<p>I've read all of the info on classes and the entire purple book, but I still don't know on what basis we are supposed to pick our classes for the Wish List!</p>
<p>Is there any sort of recommendation on which courses we should take during the first semester? I am interestested in many of them, but before narrowing it down I want to make sure I'm picking good ones.</p>
<p>How did everyone else pick their Wish List classes, and if you are a current or previous student of Williams, what would you suggest would be good freshman classes for an aspiring English major?</p>
<p>just wondering, what purple book are you referring to?</p>
<p>i picked a chemistry and a music class, 2 potential majors that i’m considering.</p>
<p>i’m pretty lost as how to pick the other two. i’m interested in some kind of comparative politics/political theory class, but i don’t know what to expect cuz i’ve never taken a poli sci class in hs.</p>
<p>i also want a writing intensive class.</p>
<p>haha i’m glad you’re in quite the predicament as i am.</p>
<p>I’m glad I’m not the only one! It just seems like I’m picking all of these entirely from scratch. Like blind dates. Or more like blind dating for an entire semester lol.</p>
<p>I love writing intensive classes! </p>
<p>And I’m referring to this Williams College Bulletin Course Catalog thing that we got during the Preview that I went to. I’m pretty sure they said they weren’t going to make any more of these and that the information was available online instead.</p>
<p>I’m going to go pre-med, so I have a basic idea of what I need to take. Basically, I just picked four classes that I was interested in/need to take for premed requirements.
I’m actually excited for the writing intensive class I want to take (if I got a 5 on the AP Lit exam I’ll be able to take it, but I don’t think that’s too likely, so we’ll see).</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m waiting for my AP results as well. I think I have a good chance…watch me just jinx myself XD.</p>
<p>Which writing intensive class are you thinking about? A lot of them sound really awesome! My favorite was Reading and Writing Science Fiction :P</p>
<p>I’m interested in pre-med also. Chandler, how many out of your 4 classes were pre-med requirements?
I hear that doing 2 lab courses in a semester (ie doing both bio and chem in a semester) is hell. I’m thinking of only doing one chem class.</p>
<p>I have a friend at Williams who is a rising soph and took Bio and Chem first semester, but took it easy with the other two classes (both being subjects he was familiar with). He said it was definitely difficult, esp since it was his first semester in college, but bearable (at times :P)</p>
<p>Many pre-meds do take bio and chem during first semester. It may be rough, but you’ll have lots of classmates to ride the storm with, so it’s kind of “fun”, from what I’ve seen. It’s not unusual to have students taking calc/bio/chem in first semester, although, that is certainly not recommended.</p>
<p>I’m considering music/chem as majors + premed
here’s my wish list, so far:
Music Theory
Concepts of Chem: Adv Section
Discrete Math (i finished CalcII in HS, didn’t really feel like taking multivariable)
Intro to Moral/Political Philosophy</p>
<p>Definitely still pick the class. In the guide from the Registrar, it said that the professors look at classes that are overenrolled and select students based on certain criteria (grade, major, etc). If there are enough students, an additional section may be opened up.</p>
<p>ArtemisPan: I’m really hoping to be able to take the 200 level class Intro to Asian-American Literature, I’ve ready every Amy Tan book and loved them, so taking a whole class about the genre sounds amazing. </p>
<p>goodguysm: Cool! Sounds like there’s going to be a great community of pre-meds to bond/commiserate with, haha! I’ll be taking 3 premed requirements: Bio 101, probalby Calc 105 (I already finished Calc 3 and Linear Algebra in HS, but I don’t want to go higher than that, math isn’t exactly my favorite subject), and an English course. Spanish will be my fourth because that’s probably going to be my major.</p>
<p>How about all of you premeds out there: what are your classes looking like?</p>
<p>I think I’ll take the Bio/Math route first semester so as not to kill myself and get the math requirement out of the way, then I’ll take chem sophomore year. I’m not sure though.</p>
<p>and i will be taking bio (the cell), math 106 (multivariable calc), english (intro to cultural theory), and basic chinese</p>
<p>i think going with bio/math first semester is a good idea - two lab courses (the other being chem) would be really tough and take up a lot of time, for me at least
im thinking of taking chem second semester, along with some history/polisci classes - im probably going to try and avoid physics and econ as much as possible, even though i hear williams has great physics, mostly bc i suck at both </p>
<p>in high school i took calc bc sophmore year and calc 3 at a community college bc it wasnt offered at my high school
i think math 106 is the same as calc 3? but im thinking i should take the class again even thought i got an A in the community college course, bc i had a really bad teacher and didnt push myself to actually understand things since he basically did the test for us in review sessions and there was no ap test to actually learn stuff for…and anyways, williams courses are going to be way harder…but i am worried that then i might just be wasting my time if i already know the material and could rather be taking a different…
this is definitely something for me to work out with my advisor and during the add/drop period</p>
<p>yeah, whitelily, I think that taking bio and chem first semester is kind of an overkill since we have to adjust to college life, but since Math is a two-semester requirement, I might as well take it both semesters first year just to get it over with. i’m not sure exactly what level to take, but I’ll ask my advisor once I get him/her.</p>
<p>I feel that I’ll be able to handle two lab sciences a semester later on in college, when I’ve already gotten used to the daily ins-and-outs of life at Williams :)</p>
<p>whitelily, well, if you’re premed, you’ll have to take two semesters of physics (131/132, for example) at some point.
