<p>If I am going to take in intro. class to a language, does it HAVE to be the whole 5 days a week at 8am intensive thing, or could I just take it like a normal class?</p>
<p>It depends on the lang... Italian, Arabic, Russina, Chinese, are all Intensive-only, I think. The rest have both. If you look up the language on the course listings: explore.georgetown.edu that should be able to tell you more accirately. There are also upper level lit classes in a language that meet like any other class.</p>
<p>hoyadan,</p>
<p>How's the latin american program? I'm pretty much decided that that's where I want to focus my energies...</p>
<p>Are there language placement tests? I have taken five years of Spanish, including Lit (but probably won't pass the AP test). Does that count for anything, or am I going to be forced into first year spanish again? I don't care if I have to go back a bit (my knowledge has become a bit bastardized, I will admit) but I don't want to start COMPLETELY over!</p>
<p>Also, is it possible to take a second language? I read on the SFS website that most people don't have room (unless they want to spend five years undergrad)..I wouldn't want to become good enough to pass proficiency, but I would kind of like to pick up the basics in french or german, just for fun...</p>
<p>Latin American studies is awesome, it really is, the professors are great, the advisor is awesome, and they really want you to be inmersed in Latin America. I'm Mexican, so I got native speaker status which relieved me of my lang. req, but I still take French. It is EXTREMELY hard to take two languages at once, it really just doesn't fit. You should finish one, and then move on to the next. Your placement really depends on the placement test, it has a rep. for being very hard and puting people below where they expected to be, but in my experience it always works out. If you get put in intro, you can still take inter. spanish but it might not be as easy as you think. I took AP spanish lit, and it does help you with your placement if you pass it, so do your SAT II. Have you read Borges and Cortazar? They are my personal favorites... I love them, isn't lat am lit just so original and interesting.</p>
<p>I really wanted to take both Arabic and French, but it sounds like I might have to stick to one.</p>
<p>That is really hard, Arabic is only intensive so it meets everyday, 6 credits, French, unintensive is 3 credits, which puts you at 9 credits, and if you're in SFS, you'll take econ (3), theo(3) or pst (4), prosem (3), and history (3), and that adds up to at least 18 credits, and with intensive it's 21, and that is a very tough course load. 15 is the recommended for frosh, you could do it in theory, but you would really have more work than you bargained for.</p>
<p>Well I'm placed out of one history requirement and one english class, and hopefully I'll get a 5 on at least one of either micro/macro next week, so I figured that I might be able to just take 4 classes for the first semester and then see how it goes.</p>
<p>My daughter is finishing her first year (SFS) and she loves it. It was a hard decision for her (Echols Scholar at UVA or Gtown) but she is so happy with her decision. She has met some wonderful kids who love to do the same things she does.
This spring, she applied and was accepted as a Georgetown tour guide (maybe some of you had her when you visited). She is very involved in some organizations on campus but still has time for M street. I was surprised to find out about the exotic foods she has tried - which at UVA she wouldn't have even been exposed to. Some of her friends have visited from UVA and found the campus/culture amazing.<br>
She lives in Darnall and at first she was upset not being near the rest of the freshman but she has changed her mind. It seems like Darnall has that small Yale-like residence hall where kids eat together and they become very close (I am not saying the others are NOT like that). She told me that they prefer to eat in their dorm and not go across campus to the dining hall. The dorm is located on top of the hill right next to the ICC and Reiss so access to classes is very close.
I have to agree what everyone was saying about the Map of the World. She loves that class!!! She talks about the professor and how "unique" he is and what a fascinating life he has had. I have a collection of dolls from different countries that my uncle bought for me during his travels (before I was born and thereafter so they are VERY old) and my daughter never even looked at them. She wasn't interested but when she came home with her roommate last month they both went through the dolls looking at them and noting how the dolls were from countries that didn't even exist anymore! They both spouted off information about each of the countries as they looked at them. I was really impressed.</p>
<p>She took the usual classes the first year: Proseminar, Econ, the last course in Spanish (took the placement test and even though she got 5s on both spanish APs and a 7 on HL Spanish she only placed into the last course), Latin American History and Problem of God. She did VERY well with her grades (ok, I am a proud mom).
