<p>I am a pharmacy major, so the courses are pretty much laid out for me. I think I’ll be taking -
Calc I
Foundations of Biology
Foundations of Chemistry
and possibly Spanish as an elective</p>
<p>@MTnest If you don’t mind me asking what is your sons major? I think it is great that he can take 17 or 18 credits and not feel overwhelmed. My daughter is an incoming freshman and wants to start with 15 credits as not to overdo it. She will have 2 history courses, psych, Spanish 3 and Seminar in Comp: Gender Studies. There could be a lot of papers with the 2 history courses.</p>
<p>Has anyone had any experience with Irina Livezeanu? Cause Ratemyprofessor is pretty mixed, with a lot of hate filled posts. And I really really really want to take Eastern Europe Civilization…</p>
<p>Something top students do is think that they have to take the most difficult schedule possible to prove (to whom I don’t know) they can do it. Balance is so important as is advising. The advisors have a good idea of work load in classes; I keep encouraging my daughter to talk to one. </p>
<p>My daughter took 17 (I think) first semester, and ended up shifting honors chemistry to pass/no credit, which relieved some pressure.</p>
<p>Vryproudmom–there may be a lot of reading in the history and psych classes. Be sure to check how many contact hours are involved in languages. Japanese is five credits, but seven contact hours.</p>
<p>MD Mom, so taking a class pass/fail at Pitt means that no credit is awarded?</p>
<p>Is the following schedule possible to do or would it be too much?:</p>
<p>Game Theory Principles
Calculus 1
Intro to Ethics
Seminar in Composition
Intro to Arts and Sciences
Empiricism</p>
<p>Total credits: 17</p>
<p>motion - does that mean you decided to go to Pitt?</p>
<p>Pass/no credit–If a student gets a C or better, he gets the credit. If a student earns a C- or lower, no credit is awarded. It is not an option for all classes, but it is really nice because there is no risk. If you get less than a C-, it does not impact your GPA; you just don’t get credit. If it is a required course and you don’t get the credit, you get to try again. </p>
<p>It is very nice for someone who wants to try something–or for someone who decides he/she is not heading in the best direction grade-wise, but the student does not want to drop the class. I do not know how many classes a student can opt to take that way.</p>
<p>MD Mom
Are contact hours class time + recitation time?</p>
<p>Veryproud–Yes. For the first two years of Japanese, students take two hours of lecture and five in recitation. For years three and four, it drops to a lower credit class, but I am not certain of the time required.</p>
<p>It looks as though your daughter tested and is starting at a higher level in Spanish. She will probably not have the same hours; all the languages seem to be different. I was very surprised at the hours required.</p>
<p>Motion 12345 </p>
<p>Very good class picks</p>
<p>I have heard great things about game theory.</p>
<p>Empiricism is taught by my research advisor who i had for rationalism and should be great (I am enrolled in empiricism as of now. It only had 1 spot left when i switched in last week though)</p>
<p>Intro to ethics is taught a spectacular professor.</p>
<p>I would recommend the honors freshman seminar since it isn’t any more work and like it will be more interesting but like a million people might call me snobby for saying that so whatever. Honestly, i might not even take one at all, i don’t think they are particularly useful if you are confident enough to tackle a college campus on your own. </p>
<p>That is a busy semester but very doable i think.</p>
<p>I just filled out my list of 10 classes, but I was disappointed with what was listed on the site for possibilities ([Freshman</a> Orientation: Choices 2010 | Choices 2010 Form](<a href=“http://www.as.pitt.edu/undergraduate/advising/choices/form.php]Freshman”>http://www.as.pitt.edu/undergraduate/advising/choices/form.php))</p>
<p>I had to put down Bio and Seminar in Composition as regular when I want to take them honors, and I couldn’t put down one of my classes because you can only write in 5 classes. I know it’s not a big deal but it’s really annoying that they wouldn’t list some of these classes when they should be there, especially the honors college ones.</p>
<p>My top 5 choices to take are:
Honors Foundations of Bio 1 & Lab
Honors Seminar in Composition
French
Biocultural Anthropology
Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate</p>
<p>Which will probably end up being 16 if I get placed in a high enough French class.</p>
<p>That 10 classes thing really doesn’t matter. You can tell your advisor what you want to take and it will be fine.</p>
<p>Does anybody know the official course name and number ( the abbreviation and number) for the class Research Methods and Lab? I’m looking through the course catalog and descriptions online and I can’t find it.</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>If you’re talking about psychology’s research methods course it’s PSY 0035. There are other subjects with the same or similar course title though.</p>
<p>Oh I see it now thank you. Do you know if I could take that my first semester as a freshman? I see that it has some prerequisites, so do I need to take one of those first and then take Research Methods second semester freshman year?</p>
<p>Also, right now I see there is one for psychology and one for sociology. Are there any others, maybe one for a natural science?</p>
<p>Thanks a lot.</p>
<p>Well, it depends on what you want to major in. If you’re planning on a psychology major, PSY 0035 is required of all psych majors. The same probably goes with the sociology research course for sociology majors, etc. It’s not really common for freshmen to take a research methods course because most of them are still feeling out what to major in and these courses are very major-specific. They might let you place out of the pre-reqs for the research methods class since they are intro courses. </p>
<p>I’m not sure if there is an equivalent for biology but there is a writing in the biological sciences course.</p>
<p>You are really in the know! Please explain the terms “contact” and “recitation” with regards to courses.</p>
<p>Responding to the first page about number of credits, someone said “don’t take 18/max credits.” </p>
<p>I agree with this, BUT I would like to say that it IS good to sign up for 18 credits. That way, you can drop a class (without any sort of consequences) during the first couple off weeks, and still have 15 credits/remain full-time. It’s great if you, like me, get into a class and realize, “oh crap, I don’t want to be in this class.” Then you can drop it no sweat.</p>
<p>I like to call it a buffer for bad classes. It’s not necessary to do, of course, but it’s an idea to keep in mind. Hopefully that made sense!</p>
<p>I’ve already registered for classes and this is what I’ve got:</p>
<p>Chem Lecture and Lab- Golde and Paul
Bio Lecture, Practicum, and Recitation- Ghosh
Street Life (which automatically includes a freshman seminar)- Gramm
Brain and Behavior- Rinaman</p>
<p>It’s 15 credit hours.</p>
<p>Does anyone know where we can find out what books each class requires? I’m looking to buy my books on Amazon possibly.</p>