<p>Thought it might be fun to make another pointless list:</p>
<p>From first two years:</p>
<p>Easiest: Econ 153 (Intro. Macroeconomics)</p>
<p>Hardest: Math 243 (Math Analysis I)</p>
<p>another pointless list:]]]</p>
<p><em>Another</em> assumes there was a previous /pointless/ list. Im not aware of one. But hey, some peoples trash is anothers treasure. I suppose it depends which dumpster youre diving in. :)</p>
<p>I would submit US News rankings as exhibit A.</p>
<p>Easiest - "How Computers Work" and "How the Internet Works"</p>
<p>Hardest - Don't know....everything else was about equal.</p>
<p>Favorite - Constitutional Law</p>
<p>I would submit US News rankings as exhibit A.</p>
<p>Great point. Ive referred to US News as the rankings for so long, I forgot in really its nothing more than an arbitrary /list/ that can be manipulated to arrive at whatever conclusion the editors desire that particular yr.</p>
<p>Easiest: CSC 111, Computer Science I</p>
<p>I can't think of one class that was the hardest.</p>
<p>hey, my lowest grade at smith was in intro macro! </p>
<p>easiest: acting I
hardest: intro latin, or mathematical statistics
favorites: latin, or writing about american society (taught by a national book award finalist...we got to eat dinner at his house with him and his wife, who is herself one of my favorite authors!)</p>
<p>Stacy, I'm not surprised that one person's hardest is another person's easiest...only surprised that it popped up so fast. Apparently my D had almost a Vulcan mind meld with Prof. Mahdavi in Macro. When something like that happens, you just go with the flow.</p>
<p>The language classes in general seem not to be cinches.</p>
<p>Hardest: Tie between American Lit Before 1865, and Shaping the Modern Middle East 1798-1950 (though, the Mid East class was my favorite as Smith thus far). </p>
<p>Easiest: Reading and Writing Short Poems (terrific class, but easy to handle)</p>
<p>That Shaping the Modern Middle East class sounds terrific.</p>
<p>i had mahdavi too, and i'll readily admit that she's a fantastic prof who's more than happy to explain things to students. had i gotten the help she was offering and that i needed, i could've gotten an a. </p>
<p>i think that's the case with most classes at smith--if you're willing to put the work in, you'll be successful. it's just a matter of how much work it is and how fun the professor makes the work.</p>
<p>Although not a class, for many women the most dreaded test was the swimming proficiency exam. Fortunately the test is no longer required.</p>
<p>Speaking of sports, Smith was the 1st womens college to join the NCAA</p>
<p>Easiest: Elementary Russian with Katia </p>
<p>Hardest: Any class with Justin Cammy- very demanding professor with tons of readings but he makes them interesting.</p>
<p>But really, I don't think there's really a class at Smith that's really, really hard because we have the freedom (hence the lack of distribution requirements) to choose a challenging but manageable path to graduation. So I don't think we can have that kind of judgement unless someone here actually did go way out of her comfort zone. For me, had I been forced to continue with my calc I class (with Cohen), it would probably have been a difficult class for me.</p>
<p>easiest: the beloved and lost social ethics.
hardest: my thesis! :)
or the history of psychoanalysis. film theory. ditto to writing about american society, stacy. introduction to architecture.</p>
<p>So I don't think we can have that kind of judgement unless someone here actually did go way out of her comfort zone.]]]]</p>
<p>Interesting you should bring that up. Course requirements were part of the conversation at an alumnae meeting with Pres. Christ</p>
<p>Ive mentioned this before; at Brown, after the course requirements were abolished, 95% of the students would have fulfilled them, regardless of the lack of a requirement to do so.</p>
<p>"A guest noted that she took some courses just for the fun of learning. Do students get to take courses just for fun, something out of their areas and maybe even out of their comfort zone? President Christ assured her that they do.
Another guest said that physical education courses were required when she was at Smith, so she took the weird ones like golf. Swim test was also required. President Christ explained that phys ed is no longer required, but that those classes are popular and have long lines to sign up. She also mentioned that she teaches "The Arts Around Us", which is a for fun class. Students attend an art or cultural event and report back to the class.
One person returned to the point of required classes and suggested that students might avoid classes where theyre not strong because a lower grade could affect their GPA for grad school.<br>
5
This lead to a comment that some are thinking that far ahead and know what they want and are under pressure to achieve. Womens liberation is great, but we havent done well teaching our daughters how to achieve balance. President Christ admitted that womens colleges struggle with encouraging ambitious dreams while validating all womens choices.
An attendee recalled expressing to her mother that she wished shed done better at Smith. Her mother assured her that the backbone of life is B and C students, who do excellent work."</p>
<p>My fav is the J-term class, Billiards for Fun and Profit. </p>
<p><strong><em>There are course requirements if you're applying to med/vet school. Organic chem and calc aren't what I would call a breeze</em></strong></p>
<p>She feels this plays into teaching civil discourse, learning how to converse when dining with others, and etiquette. She always felt the mark of a Smithie was a degree of sophistication.
In response to these comments, President Christ mentioned ^there is a J-term class this year that incorporates etiquette in several social situations, including dining^</p>
<p>I can think of a few colleges that could use that class :)</p>
<p>That Shaping the Modern Middle East class sounds terrific.}}</p>
<p>It was. The prof, Dan Brown, was born in Pakistan to American missionary parents, he's one of the handful of Americans who are also native Urdu speakers. He's not a tenured prof, but he is AMAZING, and I worship him (well, not literally, but you get the idea). The class really covers more history than the title says. You start by learning about the roots of Islam and the roots of the Shi'i/Sunni sects and why they matter, and you go all the way up to the Iranian revolution and even beyond, so way more than 1789-1950. But it was HARD, there was lots of reading, and the discussion was tough.</p>
<p>My d. reports they really poured on the work in Italian, made even tougher by the fact that there are more applications for the JYA program in Florence than there are spaces.</p>
<p>But worth it - given that she has to take a pledge not to use English while she's there, so needs to be prepared.</p>
<p>how are the chinese and korean language courses?? would it be too much to take both during my first year?</p>
<p>Hardest I've had (in 3 semesters): Genes and Genomes, hands down. Partly b/c it's a /really dense/ lecture and I don't learn well that way.</p>
<p>Easiest: Swahili (through the 5Cs), or Electoral Politics</p>