<p>First semester will be busy with CSCI 180, CSCI 101L, Engr 102, CTAN 452, and writing 140. What would be an interesting GE Cat 6 that's not impossibly hard for a CS student ? Ant recommendations?
Woukd one of the learning option courses count here?</p>
<p>man, that seems like a lot - 18 units on 5 classes and 1 seminar? For first semester freshman?</p>
<p>Remember that in the professional schools, courses are often put at 2 or 3 units, for the reason that if they were 4 units, then people would require a truly ridiculous number of credits to graduate. You shouldn't automatically assume that a 2 or 3 unit course is less work, then.</p>
<p>I've heard that the sociology GE courses are easy, though I haven't taken any.</p>
<p>edit: if you have to take lots of credits, for whatever reason, consider using your pass/no pass, you can use on one GE course</p>
<p>I second that....seems like too much for your first semester.
Also, I found writ 140 to be difficult and time consuming so realize the amoung of work you'll need to do for writing.
And the eng/cs classes probably require as much work as a 4 unit class so don't try to cram as many classes as possible just because the units add up to 18...although I've had 18 units every semester, the 2 unit courses that I take for fun, I also take P/F.</p>
<p>I took Sociology 142 (Diversity and Racial Conflict) with Professor Emeka my freshman year as my Category 6. It's a great class and it also fills your diversity requirement which is a great thing to get out of the way. Don't bother taking it pass/fail either, it's not a hard class. I had the same course load my freshman year as an engineer, you'll be fine. Also, you don't you have to take Calculus as a CS major? Why are you taking the CTAN course? Have you had orientation yet where they tell you which classes you should take?</p>
<p>Look at page 4 of this pdf, it's a flow chart for what CS majors need to take during their 4 years at USC: <a href="http://viterbi.usc.edu/assets/026/50460.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://viterbi.usc.edu/assets/026/50460.pdf</a></p>
<p>I took LING 115: Language, Society, and Culture, and it was awesome! I took this class with many other Archtecture (which also has a deadly workload)majors and we survived. The class is interesting and manageable with a tough major.</p>
<p>AMST 101: Race and Class in Los Angeles. for one, it fulfills the Diversity requirement. that and it's a very interesting class which makes you think of social structures and constructs in ways you never really considered. and considering the fact that you'll be living in LA for 4 years, it's more relevant than you'd think. doing the all of readings isn't absolutely necessary if you just go to lecture. right now, i'm poised to get an A in the class unless i somehow get less than a 77% on the final.</p>
<p>hmmm...I'm lacking in GE's too (namely, diversity is going to be the sticker, I think), so how is AMST 101 in terms of writing? Real essays or just short answer? I can deal with readings being a lot of work, but not so much writing.</p>
<p>Besides, I've already taken one GE related to Los Angeles (arlt 101) and I'm not sure that I would be interested in another :)</p>
<p>unfortunately, i don't have a great answer for that...it depends on the professor...like last semester i the professor for AMST101 was Saito, i think he had at least one or two longer (4-5 page) papers in the middle of the semester. but with professor Gualtieri, the only essays we had in the middle of the semester were two 2 page essays that contributed exclusively to the discussion grade of the class, and then the 6-8 page research paper.</p>
<p>I thought it sounded like a busy semester as well. However, this is the schedule that the CS engineering came up with for the CS games major first semester. It is also pretty close to that of the regular CS and CS business schedule. Who should we point this out to?</p>
<p>look at this uinder gaming</p>
<p><a href="http://viterbi.usc.edu/assets/026/50460.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://viterbi.usc.edu/assets/026/50460.pdf</a></p>
<p>Well, if I could do my first semester over again, I'd take writ 140/cat 6 in the spring...but if that's the schedule that they recommend, then it should be doable.</p>
<p>If they still offer Religion and Ethical Issues (Rel 140?), that class was awesome if you're into deep thinking and debate. We basically sat around and argued about ethics most of the time, and our grades were based on a few quizzes, two papers, and class participation. I was an architecture major and managed an A.</p>
<p>sunnydaysee, what would you recommend taking first semester instead of writ 140/cat 6?</p>
<p>The suggested schedule for my major CSCI/Business Admin is:
Fall: cat 6, writ 140, BUAD 304, CSCI 101L, ENGR 102
Spring: ECON 203, CSCI 102, MATH 125, EE 106</p>
<p>The recommended schedule seems a bit strange, because it has 18 units first semester freshman year (including writ 140) but 4 semesters with 15 units or less</p>
<p>There might be very good reasons for this - perhaps certain courses are only offered once per year in specific semesters, so it's important to take things in the right order and right time.</p>
<p>I would email the CS advisor, Steve, and ask if there's a way to move classes around a bit to lighten 1st semester. Since he can better judge your background, he might suggest something or even say you'll be fine with that schedule.</p>
<p>Well, the only reason I would have liked to take writ 140/cat 6 in the spring is because writing is one of my weaker subjects and I would have had more time in the spring. I would have taken other GE's like cat 4 or minor classes (although you probably don't have space for a minor).
But if you find your writing to be decent, you can go w/ the schedule they recommend.
As a side note, you can take econ 203/205 at a CC (I took 205 at USC and it was a waste of time and money)
And BUAD 304 is a fairly easy/boring class (although they've tried to make it more difficult)</p>
<p>Writing is one of my weaker subjects as well. But I will try emailing the advisor to see what is best.</p>
<p>Hm, taking econ 203 at a CC sounds like a good option right now to free up some space. </p>
<p>Thanks jbusc and sunnydaysee!</p>
<p>Take writing 140 first semester. That way it won't ruin your GPA your second semester and you'll be "improving".</p>
<p>but isn't WRIT-140 required with a GE Cat 6? and is WRIT-140 really that bad? (seems like a lot of people here think the grading is harsh...)</p>
<p>WRIT-140 actually helped my GPA (or at least, it didn't harm it), but everyone is different. Yes, you need a GE Cat 6 to go along with your WRIT-140 because your WRIT-140 essay assignments will roughly deal with the GE Cat 6 subject matter. For example, I took PHIL-140 to go with WRIT-140, so the essay topics I had in WRIT-140 dealt with philosophical/social issues. That being said, you can take a GE Cat 6 course more than once (for example, once with WRIT-140, and once without WRIT-140), but I think the general consensus is that you wouldn't want to use your precious units and time that way (unless you really want to take a certain GE Cat 6 course, or unless it's a lower division requirement for your major or minor).</p>
<p>At best, WRIT-140 is subjective. That course has gained reputation as starting students off with an average grade in the "C" range for the first essay (out of five essays sans the one in-class essay and final portfolio assignment). A "C" on the first essay actually is not that bad because it accounts for only 5% of the total grade in that course. Nonetheless, even students who think they write really well end up doing mediocre by their standards. Furthermore, students who think they're not such great writers sometimes end up doing quite well in the course. The writing (and the expectations of the course) will likely be something that you've never been through before. It seems like the most important thing is to conform to the WRIT-140 standard as quickly as possible.</p>