hi aska, I was wondering if you had any recommendations on interesting first year courses for someone who wants to take a wide variety of courses? thanks
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hey there,
good for you for asking this question. so many first years are afraid of taking lots of different courses. most people want to feel like they already have a handle on things when they come in to university, and very often that translates to people being open to only a select number of courses – the “right” courses.
problem is, there are no right” courses, and the sooner you get excited about exploring everything on offer, the better a chance you have of finding something you love at university.
since i don’t know what stream you’re entering into and i don’t really know which areas of study i should be focusing on in terms of course recommendations, i’m just gonna give you aska’s GENERAL TIPS on how to enrol in courses as a first year:
1. make sure that you’re completing the prerequisites for whatever program(s) you’re interested in.
after first year, you’ll be required to sign up for a subject program of study (POSt). for that reason, it’s a good idea to take courses in first year which fill the requirements for the program(s) you’re interested in.
i want to be clear about this: you don’t HAVE to know which programs exactly you want to get into coming into first year. that kind of defeats the whole purpose of having a general first year. however, it’s a good idea to have some kind of plan going in – if that plan eventually changes, that’s not a big deal, but you have to try something out before you can change your mind about it.
if you’re thinking of a life science program, the requirements usually include: BIO120+130, CHM138+139, MAT135+136, and sometimes PHY131+132. if you’re thinking of doing a psychology program, you’ll want to take PSY100H1.
if you’re thinking of econ, you’ll want to take MAT133Y1 and ECO100Y1.
if you’re thinking of doing computer science, you’ll need CSC148H1 and CSC165H1.
some popular, foundational first-year courses for a variety of humanities and social science programs include: POL101Y1, SOC101Y1, ANT100Y1, ENG140Y1, CIN105Y1, CLA160H1 and PHL100Y1 (make sure to double-check the specific program you have in mind to see what the prerequisites are).
2. start thinking about breadth requirements
you may have noticed that no matter which program you’re interested in, you’ll still have some space left over to take other courses. you may want to think about filling those spaces with courses that fill a breadth requirement or two.
every course in the faculty of arts & science will fill at least one breadth requirement. depending on your program, it’ll be really easy for you to fill some breadth requirements, and tougher to fill others. science students will have no trouble filling breadth requirements 4 and 5, while humanities students will have a lot of courses in breadth requirement 1, and social science courses tend to be in breadth categories 2 and 3.
if you’re a humanities/social science student looking to fill your 4th and 5th group of breadth requirements, take a look at some intro. science courses i recommended here.
if you’re a science student, those intro. humanities/social science courses that i listed above are good places to start looking.
finally, just take one lazy sunday off to get to know the timetable. go in with an open mind and explore anything that strikes your fancy. the faculty of arts & science has so many options available, including a whole bunch that have probably never crossed your mind.
3. just do what you feel, man
if you have any space left after taking into consideration your program requirements and breadth requirements, then just indulge yourself in some wish fulfilment. want to take a 200-level intro. to European Studies course? you got it. always wanted to learn Estonian? now you can.
you never know – these intro. courses could lead to a minor or even a second major that will complement the program(s) you originally set your eyes on.
i realize that i didn’t recommend that many specific courses in this post, but that’s because i don’t want to limit you – what you find interesting will depend on your personality and – duh – your interests. explore those. find weird and obscure courses on the timetable. take that leap of faith and sign up for the ones that surprise you. you may just end up enjoying one of them.
good luck on July 30th!
peace,
aska