She is in the second semester of the Latin History, some spanish class bc she tried to sign up for the proficiency exam last sem but it was already full (she passed it a few weeks ago) so she had to take another spanish class to stay current, econ, map, and that philosophy class that is required.
With her AP/IB tests she will start as a junior in the fall. Her advisor tried to talk her out of graduating early but she explained that we couldn't afford to send her for the full 4 years and the deal was that if she went there she would get out in 3. So he relented and so she will start her IPOL classes in Sept. Unfortunately, the new junior standing doesn't help in the housing lottery. She and her roommmate got high numbers but I guess they are happy where they will be next year.
She really loves the city - enough that she will be staying on campus and working in the housing/admission office and giving tours. They provide on campus housing for free and she will get a salary for 40 hours of work.
I guess I have gone on long enough - bottom line - Georgetown is a fun place but it will give you a wonderful education.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info on your daughter, clipper, its really helpful. Can you explain more about the free housing job? My parents would be really happy if they didn't have to cover housing for a couple years.</p>
<p>can you say in more detail how she acheived junior standing with AP/IB credit?</p>
<p>hoyadan, yes, I've read both Cortazar and Borges, loved them both! Actually, I've really loved it all (but Sor Juana, Dario, and a few others in particular). I have gained SO much respect for the culture and realized I'm pretty attached to it and don't want to stop studying it. </p>
<p>I don't mind getting sent back a ways, because I definitely need re-exposure to more vocabulary and sentence structure. Lit has really helped with getting some of that down and eliminating the gringoisms, though.</p>
<p>where are you from manderz, "gringo" is a pretty mexican term, I'd recommend taking Span 266, when u feel up to the challenge... b/c it's hard even for me and I'm a native speaker. I can't say I like Sor Juana though, I did love Don Quijote, we had tor ead the whole thing for my class, it was quite a challenge, but worth it. Dario is awesome, I love Neruda, have you read "Oda a la Alcachofa" one of my favorite poems ever!</p>
<p>haha, I'm from San Diego, so there are a lot of latinos around here (mainly Mexican, but a good amount of other South American nationalities). I am actually the only non-native speaker in my class, the rest are Mexican and one Bolivian, and the teacher's from Spain, so I pick up on all sorts of colloquialisms (I guess that's what they're called?)</p>
<p>I liked Don Quijote, but the longer and older stuff is much, much harder for me to read than for the native speakers who tended to enjoy more (Don Quijote, Lazarillo del Tormes) so I think I get less out of it, at this point. I can't believe you read that entire thing! It's huge. We just read the first few sections, I think. </p>
<p>Neruda is great! I have read that poem! There are just so so many great authors, it's really a shame the American curriculum (here in California at least) doesn't expose us to more...then again, I think translation would probably make it a little less wonderful. </p>
<p>It's so good to know they have a strong program! Everyone was telling me to go for Chinese, and I really wanted myself to be excited about it and then I realized, I'd really rather be working in the Americas than Asia!</p>
<p>Dressagechick - she is working on campus this summer in the housing office and the admissions office. When you work full time they provide housing for free just for the summer - I wish it was during the year! She is also taking a class this summer and we are paying for that but at least her housing is taken care of. They are willing to let you work around your class schedule so that you will get your 40 hours in. I think she is living in those nice townhouses off the main gate (at least that is what my husband told me but he might have misunderstood- I will ask her when she calls). She called it an apartment but they are run by the housing office. It has a kitchen and I am not sure how many bedrooms. Her roommate is also staying for the summer working in admissions and taking a class. </p>
