<p>especially Lit Hum and University Writing. should I go with lit hum or contemporary civilizations? </p>
<p>do seas students usually do terribly in these classes since they're probably taking them with more liberal arts minded CC students? </p>
<p>i have to choose between music hum and art hum. which should I choose if I don't have any experience in either?</p>
<p>Go with contemporary civilizations and Music Hum. Those two would probably be an easier transition into the core than lit hum and art hum. SEAS students probably do not generally do as good as CC students, but I don’t think there should be much difference. Anyone going to Columbia should have some type of liberal arts interest and want to do the core. Lit Hum may be somewhat shocking in your first year if you’re not used to a class like that and music is probably more familiar to you than art. good luck.</p>
<p>one man’s meat is another’s poison, most college kids hate CC because it requires them to be more rigorous with their logic than they are used to, or for the logical ones it forces them to think about politics/economics/ethics from a broad perspective (which for some reason, many are not used to). I took it, probably did less work than most people and did well in the class, I also loved CC when I took it. some of the reading in CC is pretty dense, it’s good practice if you ever plan to go to law school someday.</p>
<p>Lit hum is considered slightly “easier”, but there is slightly more reading and most would argue that the reading is more enjoyable (not me). I would have found lit hum more difficult, because I wouldn’t have gotten away without reading most of the books on the syllabus. Major cultures is probably the easiest, but also the most BS and I would have found it pretty boring, and would have probably done worse in major cultures than I did in CC. </p>
<p>Overall just decide if you figure out whether you like reading literature, philosophy/politics or cultural and international history / anthropology. If you hate all three categories take major cultures.</p>
<p>Between art and music hum, it’s a toss up, both are similar and easy, would you rather listen carefully to a piece of classical music or look carefully at a picture of 500 year old piece of art.
I took art hum, it was enjoyable and a cake walk.</p>
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<p>Do you know of any data on this? I doubt there’s much of a difference. SEAS will some clearly one-dimensional people who can’t do humanities, particularly international students and non native English speakers. And CC has its share of bottom feeders – people who didn’t get in on their academic merit. The vast majority of SEAS students are well-rounded kids who scored high on the SAT Verbal and Writing and pulled As in english and history.</p>
<p>I personally know several SEAS kids got A+ in University Writing.</p>
<p>thank you, confidentialcoll. that was very helpful information. so i guess cc is more history/politics and lit hum is more english-like?</p>
<p>You should take whichever classes appeal to you the most. I took Lit Hum many years ago. My SEAS classmates did as well as CC students in these classes.</p>
<p>Instead of either lit hum or CC, you can take two different global core courses instead. You have much more flexibility over which course areas you like, and can also choose to take both in one semester, or take them during different semesters as they do not have to be taken in the same year, in progression like lit hum and CC. </p>
<p>UWriting should be fine, everyone has to take it, the curriculum is quite standardized although different professors have different grading scales, you basically just have around 4 major essays that you work on throughout the semester.</p>
<p>What advantages does attending Columbia, with its Core curriculum, offer if you’re a technically-minded student in SEAS?</p>
<p>hi lehigh this is what i sent a fellow applicant in a pm who asked the same question, i hope it is helpful:</p>
<p>at columbia you will certainly gain the top flight undergraduate experience, and a very rigorous engineering experience that is strong and i’d say compares well to top schools, but it is often kind of put down in the engineering world because it cares more about developing the engineering mindset and emphasizing that within the realm of interdisciplinarity, than on building nuts and bolts engineers.</p>
<p>you’ll take courses in the humanities, in social sciences/economics/business, you’ll have real life learning experiences and a small engineering experience (315 kids in each year) in which to grow. in the end you’ll also make friends and form relationship with kids at columbia college (folks that will become the next financiers, politicos, journalists, leaders) thereby extending your understanding of dynamics and situations far beyond your own area of expertise. you’ll have access to columbia’s extensive faculty and alumni of many schools that will open the gates to ventures and ideas you never thought of. and lastly: you’ll have a ugrad experience that will stay with you for the rest of your life. 4 years in NYC are pretty hard to quantify. you wont graduate from columbia and feel like it was just a long slug to get a piece of paper, but in a very spiritual sense you’ll feel accomplished as you learned and saw thousands of things you couldn’t anywhere else.</p>
<p>the reason to choose columbia over a more technical school is because it will prepare you for the kinks along the rode. the conversations you have in core classes will teach you about how to articulate your points of view better, how to understand the multiplicity of perspectives being offered because your life will involve managing individuals that are not engineers. in the end it will help you rise up through whatever job you have quicker because you have more to offer. i think it is worth maybe starting college with a bit of a detour from conventional wisdom because if at any point in your life you choose to deviate from your plans you will have the skills, and the support of columbia family (people like me) to help you navigate this changing and dynamic world.</p>