<p>i have a rough draft of my schedule for the freshman year here at caltech.</p>
<li><p>would frosh hum still be p/f, if I take one of them in either third term freshman year or whenever in my sophomore year? </p></li>
<li><p>and I’ve been hearing that hitchcock’s classea are great but scanning at the first term’s course schedule, it doesn’t look like he’s teaching any frosh hum.</p></li>
<li><p>I plan to take Ec 11 first term (and hopefully that will help me with math/econ SURF). how is that class? and in general, how are BEM/Econ classes at caltech? I’m not planning on majoring in either econ or BEM but I want to take as many of those classes as possible.</p></li>
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<ol>
<li>yes.</li>
<li>sucks. wait for another term, maybe his name will pop up later.</li>
<li>first term, Plott is teaching it. i haven't taken it, but i heard that between the two ec11 profs (Pott and McAfee), Plott is the less popular one... the one whose class is not as fun... however you want to put it.</li>
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<p>I have quite a few questions about scheduling too...I really don't know a lot about this.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Are certain courses open to students in certain grades only? for instance can non-freshman take freshman humanities? (looks like yes, but just making sure)</p></li>
<li><p>How different are the courses offered each term and each year? If I'm interested in a few elective courses, how could I know, if I pick one of them, whether other courses will be available in later terms or even years so that I could take them?</p></li>
<li><p>for some reason I didn't take WAFT. If I select a freshman humanities course now and the WAFT makeup (in Sep) result indicates that I need to take a preliminary writing course, what will happen? is it going to be a big hassel? Is there any alternative H/SS courses I can take without passing WAFT?</p></li>
<li><p>for continuing Techers, which term do you suggest taking Ch003a? I didn't place out of anything, for reference...what about Ph003 and other additional labs? are these lab courses challenging? (I kinda want to have an easy start)</p></li>
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<p>and finally, any general advice on course selection from upperclassmen?</p>
<p>1) I think most courses are flexible... as in, you may be strongly recommended to take a certain class a certain year but not forced to as far as I know. I haven't heard any that are really set in stone. You can take freshman hums if you are not a freshman. </p>
<p>2) That would depend on the specific classes as well as your idea of different. </p>
<p>3) You'd need to take the writing course. I doubt it will be a huge deal. I wouldn't worry about it if you're a decent writer--the WAFT thing is mostly to catch non-native speakers who are not very good with English. </p>
<p>4) I didn't take it freshman year at all. That form, which asks what term you'll take it freshman year, is not binding.</p>
<p>Course selection? I would say that depends on intended major. I can help anyone interested in doing EE.</p>
<p>1) I don't know of any courses that are restricted to certain grades, but freshman have priority in frosh hums. If you don't get the frosh hum you have your heart set on- don't worry, there are other hum courses that will probably cover some of the same material, and be more interesting.</p>
<p>4) Chem 3a is not a very hard course- some of the lab writeups take some time, but overall it's not hard and you are going to pass it.</p>
<p>...I am a non-native speaker... :) so I'm a little bit concerned</p>
<p>For 1), I'm interested in Euro Civilization, Hum/H 003abc but due to the fact that freshman must take two humanities from two different desciplines, I can only take one of the three Euro Civilization courses as a freshman; I was just wondering if I could take the others as a sophmore, not because I didn't fulfill the freshman humanities requirement, but because it's kinda incomplete without the other two...are there other hum courses on euro civilization too?</p>
<p>for 2), it says on the typical freshman schedule that differeing electives are offered each term...are they going to be completely different? usually roughly what % courses offered are different term by term? say I'm interested in Psychology, Intro to econ and History of music, if I pick psychology now, are the others going to be available next term?</p>
<p>Also, any particularly noteworthy professors whose classes we could keep an eye on?</p>
<p>Yeah, I am also having some trouble with humanities...
It says that the typical freshman schedule consists of 9 units of Introductory Humanities and Social Sciences in the 1st term, 9 in the 2nd, and 9 in the 3d. However, on the sheet that lists Freshman Humanities Courses Offered Fall Term, it states we are required to take only 2 terms of Humanities. </p>
<p>I would really like to complete a writing course (En-002) in the the fall term, to be ready for humanities' 5000-word papers in the following two terms (and to avoid waking up for these classes before 8 am in the autumn, he-he-he).</p>
<p>Basically, the problem I have is that I am not sure whether En-002 will count towards the 27 units of Humanities I am required (am I?) to take during the Freshman Year.</p>
<p>You take 2 terms of frosh hums, and then you really should take a hum 3rd turn as well (you need to make progress towards the requirements for graduation). Right now, I wouldn't worry about it- by the time 3rd term rolls around, you'll know what you need to do.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Basically, the problem I have is that I am not sure whether En-002 will count towards the 27 units of Humanities I am required (am I?) to take during the Freshman Year.
[/quote]
The schedule stuff you see is all recommended- there are no classes you are <em>required</em> to take. However, they're usually pretty good recommendations- you will probably end up taking 27 units of hum frosh year.</p>
<p>The numbers after each course (1-3-5) have to do with how many hours per week the course takes. The first number is lecture, the second is time in lab, and the third is approximate time to complete the homework (which is usually not very accurate). Add the three numbers together, and you get the number of units the class is (so this example would be 9 units)</p>
<p>En02 is really meant as a remedial writing course for students who are either international or just poor poor writers. Only a handful of freshmen take it each year, because they are required to. Since Caltech humanities writing courses either have pretty low expectations for your writing already, I wouldn't worry too much about taking En02, especially because it does not count toward any requirement and is simply not a very interesting class. There are so many other good choices for a 1st term frosh.</p>
<p>A couple of other questions that arose during the process of making the schedule:
1) What is the difference between different sections of the same class?
2) Concert Band/Orchestra count as electives, correct? Is there a chance Bing (Concert Band) refuses to take in another flute?</p>
<p>
[quote]
En02 is really meant as a remedial writing course for students who are either international or just poor poor writers. Only a handful of freshmen take it each year, because they are required to. Since Caltech humanities writing courses either have pretty low expectations for your writing already, I wouldn't worry too much about taking En02, especially because it does not count toward any requirement and is simply not a very interesting class. There are so many other good choices for a 1st term frosh.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Yeah, I've read the description of the course in the Catalog - I thought it was a class that revealed the mysteries to us about writing papers quickly, efficiently and eloquently (:)), but then found out that it was what you said.</p>
<p>1) Different sections can either meet at different times, or have different TA's. In phys1a and chem1a, there is a "supersection" that goes into a little more depth- you miss out on <em>nothing</em> by not being in it (before I came here, I thought I just had to be in the supersection, got here, and realized it didn't matter)</p>
<p>2) You can get p/f units for band and orchestra. If you can play your instrument, you can be in concert band- there is basically no chance Bill (Bing) won't let you play. Orchestra obviously doesn't have quite the flexibility for winds- you actually have to audition and do well to be able to play in orchestra.</p>
<p>Well, Orchestra is out of the question for me at least for the first year since it conflicts with humanities (and I did hear one has to be really good to get in).</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You could probably take the other 2 your sophomore year but note that priority goes towards freshman and only one term will count towards fulfilling the humanities/social science requirement. Check the catalog for other euro classes.</p></li>
<li><p>Ec 11 (Intro to econ) is offered every term. If you are referring to Mu 37-39, Music History, the catalog says that one is offered every term, but the three are offered every other year. They should be offered next year. Note that they also don't count towards the hum/SS requirement as far as I know.</p></li>
</ol>