>Try searching your major on the website and the required courses. A little off topic but have you ever lived in america? if so, where? </p>
<p>You’re in for a bit of a culture shock when you come over here haha.</p>
<p>I’ve only traveled. and i went to a public highschool in TX as an exchange student.(for the very short period of time though)
well i also think that i may have culture shock there but why do you think so?</p>
<p>sushisushi:
I don’t think it is necessary at all to just have classes on c/d. I lived in DRC housing (jameson) for my first year, and didn’t mind having classes on college ave or busch. sometimes I’d stay on busch all day from 10 to three then on college ave from three to six because i’d have a chain of classes there, and yeah it could get a bit tiring but I just used the hour or so in between classes doing some work. sometimes I used that time to write expos essays, which was more productive than coming back to my dorm and i don’t know, sitting around. </p>
<p>and you can’t avoid the buses all together for four years. I actually grew to like them. and the great thing about cook/douglass is that it is about a 25 minute walk away from college ave. so on a nice day, just ditch the buses and walk. except don’t walk at night alone since downtown nb can be pretty sketchy. just be smart, and you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>also I think six classes is too much. most people only take like four to five. because six classes would be about 18 credits (which I don’t think they allow you to take your first semester anyway, if I’m not mistaken. I think they only allow you to take 12 to 17). I stayed at 16 credits for both semesters, and that was a sufficient amount of work for me. plus I worked 10 hours a week and had other things to dooo ie activities and such. with all of that i was exhausted. you don’t want to immerse yourself in work your first semester; I preferred to use that time to meet people, socialize, spend extra time doing schoolwork and just enjoy the transition to college.</p>
<p>but if you really want to schedule all your classes on cook/douglass on webreg or whatever site you’re using to browse classes, just check cook/douglass campus only and choose from there. </p>
<p>Some classes I enjoyed:
the women’s class you have to take for DRC was pretty interesting. I had an ehh-okay teacher but i think if i had a better one, I would have liked the class more. It’s also one of those classes that is supposed to be an easy-A. although your teacher might think differently.</p>
<p>art history 106 was super-interesting. but you’re polisci so that might be irrelevant. hmm. it was interesting nevertheless and was a pretty easy A for me, since I had an awesome, lenient TA and studied quite a bit for the exams. </p>
<p>drugs and plant hallucinogens was a great class. super-interesting, awesome professor. it’s just that the exams were pretty tough in the beginning and I didn’t do as well as I have liked on the first exam. just study the lecture notes, don’t bother reading the book, and you’d be fine.</p>
<p>gen psych is a pretty popular class. i had it with brill. good professor, kind of monotonous but good grading policy (half of the grade was exams, the other half were clickers and homeworks) so I got an A without studying very hard for the final or second exam. </p>
<p>intro to microecon is pretty popular as well. I had it with altshuler and she made the material very comprehensible, very interesting and let us have a notecard ‘cheat sheet’ for the exams, which was pretty cool. it’s also pretty manageable to get an A in this one. </p>
<p>i’m trying to think of polisci classes though. umhmmm law and politics is a popular one. and intro to international relations is pretty popular as well. </p>
<p>hope this was helpful. best of luck!</p>
<p>Thank you so much naoise!!
the art history course seems interesting it doesnt matter if it’s revelent to my intended major. thanks again 
btw who’s your favorite prof?</p>
<p>fortunately, i’ve actually had good experiences with all my professors.</p>
<p>I took gen psych with brill, pretty good professsor but why take brill–whose exams have about a C average–when you can just take cohen or layton for the easy A? </p>
<p>good italian professor, good honors seminar professor. </p>
<p>art history 106 with puglisi whom i preferred over zervignon, who taught the last half of the course. My TA was eveline baseggio, super nice and easy grader. </p>
<p>expos with novak–not so great teacher but did okay in the course. drugs and plant hallucinogens with auerbach, would recommend course if you want to learn a thing or two about drugs, but not if you want a gpa booster.</p>
<p>creative writing with sugarman, i would definitely recommend, if you plan on taking a creative writing course.</p>
<p>women’s leadership with taner, i would avoid. ehh not so great class and there are way better teachers, like angevine.</p>