Curtain Call: Semester One

So, first off, I'm going to introduce all of my Arabian friends with MIT nomenclature!
So, for classes, the number BEFORE the decimal indicates the department (major).
The number AFTER the decimal indicates the course itself.
The number AFTER the decimal AFTER the decimal indicates the section.
So, in my first semester, I took these classes (I'll give each an explanation):

5.111 - Principles of Chemical Science. This is a Course 5 class (Chemistry) that is one of the three intro classes that will fulfill the chemistry General Institute Requirement (GIR).

8.01 - Physics I. This is a Course 8 class (Physics) that is one of three classes that fulfill the Classical Mechanics GIR.

10.A13 - Chemical Accidents. This is a Course 10 class (Chemical Engineering) that serves as a Freshman Advising Seminar. Most classes are 12 units (12 hours of work per week, 4 credit hours), but the advising seminars are all six units.

18.01A - Single Variable Calculus Accelerated. This is a Course 18 class (Mathematics) that fulfills the first calculus GIR. It begins halfway through the course and lasts six weeks, covering any topics that weren't covered in AP Calculus AB and Mrs. Haynes's Calculus class.

18.02A - Multiple Variable Calculus Accelerated. This class fulfills the second calculus GIR and starts six weeks into the term (when 18.01A finishes). It can be finished in either January, which we call Independent Activities Period (IAP) or in the first half of the spring semester.

21W.732.03 - Introduction to Scientific and Technical Writing. This is a Course 21W Class (Writing) that fulfills part of the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) GIR. In addition to counting towards my eight required HASS classes, it counts as my required CI-HW class, which is a communication intensive humanities writing class. The .03 indicates my section, which was Writing About The Environment.

So those were my classes. One of the most awesome parts of MIT is that all first semester freshmen are on pass/no record. I'm proud to say I passed all of my classes, with the exception of 18.02A because I still have to finish it in IAP.

I, like many other freshmen, also had a very close call with 8.01. Many, many students fail this class, and the early reports are that I have passed the class. For some perspective, I made an 87 on the final... Out of 192. The average was 104. So we failed on average, pretty well I'd say. But I get to move on to my next semester, without losing any units, yay!

For those of my uninformed fellow Arabians, I pledged and am now a brother in the Sigma Nu fraternity. Those of you seniors about to go off to college:
PARTICIPATE IN RUSH!
You don't have to pledge anywhere, but you need to at least go through it. It was sooo much more fun than our orientation program.

Now to give you what's going on next semester.

3.094 - Materials in the Human Experience. This is a Course 3 class (Materials Science and Engineering) that fulfills part of the HASS requirement. It is basically two hours of lecture each week where we will learn how different cultures used different materials with a three hour lab where we will actually use those same materials. This is also a 9-unit class.

5.12 - Organic Chemistry I. This is not a GIR class, but it is a requirement for both majors I'm considering (more on that a little later).

7.013 - Introductory Biology. This is a Course 7 class (Biology) that fulfills the biology GIR. That's basically it. Ha ha.

8.02 - Physics II. This is one of two classes that fulfills the Electricity and Magnetism GIR.

18.03 - Differential Equations. This class fulfills a Restricted Elective in Science and Technology (REST) requirement for both majors I'm looking at. After this class, I have no other required math classes in my undergraduate years.

Unless otherwise stated, all classes are 12 units.

Here's a brief overview of my plans:
I want to declare my major as Course 5 at the end of the spring semester, but after about a year of study, provided I have a 4.0 (MIT uses the 5.0 scale: A 5, B 4, C 3, D 2), I want to declare a double major, also doing Course 10. To review, 5 is chemistry and 10 is chemical engineering.

I want to apply to Harvard grad school and get my Master's of Education.

Okay, I'd say that's a fair amount.

If you have any questions, you can leave them in comments, but leave an email address so I can get back to you if I need to.

Sincerely,
Drew