Class Advice for Incoming Freshman
I will be heading to Ann Arbor for freshman orientation on Tuesday, and one task of orientation is to register for classes. I know many MGoBloggers attended Michigan, and to you, I would just like to ask for some scheduling advice in general. I am in LSA, but I'm going to be applying for Ross, so I will be taking a first year writing class, economics, and calculus for sure.
With that said, I am just curious as to what professors are good? Which first year writing classes/seminars are worth taking? I will probably be in Calc 2, but should I take Calc 116 or Calc 186 (honors)? Which econ 101 professor is worth taking? What other classes could be valuable? Any bit of advice that you could offer me would be very helpful. Thank you so much!
That would be my reflexive response as well. 116 will likely have an easier curve (not to mention material).
What I don't know is how the Ross admissions types would view an A in 116 vs. a B in 186. It's possible that they're clued-in to the honors track and that they'd give you points of some type for taking a hard course. Not sure ...
There's not much difference between how the admissions committee would view grades in those classes. The most important thing that Ross wants to see is that you have the ability to hold your own in whatever class that you're enrolled in.
I'm not sure if 116 would have a significantly better curve. Lots of engineers, med school track kids, etc. take that class if they aren't in the honor school track, and so I wouldn't bank on that being a forgiving curve.
Maybe it was curved to a C+ when you took it, but now its on B curve and has been for atleast the last several years. Tests are out of 100 with averages around 60-65 with A's being 20 points above. see:
http://www.math.lsa.umich.edu/courses/116/Final_Exam/final_Scale.html
116 is notoriously horrible. I don't know much about 186, but the average in 116 is curved up to a 2.3 aka C+.
But I am old now and have no idea if she's still there.
Econ 101 was 201. And Paul Courant was the professor. Jan Gerson taught 401. Glad to hear that she is still teaching!
recommend Gerson for 401, however. 101 she was OK but 401 was a meat-grinder and a nightmare with her at the helm - just my .02.
We're not UNC.
African-American Studies.
I LOL'd. But I fucking hate Roy Williams, so of course I would.
Anthro 101 is another incredibly easy A (and 4 credits as well).
Yep. On top of that, some sections of 116 are taught by GSIs and some are taught by professors. I actually lucked out and had 116 taught by a professor who was also as school of education prof. It was a pretty good experience.
I was an English and film double major, and I took that astronomy course as half of my math requirement for LSA (also fall of freshman year). Very cool subject matter if you're astronomy and physics, and I liked Mateo a lot. He wore shorts every day - like deep into winter.
Congrats and enjoy your first year!
Took it a couple years ago (winter 2013), and it was still fairly easy. (I was surprised how many people got Bs in it though). It's all open note/open computer/open internet for the tests, however, its still worthwhile to know the info (at least the basics). Very cool class on the whole.
I really enjoyed the class and it put tornado-chasing on my bucket list after taking it. Who was your professor?
If you want an interesting challenge, and if they still offer such a thing, one of the gateway English courses when I was there was a creative writing course that focus on argumentative writing. It actually provided a good gut check for my feelings about various things heading into that phase of my life and helped me form more solid opinions on things. Not sure if that's the sort of writing that would interest you, but it is a class that does make one think - hopefully, such a class still exists.
Math 116 >> Math 186
Second semester consider Brian Porter for a history class.
Gerson for Econ.
Check out the Freshman seminars -- there are plenty of great ones and usually the faculty teaching them are outstanding.
For others in the class of 2018:
Avoid Chem 130 and the Intro Biology series whenever possible.
Take Chem 210 Orgo with Copola (in the Fall) and NOT Nolta (Winter).
I'm curious as to why you said no to Nolta? Coppolla is an excellent professor, but everyone I know absolutely loves Nolta...
1) She's contantly behidn and crams the hardest chapters of material into the very last day of lecture. Other orgo profs don't do this.
2) She's a hypocrit (personal experience).
3) She favors students who try hard and come to her office to kiss ass. Much easier to score an A you did not actually earn with Kathy.
4) She regularly tests on material that's from a future chapter (i.e. problems on Ch10 should NOT be on the Ch7-9 exam).
5) She requires excessive evening "workshops" so she can cover the same material other profs do in their alotted three hours per week.
6) She wastes the last lecture of the year making an ABCs of chemistry nursery rhyme instead of using that time to better prepare the students for the final.
7) The manner she teaches much of the material involves skipping necessary steps that while may not serve a purpose in Chem 210 provide an important foundation for concepts in Chem 215
More, but I'm in a rush.
She can explain chemistry well, and for that she's highly overrated.
This dude really doesn't like Nolta. But FWIW Nolta was my favorite professor at Michigan. She's not an easy one, but she's a great teacher, and if you keep up and work hard, it'll go fine.
was awesome and he might have been my favorite chemistry prof. Great way at explaining visual 3D things in a way that made perfect sense.
