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justinbois / caltech_be_typical_schedule

Working document: Caltech BE typical schedule
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Seems like a lot of electives are specified. #2

Open heathjohn62 opened 5 years ago

heathjohn62 commented 5 years ago

I'm not sure why courses like Bi 122, BE/Bi 106, BE/Bi 103 ab, and Bi/CNS/NB 154 are specified. 122 and 154 over-satisfy the biology requirement if you take Bi/CNS/NB/Psy 150, and overall these seem like a pretty arbitrary selection of electives. I loved BE/Bi 103, but I still feel like this schedule gives the impression of too little freedom. I'm also not sure why you would take ChE 130 if you took BE 196a.

I think that the Freshman year schedule is great, and that's probably the most important part since upperclassman will have more information than Freshman when making their schedule.

justinbois commented 5 years ago

Yes, those are great comments. This was meant to be a "typical" schedule, and would be preceded with the following text:

This choice of electives shown below is one of many and is meant to show what a representative schedule might look like.

Would this alleviate those concerns?

heathjohn62 commented 5 years ago

I think that I would use a resource like this to guide me as to when I should take required courses, or to see which courses are usually preferred among BioE undergrads. Including arbitrary electives makes this resource more confusing, because I then have to carefully cross-reference this table and the requirements to determine why a course is included in the table. I would agree that as a "typical" schedule this is not misleading, but I'm not sure how much utility a "typical" schedule serves to someone planning their courses.

That said, this might be a matter of preference, and it's probably not that significant.

justinbois commented 5 years ago

So, how about just substituting a description in for elective course? E.g., "Bi 122" becomes "advanced biology elective." We a bit more stuck on electives like BE/CS 196 a or ChE 130 type things, but with the text about being "typical" it should be ok?

heathjohn62 commented 5 years ago

I edited it, did what you mentioned above, and knocked down the units some (and learned how to execute a pull request!). This seems a little more reflective of the actual demands of the major to me. Admittedly, the typical schedule is heavier than this, but that's because of student interest in other classes or a minor.