<p>Just some things I've been wondering about...</p>
<p>1) Does Columbia send us a course catalog before we arrive on campus in August?</p>
<p>2) I've been looking at the course times on the internet and seeing if the classes are full. A lot of the ones I would expect to be for freshmen are full, like Gulati's principles of econ and various spanish classes, so I'm wondering--are they just full of upperclassmen and there will be spaces for freshmen later?</p>
<p>That's it, thanks in advance!</p>
<p>If anyone else wants to ask other questions here, maybe we could make this an official thread of questions for Columbia's incoming class.</p>
<p>To those admitted from the waitlist: have you recieved an orientation packet? Have admitted students recived them, and what info is there besides the photo id stuff? Thanks!</p>
<p>The online course schedule is the course catalog. In addition there are course descriptions on each department's website and links to course descriptions from the online bulletin. </p>
<p>Gulati's class is extremely popular and tends to fill up with sophomores and upperclassmen. There is another section for principles of econ with another professor. If you can't get into Gulati's class you can take that one.
Not sure about language classes since I never took one but I've never really heard people complain about not being able to get into those...except for arabic.</p>
<p>Just a question while I'm here....What exactly happens during Orientation week? It's one full week of staying at Columbia and not having classes correct? So aside from a few tutorials, the usual parties, and moving in, it's basically...doing nothing?</p>
<p>i feel that meeting people, getting to know the campus and the system are very important and i wouldnt call that "doing nothing" ...there are also some placement exams that you might want to take (personally i didnt take any) which are administered during orientation.</p>
<p>from the fall 2007 orientation schedule book, page 6:</p>
<p>
[quote]
A word about placement exams
Get your pencils ready; this is your first test! Well, not quite, but if you want to qualify for advanced courses in chemistry, physics, and languages, or place out of Music Humanities, you should plan to take these exams at the times listed in the Schedule Book. BE SURE to contact the appropriate department if you feel you need higher placement
in a subject area not listed. Test results determine the appropriate
course in which to register. Keep in mind that the French and Spanish tests are by appointment only—you may sign up on the day prior to the exam (or day of, for French). High SAT II or AP scores may exempt you from placement exams, but check with your academic adviser. Also, some exams require that you call and set up an appointment
with the department.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>....i thought our generation (and especially you, who are like 5 years younger than me) is supposed to be well versed in using the google and the internets in order to find this stuff pretty easily</p>
<p>To determine what level of classes you'll take, in the core disciplines.</p>
<ul>
<li>Calculus 1, 2 or 3*</li>
<li>General Chemistry, Intensive Chemistry, or Organic Chemistry*</li>
<li>Physics 1400 (Resnick & Halladay), 1600 (faster, and slightly more rigorous), or 2800 ("Accelerated" - rather obscenely intensive)</li>
<li>Foreign language placement exam</li>
<li>Music hum (or art hum) exemption exam, if you feel you're an expert already</li>
</ul>
<p>My trust in the alumni will always surpass that which I have in search engines. :)
thing about the tests....Columbia sure has its share of quirks. But you said you never took them. Are they not manditory?</p>
<p>As a transfer I don't know if I have to take them or not.</p>
<p>you only need to take them if you want to start in an advanced chem/physics/language course or if you think you're awesome at music or art and don't need to take the core class. I wanted to start in gen chem, the lowest engineering level physics, was not required to take a language (SEAS) and didn't know anything about art or music...thus i didn't need to take any placement exams</p>
<p>I received a 5 on Calculus BC, but never in my wildest dreams did I expect to get more than a 4. Therefore, I don't feel confident about starting out with Calc III (I'm in SEAS, by the way). Any advice?</p>
<p>
[quote]
I received a 5 on Calculus BC, but never in my wildest dreams did I expect to get more than a 4. Therefore, I don't feel confident about starting out with Calc III (I'm in SEAS, by the way). Any advice?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>start at the level you feel most comfortable with</p>