Tentative Freshman Year Courses

<p>thanks a ton. u rule.</p>

<p>Which courses are in Integrated Science? All Biology or an assortment of different sciences?</p>

<p>just came in after 3 weeks of physics preparation. Slept 2 hours last 2 nights, learning for the Bacaluareate.... so me kinda dizzy. me thinking:</p>

<p>MAT 215 Analysis in a Single Variable
MAT 217 Honors Linear Algebra
PHY 205 Clasical Mechanics B
Fre 103 Intensive Beginers French
PHI 202 Introduction to Moral Philosophy</p>

<p>haha revan looks like we're gonna share 3 courses :D :D :D
MAT 217, Fre103 and PHI202... haha, that's so!!! cool</p>

<p>... unless fre103 is huge, which i hope it's not (60 ppl)</p>

<p>well, i think im gonna take 5 courses first semester because if i stick with mech eng, im gonna try to get two certificates, one in finance and the other in the WWS. so:</p>

<p>1-2. that integrated full year course combining two semester PHY courses with one calc course (currently scheduled one intro PHY course and MAT203)
3. JPN101
4. ECO200, Microeconomic Theory
5. POL210</p>

<p>gonna study over the summer and place out of the intro chem course, cuz i hear its rough.</p>

<p>cool pav.... now i know who i will ask for homework in math!.....
..........and french...... and philosophy</p>

<p>I was also thinking VIS 211 some time ago, but I doubt I wanna give that much time to photography. PLus i think it's too orientated to the printing of photos. </p>

<p>The bad part about being a physics major is that you also have to major in math! Or in any case, you take enough courses to major math as well. Cuz you need linear algebra (most physics phenomena are linear). YOu need analysis and calculus (duuuuh....). Wanna study General Relativity? Quantum Mechanics? Welcome to Topology, differential Geometry and Complex Analysis...... and the list goes on forever.....</p>

<p>However the best part about being a physics major is that you also take a lot of math courses!!!!!!</p>

<p>Oh and Math 215 isn't closed. Not all of it. I think they just cut it in half.</p>

<p>Ah, didn't notice there were two classes. Oops, my bad.</p>

<p>


haha, can you believe it, you've really determined me to try this :D. I have such a huge admiration for the art of acting, that my taking such a course usually seems quite unreal... but with the right environment and people ;), i hope i'll do it</p>

<p>tunanfish, aparent, i've got some explaining to do :o about taking 5 courses, and it being a "breeze": i won't name the freshman who said this, obviously, but i'll explain a bit better the context in which he said those things to me:
he's a probable math major, took 2 math courses out of 4+writing during fall, and... um... survived :D . He's stellar at math, so these 2 courses did not add to much to the amount of workload... and, although he isn't quite a very activity oriented person, he did do a lot of stuff meantime: trips to newyork and boston, crew, the whole winter break at home (without studying :D ) etc...</p>

<p>also, the discussion in which he said the exact phraze "a breeze" was when i was asking him, quite worried, about how difficult it will be, and quoting sources from here (cc). He got angry, and exaggerated... </p>

<p>good... that should clear things up :)</p>

<p>Yeah, I agree. I took 5 courses, including MOL214 and WRI seminar, two supposedly very difficult classes, in a semester and I didn't think it was that bad. I was still going out 3-4 times a week, plus ECs, so don't fret too much about it. </p>

<p>On a side note, PHI202 is amazing. Great lecturer, great topics, great reading material.</p>

<p>i'm not sure why everyone thinks that the writing seminar is so much work. Granted, i did not do all that well in it, but then again most people get somewhere in the B range in their writing seminar. I personally found that all of my other classes had more work, the writing seminar just met at 8:30. Still, im going to repeat that 5 classes is hard when youre first adjusting. Touky took 5 classes second semester, as did I. And it wasnt too much work or too hard. I had the Prince every monday from 5-11 and ultimate frisbee, as well as going out several nights a week. I just think that most people need some time to adjust, and 5 classes first semester makes it hard. Its not even about the amount of work that would make the class impossible. Its just easy to take on too much, thinking that you did it in high school.</p>

