You may not be able to take another core sequence given how “tight” this registration is looking already, but surely one can take additional elective courses. There’s more to “social sciences” than just the gen. ed. courses:
http://collegecatalog.uchicago.edu/thecollege/socialsciences/
There are usually a bunch of spots left over in Sosc in time slots first and second years thumb their noses at (classes that are particularly late or particularly early). Maybe that won’t be the case with a few hundred extra first years, but there is nothing stopping anyone from registering for a second Sosc beyond lack of available space.
Taking Civ twice is (relatively) common - it’s still very uncommon, but this is a product of the fact that most Civ classes are just specially labelled normal classes in History, NELC, South Asian Studies, Classics, Jewish Studies, etc. but can’t count for their major if they count for Civ. Sometimes people take, say, Mediterranean Civ, and then decide to become a Classics major but need those classes to count for their major. So they take a different Civ to count for the Civ credit.
DD is planning to try to take a (for her) tough schedule first quarter, in some other ways, and the non-“classic” Sosc classes actually look interesting to her. I was just wondering, if she took one of those Sosc classes, along with a “classic” Hum class first year, she could then decide she would also like to take Self, Power, or Classics in second year, when some say she might get more out of it anyway, and when she’d still be with a lot of second years (if that even matters to her). I’ve told her that I think it would be good to take one of the more classic Sosc classes, but I also don’t want her to be overwhelmed right off the bat, especially since she’s planning (and really needs, for a variety of reasons) to do a couple of extracurriculars from the beginning. If she took Mind or that social science Sosc first year, she could make sure that’s she’s gotten the the right # of core courses taken care of first year, but still have the option to take a deeper Sosc class second year.
Just an idea for another option.
That’s a bit of an (to use one of Boyer’s favorite buzzwords) uncommon idea because Sosc is generally considered to be worse (content-wise) than taking the intro sequences in Political Science, Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, etc. Sosc is not meant to be a proper intro class to a field, it’s meant to expose you to new ideas and to get you accustomed to reading and writing the way social scientists do.
So taking Mind and then, say, Self, would be a lot sillier than just taking an intro Psych class your first year to see if you like psychology and taking Self for Sosc.
And Self >>>>> Mind IMO because Mind is the worst of both worlds. On top of being an inadequate Psych class, it doesn’t make you read or write enough to make it a proper Sosc class. Then considering that half the people in there are only taking Mind because they think it’s an “easy” Sosc and have very little interest in doing anything other than maximizing their grade while minimizing the amount of effort they have to put in, you’re basically just wasting a class slot.
And, of course, there’s always the possibility of just taking three classes because your first quarter is going to be hard. There’s no such thing as the “right #” of core classes to take your first year, the quarter system is fairly flexible and you can afford to waste a few class slots, especially at the beginning as you are adjusting.
@HydeSnark I hear you, and she would probably enjoy intro psych, and it’s a class she will almost certainly take at some point, but it’s full. (Is it really true that there’s only one 30-student class? Or maybe more sections or spaces will pop up later? Is it at least offered every quarter?) Also, pm’d you.
DD attempted to get into SOSC this year (as a first year), but for some reason, did not get in. She’s planning on taking SOSC in second year, probably concurrently with 2 quarters of CIV. Commends by HydeSnark and others convinced her that although she is interested in psychology) not as a major), she should take Self (or Power or Classics) rather than Mind. But during her mandatory meeting with her advisor, he recommended Mind. Hmph.
It’s like waiters at a restaurant. If something isn’t moving, it’s their job to sell it.
This feels like a disturbing consequence of the decision to tolerate a class of 1,750+. It’s really not acceptable to have first-years frozen out of Sosc if they want in.
It was unnerving to see so many Sosc. sections already half-filled with 2nd years well before 1st year registration opened up. You definitely got the impression that there were no guarantees of getting one of your choices (and D had to specify nine of them . . . ). It turned reg. into a loss-minimization exercise.
Perhaps the advisor recommended Mind due to the heavy reading/writing associated with Civ? Or because psych. is a field of interest so directing courses of study - even parts of the Core - toward your major makes sense in the 2nd year? FWIW. My D hasn’t met with her advisor yet(!) so has no idea how useful she will be. The rest of the year is pretty straightforward anyway given that she has two courses with a three-part sequence. D needs more help understanding how to explore her areas of interest so she can come up with a major.