PocketMatrix

Well, as I posted in the LG thread, I just completed my orientation at MSU. It's going to be awesome, I'm in the Honors College and I get SOOO many privileges, it's ridiculous. I can take basically ANY classes I want, even if they need pre-reqs or if they say "not open to freshman". Even graduate classes I can take right now! I was going to take Intro to Linguistics, but that's a 400 level class, and even though my advisor encouraged me to take it, I wanted to save it til sophomore year, a 400 level class is a bit much for freshman year... I don't have to take any of the college required courses, I can substitute them with whatever I want, and I get priority scheduling (except for freshman year). The whole school is almost 46,000 students (including grads), of which 7,100 are incoming freshman. Of the 7,100, 450 are in the Honors College, so that's the top 6%. The campus is beautiful (and HUGE! I biked about 25 miles around campus and Lansing in one day), it's going to be great, I even got season tickets for football. GO SPARTANS!!

Here's my schedule:
Fall 2004

Chemistry I Honors (though I have 8 credits in chemistry, Honors is very advanced, and VERY few are in it, so only 1 class is offered)
M 3:00-3:50, T TH 8:30-9:50

Chemistry I Honors Lab
T TH 3:00-5:50

Calculus II M T W F 10:20-11:10

Elementary German I M T W TH F 11:30-12:20

Intro to Archaeology M W 12:40-2:00

Total: 17 Credits

Spring 2005

Chemistry II Honors M 10:20-11:10 T TH 8:30-9:50

Chemistry II Honors Lab Independent Research with Prof.

Multivariable Calculus M W TH F 12:40-1:30

Elementary German II M T W TH F 11:30-12:20

Russia in the 20th Century M W 8:30-9:50

Total: 17 Credits



Archaeology and Russian History are not open to freshman nor sophomores (Archaeology is only open to sophomores if they major in it). Next year, I may take as electives, Intro to Forensic Science and Intro to Linguistics. What's crazy is that they're counting my Russian history class as a writing class and the German class as a humanities, Archaeology is social science.

That's considered a heavy course load? ... No one ever told me that

Try taking 20 course hours, being the Fencing Team coach, and singing in the choir.

Are we talking 20 creds of applied sciences, or 20 creds of liberal sciences/arts? Big difference.

Well, have fun going to school five days a week. I tried to get my fall schedule down to just 3 days a week, but it still ended up being 4. And I'm taking 16 credit hours total for fall. My schedule is actually very good. On two of the days I have three classes back to back with just 15 minutes between each class.

Well, for freshman, that sounds like a tough load.

Unless University in the States is easy or something, you're going to have to spend quite a bit of time in the books.

I'm in Honours at University of Waterloo (Ontario), and the first semester for me last year was crazy. Way different than High School. Second semester I only took 4 courses (2 credits at 0.50 credits/course... sounds like our credit system is different ). A regular semester is 2.50 credits.

Anyways, that helped a lot just taking 4 courses to get settled down into University. It let me make a lot of friends and stuff as well.

I'm really looking forward to going back in the Fall. I'm back home in Calgary, so all my U. friends are about a 50 hour drive away .

Off-topic... but I went down to Michigan last year to hang out with Matt.

Maybe we'll have a mini-PM hangout thing there some time.

It seems to me Warren likes school, so I'm sure he will do just fine. Though he does seem jaded by course numbers. Some of my easiest classes have been 400-500 level and I am a computer engineer.

I think the whole “honors” class thing is totally overrated in collage. They basically are the same classes as normal ones with an extra project (Which eats a lot of your spare time).

I don’t believe jobs really care if you graduate with honors as long as you did a decent job in college.