<p>I’m a current CMC student, and one of the things I regret most from freshman year was skipping some of the introductory courses. I was still in that high school mindset where you try to take all the most challenging courses in all the subjects that you can. It doesn’t work that way in college.</p>
<p>I don’t really like math, and I’m not particularly good at it, but I placed into Calculus II and took it instead of Calc I. All I had to do was fulfill the math GE, and I really should have taken the easier class instead of struggling in a harder one for no particular reason. Grad schools will not care if you take Calc I or Calc II freshman year of college. But they will look at your overall GPA…</p>
<p>On the other hand, if you’re actually interested in the subject and know you can handle an upper level course, then you might as well take it. It’ll be more interesting than an intro level one. Just make sure you do it because you legitimately want to take that harder class, not because you think it will look good on your transcript (because no one will care). If you have no interest in science, do not take organic chemistry. If you have no interest in literature, do not take Victorian poetry with the hardest professor on campus.</p>