Step into Math 106 for at least one class. Talk to the professor and figure out if you want to do the class or not. If you’re beyond 106, then, usually, 211 or 251 is the next thing to take. And yeah, if you’re going to take 105/106, it’s usually a good thing to get it out of the way freshman year…</p>
<p>If you are planning on pre-med you have to make sure that you take courses as recommended by the Williams as follows</p>
<p>Biology Introductory, with laboratory, two semesters
Suggested Williams Courses: Biology 101, 102
Chemistry Introductory, with laboratory, two semesters
Suggested Williams Courses: Chemistry 101-102 or 103-104
Chemistry Organic, with laboratory, two semesters
Suggested Williams Courses: Chemistry 201-202
Physics Introductory, with laboratory, two semesters
Suggested Williams Courses: Physics 131, 132
English Two semesters
Suggested Williams Courses: English 101 and one advanced semester
Mathematics Varies
Suggested Williams Courses: Math 103 or 104, 134 </p>
<p>You must remember that you should take the MCAT in April of your Junior Year or the following August as described as follows</p>
<p>The MCAT is required by almost all medical schools. It is given in April and August of every year at a number of different locations. It is given in Williamstown only in April (application available in February). Students hoping to enter medical school in the fall after graduation from Williams are advised to take the test in April of their Junior year. Postponing the test until August will delay consideration of applications and may reduce opportunities for admission. Students who take the test in April may take it again in August if they wish to try to improve their scores. Information and application forms may be obtained from the Health Professions Office. </p>
<p>As preparation for the test, a review of your lecture notes for Biology 101-102, Chemistry 101-102, 201-202, and Physics 131-132 is recommended. Books of practice questions are available in the Health Professions Office and in bookstores everywhere. </p>
<p>This indicates that if don’t take the courses in the prescribed time frame you will not have the necessary classes by the time of the MCAT. You have to take 1 year of Bio, 2 years of Chem, 1 year of Physics, 2 course in English and at least 2 courses in Math. This means that you will hve a very compressed time frame to take the courses and then having the time the time to review for the MCAT></p>
<p>Having gone through all this in the last few years, here are some notes–</p>
<p>commserver is right on the premed requirements, but the MCAT has changed recently to a 100% computer-based format, so it is now administered more than twice a year. Not sure how often it’s given on campus, but the April and August MCAT is officially a thing of the past. I think there are a few dates each month now when you can take it at specific testing sites (surely within driving range of Williamstown). Also I assume scores come back faster with this new system than they used to, so you may be able to take the test closer to submitting applications. </p>
<p>Something to keep in mind is that you may want to take a prep course before taking the test (Princeton Review, Kaplan, etc), and that is easiest to do over the summer. Also, you don’t necessarily need to have taken all your premed classes before the MCAT. Williams intro bio sequence, for example, is not really correlated with the bio you’ll see on the exam. Chem and physics are more standard, so those courses line up better with MCAT material. </p>
<p>Also the math and English classes you take at Williams won’t be tested on the MCAT, even on the verbal part. So you can definitely take those after you test, if you don’t fit it all in your first three years. </p>
<p>Don’t forget to study other stuff–don’t make yourself crazy about the pre-med classes! I’m a few years out (in med school now), and I wouldn’t trade my non-science majors for the world. A Williams education is not just a means to an end. In med school you’ll be totally focused on the science, so take some time to explore now.</p>
<p>bex and commserver: that was AMAZINGLY helpful, thank you very much!</p>
<p>I’m just not sure whether I want to take two lab sciences my first semester, so my way of avoiding that was to take Math and English. I’d definitely love to get math out of the way, but if that’s going to impede me from doing well on the MCAT… I’m not sure. </p>
<p>bex: Since you’re a former pre-med (congrats on med school btw, that’s an amazing achievement!), may I ask you what your schedule looked like? I am most definitely not just going to obsess over pre-med requirements, because I’m a language-phile too and would love to take a few at Williams, but i’d like to know that I’m on a good track for medical school and on a good route towards doing well on the MCAT.</p>