Thousands of college freshmen choose a major field of study each year, and thousands of college sophomores abruptly change their minds the following year. This abrupt shift is frequently triggered a particularly difficult but required course known as a weeder class. A weeder class can be a difficult academic course, such as organic chemistry, or a typical course taught a demanding instructor, such as a freshman English composition class taught the English department chair.
A weeder class is intended to thin the student population, particularly in fields where advanced courses are notoriously difficult. Pre-med students, for example, are usually required to take advanced chemistry courses like organic chemistry and biology. Organic chemistry is a difficult course even under ideal conditions, so a number of students may drop out or switch to a less demanding major as a result of the difficulty of weeder.
There are some courses that aren’t specifically designed to be weeder classes, but they still accomplish the same goal. For example, a freshman or sophomore English course may not appear difficult at first, but the instructor can make it much more difficult assigning lengthy research papers, adding additional reading requirements, or grading declared English majors more rigorously than the rest of the class. The goal of a weeder class like this is to give students a taste of what they can expect in upper-level or graduate courses.
A weeder class is the polar opposite of the credit classes known as Mickey Mouse, crip, or clap. While these foundational courses are known for their light workloads and generous grading systems, true weeder classes are known for their rigorous workloads and strict grading standards. To avoid an academic meltdown, a good academic adviser should be able to guide a student through the minefield of Mickey Mouse and weeder classes. If a student takes too many weeder classes at once, he or she may become discouraged and unwilling to continue in a potentially rewarding field of study.