<p>thanks for the input...</p>

<p>it really made me laugh "it's easy to take on too much, thinking that you did it in high school" </p>

<p>hahahahhaa... :D :D :D</p>

<p>all high school meant to me was one semester per year of boring mornings, 5 days per week... </p>

<p>but seriously, i want to take 5 courses during fall cause i really can't wait to learn it all :rolleyes: ... I have almost never written a homework since 9-10th grade, so i think that i'm gonna have to adapt pretty fast, but i'll do it... after all, i know of 2-3 guys who did the same the years past </p>

<p>and if this situation seems exaggerated and incredible to you, reader, bare in mind that there is a humongous difference between learning something you hate and learning something you love...</p>

<p>Revan, how much physics have you taken? Cause PHY 205 (the hardest course in the PHY curriculum) is not something that most jump right into.</p>

<p>Are the writing seminars standardized, or are some drastically more difficult or involved than others?</p>

<p>since they have the common purpose to teach essay writing, and since the topic is just a pretext, i'd say they're all the same...</p>

<p>of course that if you get a topic you despise it'll be harder and more annoying... but that shouldn't happen</p>

<p>they're no where near the same. Yes, all writing seminars have 4 papers due over the course of the semester, and each with drafts. Also, all writing seminars have atleast one longer research paper (~12-15pgs). thats about where the similarities end.</p>

<p>The style of writing youre taught, the length of the papers, and the amount of homework all depend on the seminar and the professor. I took science, politics, and policy and as our final paper we had to write a short op-ed piece (~2 pages double spaced)--other people had to write a long research paper-- the style of writing was short and concise, even if papers were well written but more verbose, they got downgraded. You have to know the style of writing. There are art history writing seminars, law-related ones, science-y ones, public policy, fiction writing, english, history. Each genre has a different style. Also the amount of reading is vastly different. I had about 20 pages a week, not very much at all. However, some of my friends had whole novels to read in a week (much more typical for a princeton class). Also, some seminars required detailed group feedback, or letters written describing the strengths and weaknesses of class members papers.</p>

<p>In short, the topic is not just a pretext, it is the class. We learned about science and public policy, not about writing (well we had a class or two on writing, and spend more time critiquing others papers than in a normal class, but still my point is that the focus was not on writing, but rather on the topic) my friends found the same thing, although certain seminars may focus more on writing, im not sure. But in general, the topic is the main focus of the class.</p>

<p>Also, while most writing seminar courses both focus on different topics and have differently-formatted essays, most -- but not all -- follow a general pattern. The first two essays will be shorter essays (usually about five pages), the third essay, a longer research paper, and the last, a short work unique to the class. I took WRI 134, "Watching War from Home," and in that our final piece was also an op-ed column having something to do with a contemporary war. I wrote a piece supporting Rashid Khalidi's candidacy for a faculty spot at Princeton.</p>

<p>


</p>

<p>dunno man, i don't want to go through all the introductory courses, like introductory mechanics. I already know how to solve basic problems in Lagrangian Formalism, and i've studied most of the Mechanics Course from Landau and Lifschitz. It's gonna be tough but i hope i can manage it. Do i have to take AP test though? I have 800 on SAT II physics, a bronze medal at International Physics olympiad and i really really really don't feel like taking an AP test....</p>

<p>you should know that phy 205 is known on campus as death mech, and is the weeder course for physics majors who have already made it through the freshman level weeder course (phy 105-106) and still decided that they want to be physics majors--and not only that they wanted to be phhysics majors but that they wanted to take the hard route to that major. There is also phy 203, which i think that i am taking, which is a slightly easier (relatively) form of the course.</p>

<p>you do not need to take any AP tests or placement tests, contrary to what princeton technically says, you can register for any level course that you want. They figure that if you incorrectly judge your ability and readiness, it will be your problem. For example, I am not taking mat 104 even though i did not technically place out of it, rather I am just going to mat 201</p>

<p>i want to take the hard route to physics major. Plus a friend from Romania took PHY 205 two years ago as a freshman and told me that he thinks i should do the same.</p>