<p>1) She’ll probably be put in intermediate french, which is the 201 level. It’s mostly a review of basic language concepts. Most freshmen with prior language experience start at this level. I asked around and heard bad things about Strickland, who is one French 201 professor, and good things about Culbertson, who is the other. So I guess that I’d recommend Culbertson.</p>
<p>I had both Grant and Mills. Grant is terrible. She doesn’t really teach, and Spanish is not even her best second language (she also teaches elementary French at Furman). Mills is much better, and is very organized and on top of class. She’s somewhat difficult for the elementary level.</p>
<p>2) Did she take AB or BC? Did she get a 4 or a 5 on the exam or the AB subscore? If so, she’ll get credit for at least MTH-150, so she won’t have to take math at Furman. I would personally recommend against taking a math course if she already has AP credit for it, and she doesn’t particularly like math. She’ll be bored senseless in finite if she’s already done calc, and the higher level classes are incredibly difficult. The math department is also one of Furman’s weakest. Most of the professors are weak. Additionally, classes like statistics can be brutally dry and difficult. I would argue strongly that it’s best to use AP credit to get out of subjects you don’t like, and into upper level courses in subjects of interest. As for the four professors you mentioned, all are teaching MTH-150, which is equivalent to AP Calc AB. I took an honors calc class in high school, and 150 was essentially a review. </p>
<p>Inside tip for picking math professors that we’ve come up with here at Furman (and I’m not sure what the exact line is, so I apologize if there are Furman students reading this and I’m slightly botching it): you’ll be fried by Cook, drowned by Poole, and killed by Sloughter. Those are the three no, no professors, by Furman common wisdom. Lewis I haven’t heard great things about, either.</p>
<p>Your daughter will more likely be placed in 151. Again, I’d recommend Woodard. Frick I’ve heard good things about and she’s a relatively new prof. Hutson is one of the better professors in the department, as well, so on the whole it seems like 151 has a fairly good line-up of professors next fall. If your D gets placed in one section, and can’t stand it, she can switch into another after the first day or two.</p>
<p>With your D looking to major in humanities and already having a calculus background, I would not advise her to continue to higher level calculus. It’s a difficult class and it won’t contribute to a GER or to a major.</p>
<p>Depending on what classes she’s taken, she’ll get either general credit from the APs, or credit for specific courses. Sciences, math, and government are specific; History and English are general.</p>
<p>3) Your D have to take a first year writing seminar before she can take any upper level English course, so don’t plan on being able for her to do that first semester. Her seminar will potentially have some creative writing in it, but that is not guaranteed. Some do, some don’t. Mine didn’t. </p>
<p>Seeing as how she has math credit already, I would take a schedule with French, the first year seminar, an ultimate questions GER (political thought, philosophy, or religion), and HES. This will be a very manageable courseload, will have enough writing to get her accustomed to college-level, and will knock out some key GERs. </p>
<p>Second semester, try to get a science GER done, take another language (if desired–201 will fulfill the GER), take the 2nd first year seminar, get a history credit, and then a social science course (government, sociology, economics, or psychology. I’d recommend Econ, if she’s thinking about business. This will let her see if that’s something she’s actually interested in pursuing, and will fill a GER, and if she does business, a major requirement.)</p>
<p>Coming in with 24 credits (if she got/gets 4s or 5s on all the exams), your D has a lot of flexibility in course selection. If she has credit for math and/or science from APs, and she doesn’t like these subjects, then she really has no need to study them more in college. The great thing about AP credit is, at least for me, that it allows one to focus in on what they really love, instead of getting bogged down in intro classes and subjects they don’t like. </p>
<p>Because of AP, I was able to get the first two intro classes in my major, Political Science, knocked out before I even got here. That allowed me, this semester, to take the last of the four intro classes, and one upper level class. Those were my favorite classes of freshman year. If I had not had the credit, I would have been stuck in classes that were not nearly as stimulating or difficult as the ones I did take. Use AP to make your life easier, and your schedule better.</p>