What do college students look for in classes?

[Lightdemon]

Generally, in my experience, most students tend to favor professors who explain what their expectations are, what will be on the test, etc.

The first thing that most college students, me included, look for in a class is how to pass the midterm and final. At the first meeting of class, the typical questions are: Is the Final cumulative? Is it multiple choice? Will there be an essay question? Will we be graded on a curve? etc. The content of the class isn't really all that important it seems. What's important is how to get an A.


In classes that tend not to be "easy" are those in that do not have specific answers to certain questions. This leads students to an unfamiliar way of taking notes, as well as having difficulty finding answers to very generalized questions. Such classes generally requires one to give a speech or an explaination or an essay, instead of multiple choice or fill in the blanks type exams.

Do you find this generally to be true among college students?

 

[new coup for you]

I look for whether they take roll or not

 

[nancyboy]

By college I am assuming youmean american college AKA university, not english college which teaches school-aged and adults.

Although the exams are a part of it, I don't know anybody who chooses their course completely on how the exams are taken. It's pretty obvious anyways, it usually tied in with your subject. E.G. humanities are usually 70% coursework 30% exam, with the option for 100% coursework. Sciences are usually made up of exams, coursework, and weekly/monthly mini-tests. So I guess it depends on your subject.

Personally, I jut take classes because I find the subject interesting. Or if the tutor is good.

 

[drb14]

When I was in college, I chose my course based on the subject matter, quality of the professor, and the schedule, in that order of importance (with the first 2 being very close, if I had had the prof before).

On the other hand, I know a lot of people, especially outside their majors, that would base thier decisions on unimportant crap like how the exam/grading was.

By the time lawschool came around, though, my scheduling was based on ~60% on whether attendance was taken (til it was mandated). Then subject matter.

 

[rathi]

I take classes I am interested in . Grade Whoring is stupid and pointless. Getting personal industry contacts is more important than grades if you want a good job, and I pay a crap load of money to learn, so I might as well try and get something back.

 

[Bodi]

I took classes based on the fastest and most simple way to attain my degrees.
I could care less how they test and if they took role.

I never bought books, showed up... listened for key words and inflections that alluded to what the Prof thought was important, took insanely good notes and just read Poe or some Tolkien or Clancy novel the rest of the time.

I never talked to anybody in my classes and I would leave the instant the class was over.

What I could never EVER stand were the shmucks that took up my time at the end of class asking idiotically stupid and obvious questions that if the person didn't already know, they should just wait and ask the professor during office hours OFF OF MY TIME.

Man, I have better things to do than to sit around waiting politely so as to not interrupt the prof and stand out as I walked out on their Q and A for some dumb people that struggle to listen well.

:2wave:

 

[winston53660]

I took classes based on the fastest and most simple way to attain my degrees.
I could care less how they test and if they took role.

I never bought books, showed up... listened for key words and inflections that alluded to what the Prof thought was important, took insanely good notes and just read Poe or some Tolkien or Clancy novel the rest of the time.

I never talked to anybody in my classes and I would leave the instant the class was over.

What I could never EVER stand were the shmucks that took up my time at the end of class asking idiotically stupid and obvious questions that if the person didn't already know, they should just wait and ask the professor during office hours OFF OF MY TIME.

Man, I have better things to do than to sit around waiting politely so as to not interrupt the prof and stand out as I walked out on their Q and A for some dumb people that struggle to listen well.

:2wave:

So why did you go to college? After all you saw it as BS.

 

[Bodi]

So why did you go to college? After all you saw it as BS.

I didn't see the outcome as BS...
I saw much of the process as BS though, you are right.

I went to college to get a four-year degree and then later to get a second degree and then my M.Ed.

What I saw was a process to a means.
At the end was better money.

We all have to work, why not make some money at the same time?

 

[winston53660]

I didn't see the outcome as BS...
I saw much of the process as BS though, you are right.

I went to college to get a four-year degree and then later to get a second degree and then my M.Ed.

What I saw was a process to a means.
At the end was better money.

We all have to work, why not make some money at the same time?

I always mad at myself when I charge people for what I consider stupid stuff. But I still charge them.

