Q: Are seminars generally easy and require less work? How much workloads for seminars?
The Answer
Hi Chuck! The course load for seminars is generally much easier than the pre-requisite classes or even the breadth classes that you will be taking in your freshman year. Seminars come in two flavors, freshmen seminars and sophomore seminars. Freshmen seminars are generally 1 unit each, taken with the Pass/No Pass letter grading, while sophomore seminars are usually 2 units, also under the Pass/No Pass letter grading. There are also senior seminars, which range from 2 to 4 units each, but I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that for now.
The course load is much lighter in seminars because you generally meet just once a week, and the course itself is designed to expose you to different academic areas of interest that you might not explore in your typical classes. Seminars emphasize exploration of ideas and focus on a breadth of knowledge, versus a regular class which focuses on depth of knowledge. Homework assignments are often just one-page reflection papers or small activities designed to jolt your memory, compared to term papers, problem sets, and midterms that are used in regular classes. All in all, seminars are a good way to explore areas of study that you might be interested in so that you can discover what major you want to declare, without having to sacrifice pre-requisite or breadth classes to do so.
