<p>Can anyone please explain what these are? I've look on the website but can't find a ton of information about what Freshman Clusters exactly are.</p>
<p>read the brochures. it just seems to be introductory classes that arouse one's interests. a lot of the classes seem interesting.</p>
<p>hi, mims- freshman clusters are year-long (3-quarter) classes that basically get a lot of your GE's out of the way. The first two quarters are usually taught by a tag team of 2-3 upper-level professors.</p>
<p>There are 2-3 papers per quarter, and two lectures and a discussion per week. The third quarter is a seminar course (once a week) that requires one or two larger papers.</p>
<p>Clusters are a great way to fulfill GE's, but are year-long commitments. Professors can be really interesting- a professor I had for Cluster 21 was one of the world's foremost experts on the French Revolution. If you happen to be interested in this one, it's fun, but quite possibly the hardest course a freshman can take.</p>
<p>are these like addition to regular classes one takes or like a path or grouping of classes, and usually how many classes do freshmen usually take?</p>
<p>nope, it's just a regular class that shows up on your schedule like all your other classes. The only rub is you have to stay on the whole year to receive credit.</p>
<p>I took 3 classes last quarter, and 4 classes this and next quarters. This is pretty indicative of the typical- but if you plan on a major dealing with numbers in any way, shape, or form, you'd be leaning towards 4</p>
<p>to born2slack...
did you participate in the freshmen cluster?
would it be better for a student to join a cluster rather than taking GE's manually? I don't really understand how joining the cluster would help one get rid of GE's when you can just pick and choose without obilgation. am i right?</p>
<p>So do most freshmen usually decide to join this cluster program?</p>
<p>Is the only bad thing about this is that it's year-long?</p>
<p>Clusters are like combo meals that gets you the same thing for cheaper (fewer courses) than if you order the fries, burger, and coke separately. </p>
<p>My cluster #21, for example, fulfills 3 GE's and a Writing II requirement. That's the equivalent of 4 (often very boring) GE classes. This works best if you pick a cluster that interests you, because you need to be in it the whole year. </p>
<p>Now your major might require fries as well; in that case, pick a cluster that offers hash browns instead, to avoid doubling on fries</p>
<p>I am enrolled in a cluster. And I'm not sure if most are, but there is certainly a sizeble interest.</p>
<p>It's really up to your preferences. It's not necessarily better to not taking a cluster.</p>
<p>Technically, there aren't any obligations in a cluster. You can drop it after the first quarter, but then it defeats the entire purpose of the cluster - you won't get the benefits.</p>
<p>These benefits may include:
- a year long course so that a) it resembles high school b) you get more coverage of a topic c) you have the same classmates
- spreading out of papers over two quarters instead of one
- satisfies multiple College, as well as College Honors, requirements (I don't think there is a combination of 3 regular GE classes that satisfies 15 units of honors, 1 Honors Collegium, seminar, writing II, and 3 ge classes)
- unique topic that is interdisciplinary
- proferssors that care about teaching
- not significantly textbook based</p>
<p>are cluster courses significantly more difficult than normal GE courses?</p>
<p>Mims, that depends on your interest in the subject, the GE courses and the cluster your talking about, and the professors who are teaching them (and the TAs of your discussion section).</p>
<p>I took the interracial dynamics course and thought that it was easy if you somewhat scanned through the readings, but definitely manageable as well if you only read from time to time. The class met twice a week and had reading assignments each time, but the amount is not equivalent to say some normal humanities class. The amount is very manageable, I just did not have the time to do it some weeks, but it worked out for me because my TA ended up summarizing all the important parts in discussion.</p>
<p>For the interracial dynamics cluster, the first quarter had a vocabulary midterm w/ I think 20 terms, which was nothing. There were 2.5 papers (you started research for a 3rd paper that you finished the second quarter), and there was no finals. The second quarter was 2.5 papers and a comprehensive finals (no midterm), but the questions were very very general and you could only fail them if you didn't attend a single lecture and didn't read a single page from the class reader and paid no attention in discussion. The third quarter you got to select your own seminar. Some interesting ones from my quarter was interracial dynamics in film/tv/literature (the class got to watch sitcoms like I Love Lucy and the movie the Godfather), a bowling one where you got to study interracial dynamics at this one special bowling rink in Los Angeles where interracial tensions once resided, a political one where you looked at court cases I think as well as laws and whatnot, etc. The seminar had 1 large paper or you could decide to do 2 small ones, and no exams.</p>
<p>Anyone take the History of Modern Thought cluster? It seems interesting and I think i'm going to take it!</p>
<p>just a question: but what's the grading system in freshman clusters? do they use the same curve as other classes?</p>
<p>There's not set way of calculating curves. It's really up to the discretion of the professors and are generally more or the less similar.</p>
<p>grading seems to be tougher with clusters. the students in the class are also the stronger students too. </p>
<p>to clarify about receiving credit... you don't have to stay the entire year. if you drop after a certain quarter, you still get credit for what you've completed. you fulfill one of the GE's after your first quarter of your cluster, another GE during your second quarter, and a third GE plus the writing II and seminar requirements during your third quarter. of course in order to get the third quarter, you have to had completed both the first and second quarters.</p>
<p>I'm a poli sci major so I'm assuming that taking The US, 1963-74 would be like ordering fries and then having to eat them again later on because of my major, right? </p>
<p>Also, the Inside the Performing Arts cluster sounds interesting. Has anyone taken it that can tell me something about it?</p>
<p>Finally, if anyone knows specifically which GEs that each individual cluster fulfills, I would really appreciate a list of them :)</p>
<p>i'm taking a cluster. and i have to say.. that i hate it with a passion. aHAha. mine requires more work and effort than all the other clusters in my opinion. i'm only sticking to it because of the writing II and seminar credit. if i had the chance to decide whether or not to take a cluster agian, i wouldn't.</p>
<p>smiles77 which cluster are you taking and why do you hate it? :O</p>
<p>what cluster is the most interesting and doable? im a polisci major and hate math</p>
<p>there are no math clusters. most of the are in the arts and humanities section. there's like one science one. it's true that clusters give you a lot. but i would really recommend against taking a cluster.</p>