<p>JWord - she got advanced standing bc she accumulated 39 Georgetown credits from her AP/IB scores. Her advisor said that her year group was the last year that they would grant more than 30 credits - from now on that is all they will give a student even if they qualify for more. She did not get credit for her 5 in APUSH bc they do not offer a course in SFS that would equate to that. She also did not get any credit for APLatin Lit for some reason. But she got credit for her English, Math, Bio, Chem, Government, Art History, Spanish, 2 classes were covered for her 7 in the IB History, and I forgot which of the others she got credit for (she was an AP National Scholar with all 5s except one 4). She was warned that the advisors try to talk you out of graduating early but you have to know my daughter - she is very determined. LOL We tried to meet with the advisor before she made her decision to go to Georgetown vs. UVA (would have given her 49 credits) but the secretary made the appointment thinking she was a prospective student (junior) and not an accepted student so we didn't get to talk to him personally. She went ahead and made her decision to go there thinking she would be able to graduate at least a year early. She does plan on going abroad next summer but not going for an entire semester. Law school is her goal and she will be applying to Georgetown's law school. She is not sure if she will be allowed to apply early in that special program where juniors can apply and then they do their senior year at the law center since she will have only been on campus 2 years. We shall see. I hope this didn't sound like I was bragging but you asked and I tried to give you as much info as I could w/o being too specific and revealing her identity.</p>
<p>If you have any other questions please ask!</p>
<p>MAnderz- OMG I had the same crisis, ppl, were like, you already speak Spanish, I'm doing French now, but evreyone thought I should do chinese, but my real passion is in Lat Am, I really want to live in Buenos Aires someday!</p>
<p>Hrm. When do you have to declare your Foreign Language?</p>
<p>yea, and when do you pick your courses?
im going to be gone all july, i dont wanna miss the boat on things like that or things like housing</p>
<p>I think we're supposed to arrive on the 27th, and then our (freshman) registration is on the 30th.</p>
<p>jword - you don't pick your classes until you get on campus in August - a few DAYS yes, days before school starts. I remember how GTown was so different than my daughters' friends - they had their schedules etc before leaving for the campus but not her. It is weird. She got all the classes she needed so it wasn't a problem - just buying books was a problem bc you don't know the name of the prof until you get your schedule. </p>
<p>The housing thing is a little different. I am not sure if they are going to do this again but she chose her roommate through a system called CHARMS. You fill out a questionnaire about your likes/dislikes, sleeping/cleaning habits then you go online and email prospective roomies. Once you two decide you want each other one "invites" the other to be roommates. The dorm assignment comes later. Those who do not make a CHARM connection are put together. </p>
<p>Like I said, she ended up in Darnall which was used this year as a freshman dorm rather than a sophomore dorm (because the new Kennedy dorms opened up). We weren't shown Darnall on the tour in April so she and her roommate were kind of ticked. I was in DC on business so I went over to Georgetown and asked to see the room they were assigned. They let me in and I took pics and posted them on webshots for others to view who were just as shocked as she was to be assigned there. Like I said, it turned out to be a good dorm after all and from what she says most kids like being there bc it is closer to everything. The GUTS bus stops right in front of the door. She also has an awesome view of Watergate/Kennedy center/VA (but that is a mom's perspective - she didn't care about the view). LOL</p>
<p>Hope this helps!</p>
<p>Hi Clipper,
I remember you from a year ago and am glad to hear that your daughter is enjoying her time at Georgetown. Two years ago the incoming freshmen registered on-line in August and then adjusted their schedules when they took placement exams during orientation week. Did they change this last year? Also, regarding books - these are usually posted on the bookstores website by class and section. We were able to pre-order and pay in August and just go the to bookstore and pick them up when S arrived on campus. There has never been a problem with returning books if the schedule changes. This can be a huge time saver as the lines at the bookstore can be very long. </p>
<p>Georgetown assigns you an email address and I believe all correspondence regarding housing and course selection is sent to this email. You should get used to checking it as the summer progresses. I believe a packet regarding orientation is sent out sometime in July. My perspective is that Georgetown sends out less "stuff" and it is later coming than some of the other schools. This was our experience two years ago, and I believe if you look back kids last year posted the same thoughts.</p>