Tips for your first semester class registration!

Knowing what classes you need to take is complicated, but not as complicated as it first seems. We’re going to do our very best to give you your one-stop-shop rundown right here, but we, too, are foolhardy students. First thing to know is that your required gen eds will depend on whether or not you are a Barnard student or a Columbia student. After that, you have your prospective major and/or what you are interested in exploring making a career out of. Then you have your minor (if applicable). The rest of your classes will be whatever else you chose to fill up the 120+ credits you need to graduate from college. 

But for now you don’t have to worry about most of that. At least not for your first semester. Your job is to figure out what your required classes are and take those. Then build the rest of your schedule around those classes to include one or two major/minor based classes and an elective or so. Do not take more than five classes as an incoming freshman—you do not want to put yourself through that. And if you can get into a section of gym, do that as soon as possible. You do not want to be a senior in your last semester desperately competing with incoming freshmen for spots in tai chi. (If you’re looking to do as little physical movement as possible, tai chi is your way to go.) 

Choosing classes based on course requirements

Barnard

If you’re a Barnard student, your required classes are best detailed by the chart below:

You’ll need to take both a first-year seminar class and a first-year writing class over the course of your first two semesters at Barnard. In addition, you have to take one physical education class during either of your first two semesters, although technically you can take it later on. It’s highly recommended that you do take gym during your first year though, and your academic advisor probably won’t let you prioritize other classes unless you have a compelling reason. After that are the distributional requirement classes—two languages (they have to both be in the same language), arts and humanities, social science, and science (one of which needs to be a course with a lab requirement) classes. To check what classes fit each of these requirements you can use the Slate website that’s updated with upcoming classes before the beginning of each term. The same applies for the Modes of Thinking, the second column in the chart. 

Rest assured, there’s a lot of options for each category so you’re sure to find some class you’re at least okay with for each requirement. Also, bonus perk, you can have any class you take as a Barnard student count for up to two requirements in different categories. For example, you can take a class that fits both the Thinking with Historical Perspective and the Social Science requirements, but you cannot have one course count for both your Thinking with Historical Perspective and Thinking about Social Difference requirements. To actually register for classes, you’ll need to use Barnard’s self service portal—luckily we’ve already compiled a guide for how to register for classes there as a Barnard student.

Columbia College

For Columbia College (CC) students, there are six shared classes—Literature Humanities (two semesters), Frontiers of Science, University Writing, Contemporary Civilization (two semesters), Art Humanities, and Music Humanities. Of these, Frontiers of Science, both semesters of Literature Humanities, and University Writing must be completed in the first year unless you want to tempt academic probation. Contemporary Civilization must be taken in the sophomore year. There are in addition two science requirements, two Global Core requirements, a required placement of Intermediate II or above in a language, two physical education courses, and a swimming test. There is then the matter of your major, but that’s a topic to take up with your academic advisor, seeing as the requirements can vary rather drastically depending on what field you intend to pursue. Classes that fulfill the Global Core and science requirements can be found on various Columbia webpages.

Columbia School of Engineering

For Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) students, there are significantly more technical requirements. For first-year and sophomore technical requirements, almost every student (dependent on individual major) is required to take calculus up to Multivariable Calculus, at least two semesters of physics, at least one semester (major-dependent) of chemistry, the Art of Engineering, at least one semester of computer science (options including Introduction to Computing for Engineers and Applied Scientists, Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in C, Introduction to Computer Science and Programming in Java, or Introduction To Computer Science and Programming In MATLAB), and at least one semester of lab work in either physics or chemistry (or possibly both, also major-dependent). Calculus, Physics, Chemistry, and Gateway Lab are required during the first year at SEAS. In addition to the technical requirements, the nontechnical requirements are at least 27 points of coursework. University Writing and Principles of Economics are required for all students in addition to two semesters of either Literature Humanities, Contemporary Civilization, or Global Core courses. Students also get to choose between either Art Humanities or Music Humanities, and three or four elective courses totalling between nine and 11 points. University Writing is required in the first year and most students complete the Core Humanities sequence in their second year.

School of General Studies

General Studies (GS) students take classes pretty similar to that of CC students. In addition to University Writing, a foreign language and science requirement, and Art and Music Humanities, GS students have a bit more leeway when it comes to other requirements. GS students can take Literature and Humanities and Contemporary Civilization or choose from similar classes that fit into those themes. GS students are also required to take a quantitative reasoning class (as opposed to Frontiers of Science), which they can place out of.

Choosing classes based on CULPA

CULPA is your local “anonymous professor and course rating site,” which stands for “Columbia Underground Listing of Professor Ability.” On CULPA, you can search up professors and classes to get ratings and written reviews on (almost) every professor and course on campus. It’s a highly recommended tool to use in preparation for course registration. You do not want to walk into your classes blind to the course load or the professor’s teaching style. The reviews are also peer-reviewed with the like or dislike buttons showing how fellow students feel about the quality of the review. For example, if an especially negative review of a professor has lots of dislikes, it may be a strong sign that it wasn’t actually the professor at fault, but that the review is the work of a miffed student. I have not yet been led astray by CULPA, but you’ll have to make your own judgements. Bwog also has a few articles you can check out that describe CULPA in more depth!

Choosing classes based on specific filters

Vergil is the more formal version of the Columbia Directory of Classes and the Barnard Course Catalogue, which are also both super helpful. With Vergil’s plethora of search filters and extensive categorization of each class into professor, department, location, time, number of credits, class format, and other such related information, it’s the perfect place to go if you want to find new potential classes to take. It’s also a great tool if you’d like to search for classes that satisfy the Columbia Global Core and science requirements, or for classes with open seats. Through Columbia SSOL, you can use the registration tab to search for a certain department (click “Index of Subjects”) and see a list of all classes they offer and how many seats are available. If you’re a CC, SEAS, or GS student this is also where you’ll register for classes, as Barnard registration is through a different portal.

Trust your fellow students!

If you want any recommendations on classes to take before you die, we have you covered in our much relied-upon series. An honorable mention of classes recommended by rising sophomores to incoming freshmen goes to Environmental Science for an easy core requirement with a lab, Reacting to the Past with Jennifer Worth for the least typical and most entertaining Barnard first-year seminar class you can get your hands on, World Migration for a fairly easy intro history class, Design Futures as a great way to immerse oneself into the vastness of NYC as a freshman, Colonialism, Imperialism, and Sexuality with Andrew Ragni, Introduction to Computational Thinking and Data Science as a great course for sliding into CS without prior any experience, Introduction to Economic Reasoning as good for no prior experience in economics, and last but not least Introduction to Islamic Civilization for a really fascinating introduction to the theology of early Islamic civilization.

Also, if you’re really desperate and you have enough Instagram followers composed of upperclassmen at Columbia, don’t be scared to post on your Instagram story asking for advice about certain classes or professors. Talking to people within your major (or a major with a class you’re eyeing) is also super useful. 

We hope this information was or will be useful to you! As always, if you have any further questions (even about something as small as whether or not to take a certain class with a certain professor), email tips@bwog.com.

Header via Bwarchives

Foundations Photo via Barnard

Core Photo via Columbia College