<p>Hey everyone, I was trying to get ahead and plan my freshman schedule and want to knock out the writing elective (engineering requirement) during my freshman year. That said, does anyone have any recommendations of "Writing Intensive" electives that are fun, easy, enjoyable, interesting, etc.?</p>
<p>I took Intro to Film Genre. It was 1x/week class (4 hours) but every week we watched a movie & discussed it. Minimal homework (read 2 articles a week) and a few projects- 3 papers all semester (which I actually enjoyed writing) and twice a semester you present one of the articles with a partner.</p>
<p>take ENGR 1600-Innovate sometime after freshman year. it satisfies W and technical elective, and you go to China during spring break (you pay for cost of trip).</p>
<p>Awesome- Wow, that sounds awesome! How was the professor?</p>
<p>Mictedgin- Do you know how much does that costs? I want to go abroad for a shorter period of time, so I might do that (if its cheap enough)</p>
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<p>I had a great guy, but he was only visiting. I have heard good things about the other professors who also teach the class though. My class focused on three genres: Sci Fi, Western, and Musicals. The classes may vary, and your genres may vary. But overall, it was a great class and I liked it & got exposed to some great movies.</p>
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<p>Consider the +3 program! At the end of freshman year, a Pitt professor will take you and a group of students (all SSOE freshman) to a location to study the engineering life there for 3 weeks (places: Chile, China, Germany, Vietnam).</p>
<p>I was actually thinking about doing +3! Did you study abroad Awesome?</p>
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<p>Not in undergrad, no. Didn’t have the finances to afford it (although I tried hard!). However, I am a frequent traveler. I will be going to Germany this summer for grad-school related research, which I consider to be my own form of study abroad :)</p>
<p>That sounds cool! I’ve never been outside of the country, so I’ll try to whatever chance I get. If I can’t afford it, I might do an international co-op (so at least I get payed). Have you heard any feedback from people who went on +3? Do they recommend a specific country?</p>
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<p>Just warning you ahead of time, those don’t really exist (at least not through Pitt). Finding an international internship on your own may be hard, or the ones that are out there may be difficult to get. Just as a warning.</p>
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<p>Everyone who went LOVED it. I really liked Dr. Budny as my professor and so have many of my friends- they always recommend Chile because he is the professor who takes students there.</p>
<p>Oh, thanks for the warning! I was actually considering Chile, Vina del Mar looks amazing!</p>
<p>My son applied for the DAAD RISE summer internship in Germany and got it this summer. Apparently they place about one third of applicants - no German is required. I believe UHC has an info session about it in the fall. It’s for STEM fields only.</p>
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<p>1/3 seems like a really high placement considering DAAD is pretty prestigious. The way the UHC always phrased it made it seem like it was super hard to get (it does require really good academic standing). Congrats to your son!</p>
<p>^yes I was surprised too - but the DAAD FAC says they offer 300 internships so about “one third will get placement.” The application is somewhat difficult (you have to research the projects yourself and make connections), so maybe that’s why they get only 1000 or so completed applications. I see from their website that they are expanding the program to other countries in southern Europe (from just US, Canada, and UK before) this year, so it will likely get more competitive.</p>