Weed Out Classes (MATH 1300/155a)

I’m an upcoming freshman and I’m having a bit of a problem with course planning.

Since I’m planning to be an ECON major, I included MATH 1300(155a) with Lori Rafter and ECON 1010(Principles of Macro). But when I was looking at the forums, there were many talks about the notorious weed-out classes at Vandy which mostly included Science and Engineering classes(pre-med course).

I was surprised to see that Calculus was much debated in Vandy forums. So I’ll lay out my questions.

  • The much debated question : Math 1200 or Math 1300 (150 vs 155). From what I gather, the 1200 sequence is a standardized sequence (syllabus, quizzes, exams made by the Department, not the professor), and the 1300 sequence's rigor wildly differs from professor to professor. Nevertheless, the difficulties of said sequences are pretty vague to me. Someone is saying that the standardized exams from the math dept are pretty hard, and others say that it cannot be compared to the difficulty of the 1300 sequence's personally-crafted exams.

So, what was your experience at Calculus courses? What professor did you meet? What is it about calculus courses that makes them ‘weed-out’ classes? What would you recommend to an econ major, 1200 or 1300?

  • I heard someone say that Macro (Econ 1010) is another weed-out course and I have hard time believing this since many econ majors say that the Econ courses' difficulty is relatively moderate compared to the hard majors(pre med). I also found out that for many years professor Buckles had been in charge of the introductory courses at Econ. (He taught 1010 in Spring 2016) I was surprised to see Prof, Robert Driskill as the Main Prof in Principles of Macro. It would seem that this Fall 2016 course is his first introductory class.

Does anybody have more insight about this matter? As to why this change happened? Or as to what kind of professor Driskill is? I can’t see any helpful comments at ratemyprofs since there’s no recent reviews of this professor.

Thanks in advance. Since economics is a popular major in Vandy, I hope I can get insightful answers from you guys.

Interested in this too. If someone can explain why intro chemistry is also so hard then that’d be great as well.

I’m an Econ major. You need at least one semester of calculus for Econ, so if you’re taking math only for Econ requirements, take Survey of calculus (math 140 according to old numbers). If you don’t want to take that, take 1200. If you want to go higher up in math, start with 1300.

DO NOT take math 1300 (155) if you do not intend to study math beyond that one required semester. I started with 1200 which I found easy because I had already done that stuff in high school, but there is absolutely no reason not to take 140 if you’re taking calculus for only one semester. If you feel like you should take at least two semesters of calculus, do the 1200 sequence. I’ve heard 155 a or 1300 isn’t that bad, but 155b is brutal.

Buckles is my major advisor and he told me he’s taking a semester off to write and research. He’ll be back in Spring 2017. I don’t know much about Driskill, but intro Econ courses are not weed outs as much as intro STEM classes. You’ll be fine if you keep up with the work and study regularly. Econ is not part of the grade deflation story at Vandy.

I placed out of the intro calc sequences so I don’t know much about them. If you’re an Econ major I would recommend taking up to linear algebra. This is needed for many grad programs (not just for Econ) and it is a prerequisite for some advanced Econ electives like econometrics. It will also make you much more hirable.

Econ 100 and 101 are not weed outs, although some people found them difficult. Overall, Econ is a pretty easy major. You will easily find time to go out 4+ nights/week. Never had Driskill so I don’t know much about him.

@Vandy93 : You sure econometrics is an elective? I thought most schools required it and the stats course

Also, I thought that typically double majoring w/econ. is normal, and especially with something like math is helpful. I would imagine such a thing is common as it is elsewhere.

@bernie12: econometrics is an elective at Vandy. There is a required econ stats course (Econ 150 or 155).

Double majoring, or at least adding a minor to the Econ degree, is common. Popular are financial econ and math. It is definitely very helpful and if you are an econ major I would recommend adding at least a math or CS minor, along with a financial economics minor.

@Sophie1295 Oh, he’s taking a semester off. I hope Prof. Driskill doesn’t ‘kill’ this intro course.

Could you elaborate a bit more on the calculus courses? Is the difficulty of the 1200 sequence exams (made by the department) not that high? Since measuring a course’s difficulty is, well, difficult, let’s use a parameter. Does the exams’ difficulty surpass the textbook’s or homework’s?

I know I’m bothering you with a lot of seemingly useless questions, but bear with me for one more question : What do you think makes a calculus class a 'weed-out class?

I took 150a and 150b so I really can’t comment on the 155 sequence (but it is a truth universally acknowledged that 155b is not fun). For 150a, a grad student taught us and it was pretty much algebra, limits, delta epsilon proofs, and derivatives. The exams were similar to the problems done in class and assigned as HW from Brigg’s calculus. The tests were long, but nothing you couldn’t do if you went to class. It was hardly calculus in the first part of the course.

I took 150b with Pigg, and she had these packets of notes with very specific questions. We mainly studied from that, but the homework assigned from Brigg’s was similar to those. The tests were very similar to what we did in class… no major curveballs. Take Pigg if you can. She’s very organized and is very helpful. 150b continued with derivatives and had integration as well.

What makes calculus a weed out class? Most people struggle with time as some tests can be long. Some people didn’t have ANY calculus background, so these courses can seem fast paced if the material is completely new to you. But if you have some calculus background and do the problems assigned, the 1200 sequence is very manageable.

I once again urge you to take Survey of Calculus if you do not plan on taking more than a semester of calculus. Yes, taking math as high up as you can will look good/is a requirement for econometrics and game theory/grad schools, but if you do not plan on taking more math, just stick with survey of calculus or the 1200 sequence. As an Econ major, I recommend you start taking managerial studies courses as soon as possible if you want to go into finance or consulting. Classes like accounting and fundamentals of management are grade boosters and very practical. I also suggest exploring the financial economics and corporate strategy minors.

And no worries! I was freaking out about this decision in 2014 too!

I agree with @Sophie1295 that as an Econ major you definitely should take practical managerial studies courses if you want to get into finance or consulting. However, I also recommend that you take advanced math courses, and math-heavy Econ courses (such as econometrics). If you want to get into finance you should probably add at least a minor in math or CS. An Econ degree without any real quantitative courses is pretty useless unless in most cases. Both grad schools and employers won’t look at you favorably.

*pretty useless in most cases.