<p>Do you think this would be a manageable schedule at Michigan? I think I will be accepted; the issue will likely be money. I don't have my course book with me, but this is a rough idea of the classes I might be taking.</p>
<p>-Calculus III (honors if offered, or maybe a higher level of math)
-First-Year Russian
-Second- or Third-Year Japanese (I'm an incoming senior and I've already taken the Japanese AP test, so I'll have a lot more time to learn more material)
-Programming (not sure what kind; I'll probably place out of Java with AP)
-Art/Design (not sure what kind, but I'd like to have a "light" class)</p>
<p>I'll be majoring in computer science with the intent of being a video game designer, but I also really like languages. I don't want to load up enough to fry my brain, but I also don't want to be bored or unprepared for the demands of college.</p>
<p>most people take 4 classes in a semester unless two of those classes you listed are fewer than 3 credits (doesnt sound like it). The average is probably 14-16 credits per semester</p>
<p>I always recommend 4 courses the first term at Michigan. I think coming into a new environment, leaving one’s family, home and friends behind and having to make a new home, new friends etc… is difficult as it is. Add to that the increased academic intensity that at university, and taking 5 courses is not optimal.</p>
<p>I’m just saying. My schedule no matter where I go might resemble this. I just happened to post it in the Michigan thread so that people wouldn’t say, “it depends on the college.” I do think about these things.</p>
<p>In order to take Honors Calc III, you need to be accepted into the LSA Honors Program and need permission of your Honors advisor. Your advisor will also not let you take 2 different languages in a semester, let alone your first one. 4 academic courses is typical, 5 if there’s a lab for a chemistry course. If you do choose to do Honors, you will also need to take your First Year Writing course your first semester: Great Books or Classical Civilization, so that will fill up one of those courses. For programming, you could either go the LSA route or go through the College of Engineering. If you do CoE, you can’t take Honors Calc III unless you get an Honors advisor permission. With your proposed schedule, it is about 20 credits which is impossible to take. No course at Michigan can be taken as a “light course” because everything is hard.</p>
<p>Okay, so what about one of these two schedules?</p>
<p>-Calculus III (honors)
-Japanese
-Some writing class (I’m not sure what those two are, but I really don’t want to take “basic” English; I want to use AP credits to place out)
-Programming</p>
<p>-Calculus III (regular)
-Japanese
-Programming
-Art/Design</p>
<p>I know that my main focus needs to be on programming/miscellaneous CS (and, accordingly, on CS-complementary math), but I can’t imagine not taking a language at any point unless I really start hating them.</p>
<p>You can take Honors Calc 3 your first semester without being in the Honors program. I say this with certainty as I did it myself. As mentioned, four classes is what you should shoot for if you go to Michigan. I know people who’ve taken multiple language classes in a semester, although I don’t really understand why you’d do this. Lastly, you cannot test out of the first year writing requirement, so just take the one that sounds most interesting to you.</p>
<p>OP, are you planning to apply to LSA or Engineering? You certainly have flexibility to take whatever classes make you happy early on, but the different program requirements might help you shape that schedule.</p>
<p>SamIAm, I’m not trying to test out of having to take writing altogether, only out of taking basic writing as though I hadn’t taken AP English (besides probably being boring, it wouldn’t make me feel validated for working so hard to improve my writing skills). Also, I wouldn’t be taking multiple language classes just to fulfill some foreign language requirement; I actually genuinely like them. Even though I’m going to Japan on a foreign exchange trip tomorrow, for example, it’s been difficult for me to resist reviewing my Czech vocab (yes, I’m teaching myself Czech).</p>
<p>MichiganStick, I’d personally prefer LSA, but everyone says that sucks for CS (at least at Michigan) so probably Engineering.</p>
<p>The actual CS requirements are the same in both LSA and Engineering. There’s this attitude amongst students that Engineering is more legit but I don’t think that’s true and I don’t think employers care one way or the other. And given your language interest, I think LSA makes more sense.</p>
<p>"-Programming (not sure what kind; I’ll probably place out of Java with AP)"</p>
<p>lol, so at mich thats eecs 280. pretty tough course, specially for someones first term. coupled with calc 3 that will be an interesting first term.
Also mich’s further courses 280 and 281 say they don’t require c++ , but everything is in c++ lol. so make sure you know some c++ and the syntax just to make things more manageable. You don’t want syntax to be what stops you from understanding something in class.
discrete math (eecs 203) might be a better choice. Not a terribly tough or time consuming class. Its a pre req in cs for everything so you have to take it as soon as you can anyways.</p>
<p>^It is. I did some programming at a local CC at home and the adviser lady during summer orientation told me I could skip engr 101. I said no though because I was unsure if the CC had prepared me enough and I wanted as good of a foundation as possible especially because I thought I was going to major in CS at that time. Still happy I made that choice.</p>
<p>I know a guy who started in LSA, took 280 without doing 101, 151, 182, 183 or anything else comparable, and transferred to Engineering and didn’t have to take any of those. I think if you start in Engineering though, you will probably have to take 101 or 151. Whether or not you should take 101/151 given the option REALLY depends on your experience. </p>
<p>Math 285, EECS 280, and 2 languages sounds like a pretty difficult schedule. EECS 203 is significantly less time consuming than EECS 280 and probably a lot less than any language class unless you already know everything you’re going to learn in it. I think Math 285, EECS 203, EECS 280, and one language class sounds much more reasonable.</p>
<p>Vlad’s proposed 1st semester schedule sounds pretty intense too if you’re not hung ho about math and coding. You could be, but it sounds like you’d enjoy 1 math + 1 coding + 2 languages better. Also if you end up in LSA you’d have to fit the First Year Writing Requirement in, so if you make that 1 of those 2 language classes, I think it would be a reasonable schedule.</p>
<p>I don’t see Calc III required in the latest CS-LSA guide, so there’s not much value in taking it at Michigan if you’re set on CS. I definitely agree with Vlad about taking 203 and 280 as early as possible since they’re prereqs for nearly every other CS class.</p>
<p>My son will be a freshman in the CoE and he has quite a bit of programming experience–he took two courses at a local university and has dabbled a bit on his own. He decided to take 151 because he doesn’t know C++ yet.</p>
<p>I didn’t realize a language class could count as a writing one.</p>
<p>Anyway, discrete math sounds interesting. I may be taking Calc III in high school next year, and if I do there’s not much reason to take it in college except to kiss up to employers who value math skills.</p>
<p>MichiganStick, Calc III itself may not be required, but don’t you have to take a certain number of math classes, a pool out of which you have some flexibility? If so, I’d rather take a real math class (whether or not that ends up being Calc III) than Algorithms X and Algorithms Y (placeholder names, of course).</p>