If you DO test out of intro chem though, it's NOT worth taking it anyway just to get the credit. I say that because between lecture, lab and discussions you've got to put in 8 hours a week for like 4 credits which isn't cool (if you weren't aware, in most cases you get 1 credit for each hour in class). With that said, I'd actually recommend studying for the placement exam even if you got an email or had someone tell you not to. It can't hurt anyway so fuck them.
Also, DO NOT take Orgo your first semester. That's a class in which the material is unlike anything taught in most high schools. It seems like a foreign language at first and takes a while to get acclimated to. To make things more difficult, the textbook flat out sucks. I wouldn't even recommend wasting the $100 or whatever to buy it. With that said, when the time comes to take the course, you HAVE to always go to class and TAKE GOOD NOTES. Write down everything the teacher puts on the board and anything else they mention that expands on/clarifies things; life will be much easier when trying to study.
As for the professors, Coppola is pretty decent from what I've heard so he wouldn't be a bad choice. I had Dr. Sanford who was actually really good so don't hesitate to sign up for her lecture. As for Nolta, I can't comment too much since I only went to a few of her exam reviews but based off of those she seemed pretty good. One thing to keep in mind is that she'll be the one who writes the exams. But again, that could have changed.
One last thing for good measure: taking really detailed notes and devoting a couple hours to study after each lecture (no cramming) should get you an A or B. I personally didn't do all that great in Orgo I but after figuring out how to study for the shit it eventually clicked so I was able to do well in Orgo II. Later I actually ended up doing the study group leader thing for it mainly since it looks very good on a resume (hear that pre-meds?). However, learning the stuff well really paid off when I found myself living in NYC after graduating. Like many big cities, there are a lot of colleges around here and thus a lot of pre-meds. Most often, the class they struggle most with is organic chemistry. So as a little side job I simply posted an add on Craigslist and found a few kids to tutor every week, usually for 3-5 hours depending on which one. I get away with charging them $40/hour.
...So if you like making money and need a little extra something to motivate you to work hard in all those science courses, particularly Orgo, there ya go. Caveat is you probably need to end up in a place with a lot of colleges around to pull this off, but majority of med schools are in big cities as are most UM grads I know. So there's a good chance you will be too.
Damn, I just went on a tangent. Apologies for the long post.
I'm a junior right now and trust me this site is a lifesaver. http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ It basically has ratings for nearly every professor in most universities and there are comments by students explaining what the professor's class is like. From my experience so far, anything above a 3.5 overall is fairly good. Of course there are some exceptions (I had Paula Malone for econ 101 and I hated her, but she has a rating of a 4.5). But overall, the ratings on this site are pretty good guide as to how the professor is.
A lot of people say that it doesn't matter what professor you have as long as you work hard in the class. Sure, that's true... but having a good professor makes it SO much more easier. I've always been more passionate and actually want to work hard in classes with good profs.
It also helps to know what type of teacher you prefer. I had a biology teacher who had some pretty negative reviews because he actually made you process the information you learned for the exams instead of just regurgitating what was in the textbook/lecture. Many people thought he was a hardass with no sympathy for students but I really enjoyed the class as it made a boring subject like biology more interesting.
Follow up:
Consider your motivations for heading to Ross. This is controversial and may draw criticism from others on this board, but if your interest is something with business and not in high finance you might be served with a more focused undergrad (chemistry, computer sci, engineering, english and comm, etc) and then picking up and MBA later.
I'm on my second start-up and it's the skills I gain from my non-business classes that help me the most in entrepreneurship.
Also this is basically accurate. I'd throw accounting there too though. If you want to do any kind of accounting, or finance, then go for Ross.
I did not attend UofM, but as someone with a business degree and MBA I second this thought.
Have to agree. I didn't go the MBA route - picked up a law degree sandwiched between Comp. Eng. degrees - but going the straight route to one of those service professions (business, law, medicine, etc.) really only makes sense if you have your heart set on whatever they are optimally designed for. I never really wanted to be an attorney but enjoyed law and tech, and that's helped me where I've landed (at both big businesses and start-ups). So if going to Ross is because your goal is to be an MD at Credit Suisse or a hedge fund, then by all means go for it. But if you just like business or want to work in a capacity where that might be your job description, consider figuring out the industry in undergrad and hyper-focus in grad school or, frankly, just working.
Good luck regardless.
Very good point, and this is something I already thought about. If I get into Ross, I do plan on majoring in finance
your first start-up was a sausage venture in Chicago. What's your second?
I bought some shitty French restaraunt on the north side and converted it into Abe's Wild Wieners. Try it next time you are in Chi-Town. Tell 'em Abe sent ya; your first wiener's on me.
TWSS.
/Go to bed, inner twelve year old.