Registration Assistance

Son will be an economics major in the fall. Seeking some help in registration. For his writing requirement should he stick to an economic or history type class, or is there a class that you would advise. Writing is not something he loves. I assume he will take micro or macroeconomics and a math class. He needs to take language, but might wait until next year, any downside to waiting? Any info about taking either Latin or Hebrew for language? Thanks in advance

Hi! I’m a rising junior and an Econ major at Vandy. I wanted to take an economics first year writing seminar (Freakonomics) but it filled up really quickly. I ended up taking my 5th choice writing class (one on gender studies), and I quite enjoyed it! I wouldn’t worry about taking a first year writing seminar in your major/minor. Also, they tend to fill up in seconds, so make sure you have a few back-up classes.

I took Spanish my first and second semester. Most intro language courses are 5 credit hours, and I’m glad I took it freshman year because with 3 other classes, I took 14 credits each semester and had a very smooth, non-stressful transition to college. I don’t think there’s a downside to waiting, but taking Spanish (an easy A) freshman year helped me knock-off the language requirement (which I was dreading), and maintain a good GPA. I don’t know about Latin or Hebrew classes. Also, I would highly recommend taking a lab science to fulfill AXLE requirements as early as possible. You don’t want to be a junior or a senior and have a 3 hour lab every week!

I have a similar question… Was it difficult to take language first year? Did you start Spanish at Vanderbilt or had you already taken it in high school? You said Spanish was an easy A is that because you are good with languages. Any recommendations for lab science? Any professor recommendations for economics? Thanks in advance.

I had never taken Spanish before and I was a true beginner (SPAN 100 and 102…I don’t know the new numbers). Nah, I’m not particularly good with languages…the class was well paced for new learners and I had a great professor (Melanie Forehand but I don’t know if she’s still teaching). I took Baby Bio (BSCI 1100), and that was my first time taking bio since sophomore year of high school. Most of the material I learned was new for me, but the exams and quizzes were pretty easy. I recommend taking Baby Bio, but I’ve heard that people find geology and astronomy manageable too. Also, I think Baby Bio is offered only in the spring. DON’T take gen chem or regular bio or even physics just for the lab science credit.

I took (and loved) Buckles for intro Econ, but he’s taking a semester off. For intermediate macro, take Saggi. I took Conley for intermediate micro and he was one of the hardest professors I’ve had. If you’re an incoming freshman, you won’t have a lot of choices for intermediate/upper level Econ classes because they’re in high demand. Even I didn’t get some Econ classes I wanted.

Also, you can test out of the language requirement.

http://as.vanderbilt.edu/academics/axle/proficiency.php

@Sophie1295 If I can, would you recommend waiting to take econ with buckles when he’s back or do you think driskill would be fine?

Does baby bio count for the axle requirement? Is there a lab? Thanks for all your insight and help!

Yeah baby bio does count for the requirement I think. @bklyngal

I personally wouldn’t wait. Take Econ your first semester.

And yeah, I only took Baby Bio for AXLE lab requirements.

@Sophie1295 ,@Anniebot. Thank you guys so much. Any other help or suggestions are very appreciated. Great profs, classes to avoid etc. I really appreciate it!

Just make sure your first semester schedule is manageable. Don’t take more than 15 hours. And don’t take STEM classes like calculus, chem, and bio all at once. Your first semester schedule should be the easiest in all your four years because apart from adjusting to college academics, you need to adjust socially as well. Make sure you have time to get involved on campus because that’s the best way to make friends.

@Sophie1295 I guess that’s where my diilemma is. I’m a prospective bio major, so I’m taking both bio and chem, as well as a poli sci class and language class I’m not willing to put off. I’d really like to take econ first semester, but it would push me to 18 hours.

Don’t take 18 hours! It will be too much, even if you have a mix of easier classes.

I was thinking of calculus, Econ, writing seminar and language? Is that to much?

@bklyngal Which calc? Unintuitively, calc 3 is actually easier than both 1 and 2.

@bklyngal That’s what I did freshman year and it was fine.

@collegemom27 For your son’s writing seminar taking an Econ class would be best as it would get one of the elective requirements out of the way. If that’s not possible take something that would satisfy an AXLE requirement, Most Econ courses are listed as SBS so take something in another category. As an Econ major he also should consider minoring in financial economics and either math or CS.

The two best Econ professors I had were Rennhoff and Saggi. Vrooman is also pretty good. Buckles is a very nice guy and his lectures are sometimes interesting, but he is very disorganized. I’d avoid Conley(not just hard, he’s also is unhelpful and can’t teach for his life), Zissimos, Kim, and Wooders.

@collegebobollege

Don’t take 18 hours unless you are an exceptional genius. Even your schedule now might be overly hard. I personally would push off bio until sophomore year. Remember, in a class like bio, 95% of students don’t receive an A. 50% receive a C+ or lower. If you are above average in intelligence and work ethic for vandy students, you’ll probably make a B in both pre reqs and come out with a 3.5 or 3.6. In my time at Vanderbilt I have known a single freshman who did well in both classes (probably the smartest kid I’ve ever met), and even he complained it was hard and had to drop out of pledge second semester.

I can speak from experience. My first semester, I took gen chem, a 5 hour language class, econ, and an intro English class. So 15 hours, doesn’t sound so bad right? Well it was bad (without that semester my gpa would be 0.15 higher. I was also having an unfun time). Adjusting to college, academically and socially, can be a lot more challenging than you think. And I say this as someone who has had multiple 4.0 semesters as an upperclassmen and a 99% percentile MCAT, so it’s not like I’m just an idiot slacker or something. Everything turned out fine, but man, it was a hard road to recover from that, and I would have enjoyed college a lot more if I just took 12 hours first semester.

So I have a biased perspective, but I’m definitely on the cautious side.

I am unsure which calculus to take. I have a 5 in calc AB, but have not taken it since 10th grade. I don’t want to take the credit because it was so long ago I need a refresher. Should I t are the accelerated or the regular?