<p>I'm currently picking my class "preferences" for the fall (actual registration takes place on campus) and was wondering if there are certain must-take classes, profs to avoid, or if anyone has any suggestions concerning first year schedules?</p>
<p>Which departments are you interested in?</p>
<p>Natural sciences, Economics, Spanish, Religion, and Philosophy are tops right now, but my interests are pretty broad.</p>
<p>Let's see...as far as natural sciences go, I'm familiar only with the biology department. I've taken an ecology class with Sallie Sheldon and highly recommend that class; the only other professors I am familiar with in that department are professors Trombulak and Landis, but I have no personal experience with any of their classes. I have no idea about economics or philosophy, but I have close friends in the Spanish and religion departments. I know my friend in the religion department really likes professors Gould and Schine. I don't know which professors my friend in Spanish has had, but if you like, I can ask her. In my experience, my favorite professors are Professor Sfyroeras in Classics, Professors Billings and Hill in English (Professors Brayton and Price have also been recommended to me), and Professors Burnham and Monod in history. The Course Evals section on Middkid.com is very useful; so is ratemyprofessor.com. I have friends in a wide variety of departments, so if you want to know about any more specific ones, please let me know.</p>
<p>David Colander is the MAN when it comes to econ. I took an econ class at another college, and we used the textbook he authored for the class.</p>
<p>John Elder and Jay Parini are excellent if you're interested in English. If at all possible, try to take an environmental studies class with Bill McKibben, who is perhaps one of the best known contemporary environmentalists.</p>
<p>thanks Lindy and arcadia! in addition, if i want to major in econ or bio, etc do i HAVE to take an econ/bio/etc. course first semester?</p>
<p>I'm a Spanish minor so in that field I'd recommend Saldarriega. Swarthout has a terrible accent but teaches a lot of the classes you'd probably place into. I had Veguez last semester. Pretty good teacher, but wicked hard grader. Other than that, my boyfriend is a biochem major. He really liked Landis in Chem and Sally Sheldon in bio. Shledon's a lot of fun. As far as religion goes, if you're interested in Islam at all, Justin Stearns is the man. I took my Jterm class with him (Islamis law and modernity). He's really interesting, funny, a nice guy, great teacher, and will always be available outside of class. I also took Intro to Asian Religions with was joint taught by Waldron and Morrison. Wasn't a big fan of either. </p>
<p>I'd definitely suggest taking at least an econ or bio class first semster. You want to find otu if you're really interested in it. I was going to major in math, then I took calc II first semster and found out I absolutely hated it. The sooner you find out what you enjoy the better. At the same time, take something different. You never know, you may love it! </p>
<p>Any other questions about professors of classes...check out Middkid.com where students review all their classes.</p>
<p>this is all really helpful...what about in english, history, philosophy, and french?</p>
<p>I'd really recommend, during your freshman year, getting as many general requirements out of the way as possible, like the science, language, art, and philosophy requirements, to give an example. It lets you focus on your major in the later three years. I've mentioned my favorite professors already (but that's because Billings and Burnham are my advisers and I've had multiple classes with Hill and Monod)--Brayton, Skubikowski, Baldridge, and Price are excellent professors in English, I also really like the classes I took with professors Tropp and Armanios in history. The only professor I have had in the French department is professor Ladimer, who I quite liked, but I didn't follow that line, so I can't say much more.</p>
<p>Does a 5 on the AP Bio test place you out of any intro classes at Midd? Based onthis packet midd just sent me, it doesnt, but i want to make sure.</p>
<p>Barbaud-McWilliams is an AMAZING French professor. The French department in general is one of the better language departments (as well as the Chinese, Russian and German departments). Spanish... not quite so much. Not that it's bad, but it's just not up to the standard of the other languages at Midd.</p>
<p>I think I'm going to stop taking Spanish and start Chinese my first year at Midd. We're all going to be speaking it in a few decades so I might as well get a head start.</p>
<p>aabar--policies for granting AP credit vary by department. I don't think it's possible to completely get out of taking a class, but the college gives you credit for up to 5 AP classes. For example, I got a 5 on the US history AP. The history department said, ok, you don't have to take a certain 200-level history class that is a requirement (I get credit for it as if I had taken it at the college), but I am required to take a 300-level class in American history. Actually, the history departmen regulations have changed, so I don't any more, (that example was the story of what happened when I was a freshman), but it gives you an idea of what the department will do. Essentially, they'll say, yes, you did a good job, give you general credit for it, but you'll still have to take classes--as I say, it depends.</p>
<p>thanks, Lindy. On another subject, do any upcoming freshmen know if when we register for our ¨preferences¨ we have to be specific about the prof, days of the week, etc? Or can we just list the Class (i.e. Ecology and Evolution)? thanks</p>
<p>What they'll have you do is be specific about sections. Sections labelled A or B are generally the large ones that everybody has to attend--no choice about times on that one, really, maybe choice about professors unless there's only one professor teaching it. Discussions sections or labs are usually labelled X, Y, or Z, and those you usually have a choice about the day of the week and/or the time. It's best to know which section is what day/time/professor and then sign up for that section.</p>
<p>No idea--when you're in a FYS, many of the people in your seminar will be in your commons, and hence in your dorm, but others will not. The whole putting people in commons thing is a bit of a mystery to me. They will do their very best to put you in the FYS you want, but there is absolutely no way of knowing where that will put you. In my FYS, I had no people from Atwater, so maybe nobody in Atwater signed up, or they just didn't put people in that seminar in Atwater, I don't know. There are no guarantees for either FYS or housing in terms of getting what you want--you can try requesting Ross, but in the interests of fairness they'll probably ignore such a request, because if people could request which commons they wanted, commons would have to turn people away. So--choose which FYS you want, fill out the roommate form (be honest!) and write a little blurb about yourself and hope for the best. And don't worry if you don't get Ross as a freshman--you can always change commons for sophomore year.</p>
<p>Yeah...most FYS are commons-based, but some are not. I'm not sure why that happens though, and its impossible to predict which classes will be associated with which commons.</p>
<p>The Legends and Stars:</p>
<p>Pavlos Sfyroeras-Classics
Justin Stearns-Religion
Julia Alvarez-English
Bill McKibben-Environmental Science (I think)
Claudio Medeiros-Theatre and Acting
Febe Armanios-History</p>
<p>The Infamous (aka-"Is that easy A really worth spending a semester with this person?"):</p>
<p>Greg Vitercik-Music
Don Wyatt-History</p>
<p>any more suggestions elkhy?</p>
<p>John Spackman (Philosophy) is another good professor and he had very engaging discussion sections; he also teaches some very intriguing classes, like Contemporary Moral Issues. All his classes really make you think about your own beliefs and your reasoning behind them. Bert Johnson (Poly Sci) is one of those guys who is really excited about the material, making you as excited as he is (a hard feat to accomplish for an 8 am class). Ricardo Chavez Castenda (Spanish) is probably the funniest man I have ever met, and his classes were a blast. I have also heard good things about Laurie Essig (Sociology and Anthropology) although I have never had her. From what I've heard of Mark Williams (Poly Sci), he assigns a ridiculous amount of reading and is an equally difficult grader.</p>