The gen eds are tricky to deal with. You can’t usually get out of them, but some schools are pretty good with what classes satisfy them. I would suggest ignoring the recommended gen ed courses (though try to get specific advice from fellow students and listen to them if it contradicts this) and going straight to the department which is related to the requirement. Look around and see what courses they offer, and then ask if it will satisfy a gen ed. I’ve found that taking department specific introductory courses is WAY more interesting than trying to slog through the default ones, which are usually filled with the same people you had to deal with in high school. It’s also been my experience that most of the default courses are actually harder (I think this might be because they want to push freshmen into college mode). Again, this varies with the school, so take it with a grain of salt.
One more thing that I wish people had told me: find all the problem solving strategies you can, and use the hell out of them. You might think you are good at this and you don’t need anyone’s advice on how to think (actually you probably don’t, since you are on this site...), but the falseness of this statement will become increasingly clear when you attempt problem sets. I thought I knew this, but looking back I would spend hours on one problem just trying the same method over and over, thinking I was doing something new.
If you don’t see a solution or the path to the solution within 5 or 10 minutes, try something completely new no matter how close you think you are. Keep prodding your brain like this, and eventually one of those stubborn folds of tissue will spill its guts for you. But if you keep hitting the same part over and over again, you’re just gonna have a pissed off commander in chief. Yeah, it does sound obvious… but if you don’t check to make sure you’re doing it, most of the time you’re just going to keep hacking your way to nowhere.
Also, find or make a study group. I was too damn stubborn to do this—biggest mistake of my college career. It might be annoying when you know all the answers and everyone else doesn’t, but that won’t happen often.
The gen eds are tricky to deal with. You can’t usually get out of them, but some schools are pretty good with what classes satisfy them. I would suggest ignoring the recommended gen ed courses (though try to get specific advice from fellow students and listen to them if it contradicts this) and going straight to the department which is related to the requirement. Look around and see what courses they offer, and then ask if it will satisfy a gen ed. I’ve found that taking department specific introductory courses is WAY more interesting than trying to slog through the default ones, which are usually filled with the same people you had to deal with in high school. It’s also been my experience that most of the default courses are actually harder (I think this might be because they want to push freshmen into college mode). Again, this varies with the school, so take it with a grain of salt.
One more thing that I wish people had told me: find all the problem solving strategies you can, and use the hell out of them. You might think you are good at this and you don’t need anyone’s advice on how to think (actually you probably don’t, since you are on this site...), but the falseness of this statement will become increasingly clear when you attempt problem sets. I thought I knew this, but looking back I would spend hours on one problem just trying the same method over and over, thinking I was doing something new.
If you don’t see a solution or the path to the solution within 5 or 10 minutes, try something completely new no matter how close you think you are. Keep prodding your brain like this, and eventually one of those stubborn folds of tissue will spill its guts for you. But if you keep hitting the same part over and over again, you’re just gonna have a pissed off commander in chief. Yeah, it does sound obvious… but if you don’t check to make sure you’re doing it, most of the time you’re just going to keep hacking your way to nowhere.
Also, find or make a study group. I was too damn stubborn to do this—biggest mistake of my college career. It might be annoying when you know all the answers and everyone else doesn’t, but that won’t happen often.