College Question for the high school senior??

Question

Sooo if you havent decided your major yuor freshman year....what kind of classes do you take??...do they give you regular classes thats mandatory like high school? or do you choose your classes....iidk im very confused about college and im graduating high school in june...ney help you can give me about college will be greatly appreciated...thank you ...class of 2009

Answer 1

If you're a high school senior then you should start applying to colleges by November, December or January. Trust me, it's better to get started earlier. Once you start applying to schools you should receive your results in a few months. Once you know what school you're going to; you should be able to go to orientation and meet with your advisor or counselor around late spring or summer. Now remember, some schools let you choose your own classes and some don't. For me, I had to take a placement exam (usually math, reading & english-some vocabulary) and based on my results, they place you in your classes/give you options on the classes you can pick. For example; if you do not so good/or just okay you can pick from regular classes or if you do good on your exam; then you can pick advanced classes, etc. Yes, if you haven't declared your major you can take regular classes. But even if you have an idea of your major freshman year, they will still make you take regular classes your first year (or maybe up to your second year). Like English 101, Calculus, Reading & a math class is usually optional, or a language.  

Answer 2

Many people go into college undecided. I kind of think this is a problem because they are in college just to -do it- with no other reason but they eventually find their way. Take gen ed classes that will apply to all majors such as world civ, language, math, etc. and try and explore by taking a class or two in a major you are thinking of pursuing. It doesn't hurt to read the course catalog descriptions either to see if the material looks interesting.

Answer 3

No matter what degree you take, there will be certain humanities "core classes" that you will need.  Sometimes, however (at least at my school) they are different for the different college departments (i.e. college of liberal arts requires certain things, college of sciences another) so you should have some idea -- science or humanities, etc.  Find out what these required classes are at your school in your program.

But generally, can't go wrong with english, a literature class, and I think most colleges do a year of foreign language.  Public speaking is probably good to take for most majors.  It's best to just take the basic classes and get them out of the way if you aren't sure what you want to do (even if you are sure, you might change your mind, like I did, later on!)  So just do basic stuff until you have a better feel for what you want to do.  Keep your schedule as light as you can for your first year and utilize extra time to maybe attend open-lectures (most universities have them often) and see what you're interested in.  That's my advice.

(and yes, you choose your classes -- they don't really "give" you any --  but there are usually certain ones that are required for all degrees as I said before lol. Sorry if this was confusing, hope it helped you in some way :)

Also, if you intend to live on campus, I'd advise getting to know your roomate well and setting "rules of conduct" with eachother concerning things such as visitor frequency, music, overnight guests, etc etc right from the beginning.  Otherwise you might end up with a not-so-cool roomate situation.  (again, I'm speaking from experience here...)

Have fun in college!   It's WAAAAAY better than HS, I found.  :)

Answer 4

Speak with your academic adviser about the basic core classes required for all degree choices within your school. Most incoming freshman have an idea of what they think they want to study but many change their mind as they start to learn more and experience more in life. You can't go wrong by sticking with the basics and maybe (I recommend against it) throw in an elective. The elective may become wasted depending on what degree you decide to pursue later. I would recommend waiting until your sophomore year before making a decision for a degree. Don't pick something you may decide you don't like or worse yet you aren't good at.

Answer 5

You know how in high school you take a bunch of required classes your first year or so? college is like that. You'll have what's called General Ed, to meet the requirements everyone takes. You might take some classes geared toward your major if you already know what you want to major in, but don't worry if you haven't decided yet. Those major-intensive classes won't come until later, your jr and senior years. hope this helps!

Answer 6

Often, english classes are required for freshmen.  In addition to English, there are gen ed requirements that undecided students should complete by junior year, which includes math/science, foreign language, and 5-6 social science/humanities related courses.  All of this information is in the college catalog, which you may find on college websites.  So, the cool thing is that you get to choose your classes to fulfill classes and there aren't really any mandatory classes, which is one great thing about college :)

For family law, you can major in whatever you want.  I would personally suggest psychology or sociology; they're really fun and I enjoyed those classes a lot and I'm sure you will too!

Answer 7

All school's are different.

The school I go to has certain requirements. I have to take 4 semesters of foreign language, 1 women studies course, a writing class, a couple of humanity courses...and more

However, my brother goes to a school that has no requirements outside of the courses he has to take for his major.

Even if a school has requirements you have options. Let's say you have to take a foreign language, you get to choose which language. If you have to take science courses, you get to choose the science classes you want. There is flexibility :)

You will have a college academic adviser that can definitely answer questions for you such as: what are these school's requirements? what are my major requirements? which courses should I take now? which courses should I take on my study abroad semester? etc

hope you have a great senior year!!!  

Answer 8

You have to take English's, Maths and sometimes Sciences (well most of the time.) So you should take the basics that you will need for any degree including an elective like art or a foreign language so you have a start.

Answer 9

Don't be too worried about it.  If you can take some AP or college classes as a senior, I recommend doing it.  It's a lot cheaper than taking them in college and if you do well enough on the AP tests, the classes will replace some that you'd have to take in college.  For instance, I never had to take english, a foreign language, or intro biology courses in college because I took them in high school.

Once you get into a college, you should be assigned an advisor that you can talk to about your scheduling.  If you know what you want to major in, they should give you an advisor in that department.  If not, you'll probably get one assigned at random.  I went to a state school, and the first semester of college they made us take a course called Academic Planning, the sole purpose of which was to have a professor to talk to about classes and scheduling and be with other freshmen in the same boat as you are.  I don't know if this happens everywhere, though.

Either way, I don't believe you'll be on your own to figure out which classes to take.  If you go to a liberal arts college, you will need certain General Education courses, like English, Science, Social Studies, Math, Art/Music, Foreign Language and probably a few other mandatory classes (like, everyone at my school had to take an oral communications course and a computer skills course).  They'll tell you about it if you tour the school or at freshman orientation I do believe.

Best of luck... I know it can be scary, by try not to worry about it.  They'll be plenty of resources to help you before you begin college.  Might even want to talk to your high school guidance counselor if you have one, they can help sometimes.

Answer 10

Every College has a certain number of courses that must be completed called Gen Eds.  So if u haven't decided on a major u would take classes that complete these Gen Ed. Requirements.  These Gen Eds are mandatory for graduation.

Answer 11

Each school is different. Some schools have loads of gen ed requirements, and some have none at all (like the one I'm going to). At schools like mine, you take whatever you want.

For family law, you could do psychology, ethics, history, etc.  

Answer 12

dont worry about it; everyone is confused at this time.

When you enter college, some colleges i think most have some sort of program like a block program where they give you your first semester of classes which include anything from english to computer science; they try to give you a wide range of fields to see if anything interests you.

Then your second semester your free to choose whatever you want.

Other schools let you just take whatever courses you want.

Most schools have requirements, such as taking one english course and one math course and some sciences to ensure that you are well rounded and have had a good education.

They usually tell you the requirements when you are in your first semester; however once your accepted into a school and are planning on attending you can seek help from an advisor or just check the schools website which should have that information.

good luck

Answer 13

Many colleges just have first-year undecided students take some requirements.  Typically there's an English requirement, a science requirement, and a liberal arts requirement at all schools, plus most schools have more requirements (and some don't call them english, science, liberal arts).  You do chose your own classes, this will happen in the summer or when you start freshman orientation.  Just choose a little of everything - I recommend taking psych, poly sci, a english course focused in something you've never studied, and a music or art appreciation course.  I have a BS degree and am working on a Ph.D.  I also have helped a fair amount of friends get into closed college courses and chose courses so I feel I know a little bit about this.