Course Selection in Freshman Year
Many departments offer introductory courses specifically designed for students beginning the study of a subject. In some of these departments (e.g., Anthropology, Economics, Linguistics, Philosophy, Political Science, and Sociology), a number of different introductory courses are available, all presented on the same level of difficulty but each approaching the subject from a different vantage point. In other departments, courses are organized on different levels of difficulty and require different degrees of preparation or skill. The level at which a student should begin or continue the study of a subject at Yale is primarily a matter of common sense. What is desired is placement at a level that will mean energetic work without a disproportionate slighting of one's other courses, productive tension without frustration, and the enjoyment that comes from a new challenge rather than from the comfortable recognition of familiar territory. When in doubt, freshmen should, after seeking advice, trust to their energies and choose the more challenging courses.
In deciding about appropriate courses, freshmen should first read carefully the material in this chapter and in the Freshman Handbook, and then examine the introductory information about particular fields in chapter IV of this bulletin. (The Freshman Handbook is mailed to all freshmen during the summer.) The program descriptions in chapter IV contain information concerning courses especially appropriate for freshmen as well as explanations of the differences in level or approach among various introductory courses. After considering the descriptions of course offerings, freshmen should consult their freshman faculty advisers. Since advisers cannot know everything about every subject of instruction, the student should regard the faculty adviser not only as a source of information but also as a point of contact with other members of the faculty who have the more precise and specific information a particular freshman may need. The faculty adviser may therefore refer a student with special qualifications or problems to the director of undergraduate studies of a department or program, to a departmental placement officer, or to a departmental adviser in the student's residential college. The names of these members of the faculty are given with the information on each subject in chapter IV, and no freshman should hesitate to consult them at any point during the academic year, particularly during the first weeks of the term.
In deciding the most appropriate level of placement, a student may want to attend courses on a trial basis. Freshmen have ample time after freshman registration in which to submit their course schedules, so that a student can resolve doubts about placement by attending courses at two levels (or on two different aspects) of the same subject. Discussions with the instructors of these courses will usually be helpful, because in that context the question of a student's placement can be explored in a concrete and exact way. Even after the term is under way, with the permission of the department a change of level in such subjects as foreign languages or mathematics may be arranged if the instructor and student agree that it is appropriate.
Departments offering instruction in subjects for which students may take Advanced Placement or SAT II Subject tests have drawn up placement policies fully described in the Freshman Handbook. Although these policies are intended to answer most questions that freshmen may have, they cannot take into account every individual situation. Freshmen with questions about placement that are not answered in the Freshman Handbook or in this bulletin are invited to discuss their qualifications with the appropriate director of undergraduate studies or departmental representative.
