<p>Our D will attend in the fall. We are familiar with rate-my-prof site, but would still greatly appreciate more insight on a few basic course questions:</p>
<ol>
<li> Best french prof (with comments pls)</li>
<li> Easiest math course, and prof.</li>
<li> ideal freshman/ fall course selections while you get adjusted to college life; and yes, the
best profs.</li>
<li> What are Poteat and McGlothin like?</li>
</ol>
<p>Many thanks.</p>
<p>1) Which French class? Intro? Intermediate? (I’m a Spanish guy, one of my friends is a French major, so I could easily ask her)</p>
<p>2) Easiest math course is finite math, which is MTH-110. </p>
<p>Here’s a caveat before I say anything else: typically when freshmen sign up for classes, they don’t get to choose the specific section of a class and have to sign up for any course section. It will put the student in whichever one is open, and works with the schedule. BUT, once the schedule is released, there will be a period of add/drop that will allow your D to drop the classes she doesn’t want to pick up the better professors. Make sure that she does this. The initial schedule isn’t final, and most people switch it up a bunch after it comes out. </p>
<p>With that said…</p>
<p>Take Woodard. Don’t hesitate, don’t find another class to conflict. Just take Woodard. He is the man. I had him for Calculus, and he is an awesome guy, has an awesome attendance policy, knows what he’s talking about, and gives a lot of partial credit. He hasn’t taught finite this past year, but he is awesome, and I have nothing but good words to say about him. If you, for some reason, can’t take him, take Hutson or Shell. Rall is known as “Fail 'em all Rall.” </p>
<p>In the end, it is finite math though. I’ve never heard anyone call it remotely difficult.</p>
<p>If your question was, more broadly, what is the easiest math GER, the answer to that question is possibly computer science. This class is somewhat hard to get into as a freshman, however. I think finite is probably less work and easier, but if your D is really terrible at math, this is a non-math option. It’s like computer applications–Excel and stuff like that.</p>
<p>3) What is her intended major? What are her interests? Does she have any AP credit that will knock out any GERs?</p>
<p>Assuming she’s a humanities type (based on the fact that she’s looking for the easiest math class), here’s what I would do (note: there are five course selections here, but your D will, obviously, be taking just four courses. This is what she should put into WebAdvisor for her courses, in this order. Put these courses in as a block. For example, Political Thought should go in the same block as the religion classes. She’ll get one or the other. She’ll get three out of four course options:
French 110, 115 or 201
Math 110–Anyone but Rall</p>
<p>HES 110–Matthews or Caterisano</p>
<p>PSC 103–Intro to Political Thought with Tessitore (Note: this class is really easy for people who are good at a) taking notes; b) following directions; c) writing cookie cutter concise essays) OR a non-Turner taught religion course (Bible and Ultimate Meaning, for example). </p>
<p>I would not recommend philosophy. First off, nobody actually majors in philosophy, so this course doesn’t help advance any major or future course options for 95% of people. Second off, the department is really hit or miss, and the good sections get snatched by upperclassmen. </p>
<p>Lastly, your D will have her first year seminar. This course is almost impossible to switch. It will be either a writing or non-writing seminar. There aren’t really a huge number of options here. Take what you get.</p>
<p>4) Poteat and McGlothlin are the nicest hall-style bathroom freshmen dorms. The rooms are big, have sinks in them, and are relatively recently renovated. These two dorms are the most coveted by incoming freshmen. A note, however, is that because of this, if your D applies to get into them, there is a decent chance she won’t get either. Lots of people apply for Poteat or McGlothlin, with South Housing as a preference. It’s a numbers game, and a bunch of these people are going to end up in Blackwell. Keep this in mind when applying for housing. Blackwell is a great time, but the rooms are tiny, and it does tend to be one of the louder dorms.</p>
<p>Let me know about some more of the details, and I can be of more assistance. Hope my answers helped.</p>
<ol>
<li> although D had 4 yrs of HS french, she wants to start at a less rigorous level. assume there is a placement test?</li>
<li> again, although she had math through AP Calc, she wants to fulfill minimum requirements, then take another look.</li>
<li> she has 6 AP’s and a 4.2 GPA, but wants to use them as prep, not credit. She looks forward to really sampling a broad liberal arts menu for the first two years, then focus more (probably) on english, business or communications. She is a pretty good writer and would value a really great creative writing course.</li>
</ol>
<p>One final question: my D’s friend would value your opinion about spanish profs, especially Grant and Mills. Also, your opinion about calc profs, especially Cook, Lewis, Poole, and Sloughter.</p>
<p>Thanks for your great help!!</p>
<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>
<p>A bit late, but if she has AP credits in history-oriented things (excluding AP Gov’t) and English, they’re basically “useless” in the sense that they don’t count towards classes that would fulfill those GER’s.</p>
<p>^^Yeah, I wasn’t very happy when I found this out. Those credits are pretty useless.</p>
<p>Something I forgot to mention earlier:
I think there’s a chance that those credits might marginally help in priority to get into classes, but I’m not sure & am ultimately just guessing here.</p>