Prospective Freshman (ProFros) got a close-up view of the next four years of their education – including the recently revamped freshman year curriculum – during this year’s Admit Weekend, which ran from Thursday, April 26 to Saturday, April 28.
Next year, the Introduction to the Humanities (IHUM) program will be eliminated in favor of a new one-quarter interdisciplinary program called Thinking Matters. Freshmen will only take Thinking Matters for one quarter rather than the current three-quarter IHUM sequence. The Faculty Senate officially adopted the program in March.
ProFros mostly commented positively on the change.
“Everyone I know who has talked to me about IHUM has said they hated it so I guess I’m glad it’s gone,” said Peter Dolan, a ProFro from Kirkland, Wash.
Other ProFros shared similar sentiments.
“I haven’t heard great things about IHUM from current students,” said Sarah Rosston, a ProFro from Menlo Park, Calif.
All ProFros interviewed by The Daily said that they had heard negative things about the course from their Room Hosts (RoHos).
“It seems like a positive change from what I’ve heard,” said Ian Gonzalez, a ProFro from Miami, Fla.
Still other ProFros expressed excitement over the fact that the Thinking Matters program will involve more choice and fewer required units.
“It seems like it would give you a chance to explore more options freshman year,” said Laura Zalles, a ProFro from Palo Alto.
“Obviously I haven’t taken IHUM, but it seems like you can tailor [Thinking Matters] more to your interests rather than take a class that you may or may not be interested in,” said Hadley Reid, a ProFro from Chapel Hill, N.C.
Admit Weekend coordinators gave House Hosts (HoHos) information about the new freshman curriculum changes during a briefing to help them answer questions from ProFros.
“Thinking Matters is not just a humanities-based program,” said Will Setrakian ’15, a Larkin HoHo, when describing the new freshman curriculum. “It will expose students to a wide variety of subjects such as communications, law and science.”
Setrakian added that students will be able to enroll in Thinking Matters classes that interest them in addition to the one they choose to fulfill their one-quarter requirement.
Gonzalez added that he had heard about some interesting Thinking Matters courses, such as one based on the popular Discovery Channel show Mythbusters.
“They sound so interesting that I might actually sign up for more than just the one required course,” Gonzalez said.