<p>Which classes are required to be completed first year? I know that Hum is a must, as is a Math I think. What about SoSc, Science, or the Language Requirement?</p>
<p>Nothing really /needs/ to be completed first year, although it is rare for someone to not take HUM their first year as your adviser will essentially strongly recommend that you take it. Sosc is usually taken first or second year, but it’s not unheard of for a third year to take it. Otherwise, just get it done by the time you graduate. Depending on your adviser you may get some nagging if you put a lot of it off, but there are no strict rules that govern what year you need to complete the core components by. It is important to consider that second years have optimal priority in bidding for core classes, followed by first, then fourth, then third, so there is some benefit to taking them early, so that you can get into the core classes you want.</p>
<p>As an English major, I took…</p>
<p>first year fall: calc, hum, italian 101
winter: calc, hum, italian 102, bio
spring: hum, italian 203, bio, english course</p>
<p>second year fall: sosc, italian 201, english course
winter: sosc, italian 202, chem, eastern asian language and civilizations course
spring: sosc, chem, english course, english course</p>
<p>third year fall: (abroad) civ, civ, civ, advanced italian
winter: drama, drama/creative writing, english, english
spring: italian 211, english, poli sci, english</p>
<p>fourth year fall: english, english</p>
<p>and I’m done with my requirements (I came in with AP credit)</p>
<p>I want to stress that this is just ONE way of completing the Core. I think once you see someone’s course schedule you realize it’s not as overwhelming as originally thought. Of course, someone in the sciences or econ, for example, will have a completely different course history with perhaps some overlaps in when they chose to take core classes.</p>
<p>Suppose I’m a native speaker of a foreign language, does that exempt me from the language requirement, or do I need to do something else?</p>
<p>Also, do you run Latin and Greek lang. classes? If so, are they much good? Would they count toward any kind of core credit anywhere?</p>
<p>I’m not sure on this, but I’m guessing they will make you take a placement exam. They have a reputation for being pretty easy, so if you actually know the language, you will be fine (you only need to pass out of one year of language…). And considering you are a native speaker, you have nothing to worry about there.</p>
<p>They have both Latin and Attic Greek. They can count for the core language requirement.</p>
<p>Chicago’s Classical Studies Department is one of its crown jewels. They have Latin and Attic Greek (and modern Greek). They also have a bunch of other ancient languages that Classics kids love to dabble in – Akkadian and Egyptian are popular.</p>
<p>Regarding the core – one of my kids took the French placement test and placed out of the core French requirement with no difficulty, the other took the Latin placement test and did NOT place out. And I know the second knew a lot more Latin than the first knew French. He had five years of Latin through Latin IB, and several Latin prizes, and the last translation paragraph on the Latin placement test was the most difficult passage he had ever been asked to translate – way beyond anything in the AP or IB (SL) curriculum. The point being that what Chicago considers one year of Latin is an awful lot of Latin.</p>
<p>Actually, the Latin placement exam is known to be quite difficult. On the bright side, if you take the AP Latin exam and score a 3,4, or 5 on it, you can place into higher level Latin. I believe it’s the only language for which we accept a 3 on an AP exam.</p>
<p>On the bright side, our Classics department and Latin and Greek classes are fantastic.</p>
<p>That’s interesting. Are A-level A/A*'s accepted as well? Glad to hear Chicago’s top-notch for the Classics, I knew it had something of a reputation for anthropology, but then again, that’s considered a bit of a duff subject where I’m from.</p>
<p>Oh, and I don’t suppose you’d know whether it runs any courses involving literature in the original language, and whether that’d satisfy any core requirements?</p>
<p>JHS, that totally confirms my own situation. 4 years of Latin (2 AP), 4 years of Latin JCL convention, state scholar in upper division events… and Latin 101. Hahaha, good times.</p>
<p>Actually, though, it was a blessing. Instead of taking Latin like I had originally planned, I took Italian. 7 courses later I’m thinking about living abroad for a year after I graduate.</p>
<p>Of course there are courses involving literature in the original language, dozens and dozens of them, in many languages. Are you familiar with U.S. universities at all? Teaching kids to speak, read and write languages is a sideline to what the relevant departments really do, which is generally to study literature and culture. And while a few courses are often offered in translation, most upper-level courses will require that texts be read in the original language (and often discussed and written about in it, too, unless it happens to be a dead language).</p>
<p>And if you can handle an original-language literature course, you shouldn’t have any trouble placing out of the language requirement. I don’t know if they have any automatic rule for A-level grades, but, again, except in Classics the language tests are not that tough.</p>
<p>No, sorry, clearly there must be plenty of courses in the original language, I just wondered whether you could do any classical greek or latin ones as part of the core. And yes, guilty, I’m horrendously unfamiliar with US universities.</p>
<p> <a href=“http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/pdf_10/CLAS.pdf[/url]”>http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/pdf_10/CLAS.pdf</a></p>
<p>I think the catalog tends both to overstate and to understate the number of original-language courses. Some courses are not offered every year, but generally there are seminars and graduate courses open to qualified undergraduates that are not listed in the catalog. And people often use directed reading courses to shape their own curricula. </p>
<p>The core language requirement is pretty rudimentary – essentially a year’s worth of proficiency in any of 30-some languages, including Greek (ancient or modern) or Latin. If you are actually interested in studying a language, the core requirement will be irrelevant to you. If you are a competent native speaker of any of them, it will also be irrelevant, except for a short assessment test. If you are already proficient enough in a language (as demonstrated by the test), you don’t have to do anything more to satisfy the requirements of the core.</p>
<p>I see. Thanks, that’s a nifty little pdf. No way I can take any of these and knock off any humanity requirement in the process, then?</p>
<p>There’s more where that came from. If you are interested in Chicago and the core curriculum, there’s an extensive (really extensive) description of it.</p>
<p>The “Humanities” requirement can only be met by one of six or seven course sequences that are highly specific and cross-departmental in nature. One of them – Greek Thought and Literature – is obviously Classics-oriented, and is reputedly quite good. Texts are read in English, not Greek (and not all the texts are Greek – some are just Greek-influenced). I think Classics professors often teach sections of it. I believe all of the Humanities courses, or almost all, read at least some Plato and The Iliad.</p>
<p>question on the HUM core requirement – I read somewhere that there is writing instruction/lab/something that goes along with it. Is this accurate? Is Hum the class where there is some instruction in academic writing? I know that everyone going to UC should be a good writer – but I am assuming that part of the Core is some instruction in college level academic writing, particularly since the academic background of all the incoming students will vary.</p>
<p>If HUM has instruction in academic writing, it seems that it would be critical to take those classes first year is you are pursuing a major other than math/science</p>
<p>You are right about writing instruction being attached to HUM. You are also right that it makes sense for people to take it first year. Including if they plan to major in math or science. No one gets through the University of Chicago without doing a bunch of academic writing.</p>
<p>Informally, first years are all but required to take HUM. Strictly speaking, there’s no formal requirement, but the academic advisors don’t take “no” for an answer, at least not without a fight, and there are so many sections of the courses that no one has schedule conflict as an excuse. And, indeed, Chicago students are plenty smart enough to figure out that taking HUM first year makes sense, and is integral to the first-year experience. I doubt many incoming students seriously explore the possibility of not doing that.</p>
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<p>After reading about the difficult Latin test, my D was a bit scared, but it sounds like she could still possibly place into the higher class even if not doing well on the pacement test? She is a possible Classics major/minor and has had HS experience in Latin (through the 2 APs, 4 on Lit last year) Greek (2 yrs) Chinese (2 yrs) so should take all three placement tests I assume. Don’t think she will continue with Chinese but was interested in the accelerated first year Greek sequence.</p>
<p>seadog.overseas: It is okay to be confused right now. That is what orientation is for! They’ll tell you over and over and over again during orientation. I recommend you just to forget about the Core completely right now and go out and play. Leave the worry until the orientation (if you are coming to UChicago, of course)!</p>
<p>jackief, don’t lose sight of the main point: All we are talking about is whether you have to take any additional language courses to satisfy the Core requirements. If your daughter WANTS to take additional Latin or Greek, she doesn’t have to worry about the Core requirement at all – she’ll satisfy that in the ordinary course. (And, anyway, I think her AP 4 would suffice.) As for her Latin placement, the Classics people will know what they are doing – they aren’t going to put her in a class that doesn’t make sense. That’s not what they are about! They may want her to take the third quarter of Latin I, though.</p>
<p>JHS- she is just worried about the placement test now (I know, go play outside, she actually is at the moment) </p>
<p>I know my comments were off the initial topic here, I guess I should start a new note, but again I am trying to distance myself from this as she is the one who would be going through this. Are the Classics classes reflective of the difficulty of the placement test, ie more “killer” than the other languages? And if I understand the course guide correctly, she could get credit for 3 quarters with the AP 4 score, 4 quarters if she gets a 5 this year, but the placement test might put her into the third quarter in that case she would only get the credit for what she skipped. </p>
<p>I’ll try to tie this back to other core questions- is the same thing the case with math or science, if an AP score places you out of some number of sections but not the complete requirement, but the test puts you in a lower section, under most circumstances you would start where the test placed you and forfeit some of the credits?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>