 

[Bodi]

I always mad at myself when I charge people for what I consider stupid stuff. But I still charge them.

I must say that I am not sure what that means?
Are you are Prof? A Lecturer? What?

 

[winston53660]

I must say that I am not sure what that means?
Are you are Prof? A Lecturer? What?

I'm a professional image maker. I've been lucky a few times and gotten to work for magazines and what not. If you check out my sig below there is an image I'm very proud of of Steve Buscemi I did. The bulk of my pay is catalogs. I dream of being an artist again however. Unfortunately since Newt Gingrich went on a rampage I would have done better in the oil biz or missile building gig

 

[Bodi]

I'm a professional image maker. I've been lucky a few times and gotten to work for magazines and what not. If you check out my sig below there is an image I'm very proud of of Steve Buscemi I did. The bulk of my pay is catalogs. I dream of being an artist again however. Unfortunately since Newt Gingrich went on a rampage I would have done better in the oil biz or missile building gig

LOL! Sweet. I'll check that out.

 

[mikhail]

There is a certain opinion in colleges that tends to leaning to the left.Alot of the suck up students love to back up their lecturers atitiude.Society needs that though it needs over sensitive people who wanna teach.

 

[Redfactor]

When I first started my undergrad, my college already set out a series of classes which I was forced to take if I wanted to graduate in four years. It was disappointing and made me hate school.

I then switched majors and fell in love. Not right away of course, but after a while. At first, I felt stupid as my peers seemed to be light years ahead of where I was. This lead me to talk with pretty much every professor/lecturer after basically every class. I would take them out to lunch, schedule office hour meetings, and invite them to parties I threw (yup, talking about Tolstoy around the beer keg). After putting in this extra effort, I quickly caught up to and then passed most all of my peers in mastering our subject matter and my tactics became habit.

After three years of that, professors stopped being professors and started being mentors in many aspects of my life. It was great - and I'm still in contact with many of them.

As for picking classes, it was always about what we were reading. Good material makes for great classes.


The two most important things I took from my experience about how to be a quality college student:

1) Talk with your professors. Even if there are 150 kids in the class, talking for 5 minutes once a week after class (because they're usually busy before class) goes a long way. You don't have to like them all, and you shouldn't try to. But no matter what school you go to, there are amazing people whom you can learn a great deal from.

2) Don't trust other students. Well, I went to a state school, so it is probably different for a small liberal arts college. But for large schools, teachers who get a bad rap for "being hard" are generally the ones who are putting in the most effort as a teacher. It's easy to be nice. It's long, hard work to give every kid a thorough analysis of their work and progress.

 

[1069]

Generally, in my experience, most students tend to favor professors who explain what their expectations are, what will be on the test, etc.

The first thing that most college students, me included, look for in a class is how to pass the midterm and final. At the first meeting of class, the typical questions are: Is the Final cumulative? Is it multiple choice? Will there be an essay question? Will we be graded on a curve? etc. The content of the class isn't really all that important it seems. What's important is how to get an A.


In classes that tend not to be "easy" are those in that do not have specific answers to certain questions. This leads students to an unfamiliar way of taking notes, as well as having difficulty finding answers to very generalized questions. Such classes generally requires one to give a speech or an explaination or an essay, instead of multiple choice or fill in the blanks type exams.

Do you find this generally to be true among college students?

How does one find out these things?
Will they tell you if you ask, before you sign up?
Or do you just ask other students who have taken the class?
But what if the professor changes the class or the type of test he/she gives? Like, it used to be one way, and you sign up for it because your friend who had it last year tells you it was easy, but then when you take it you find that it's totally changed and it's hard.

 

[Lightdemon]

How does one find out these things?
Will they tell you if you ask, before you sign up?
Or do you just ask other students who have taken the class?
But what if the professor changes the class or the type of test he/she gives? Like, it used to be one way, and you sign up for it because your friend who had it last year tells you it was easy, but then when you take it you find that it's totally changed and it's hard.

I believe in most schools, professors are required (or at least encouraged) to give thier students a syllabus that tells them exactly what will be the criteria for grading. Most professors don't usually change thier syllabus, at least in my exerpience. Most of my professors use thier old syllabus, and most of the time they still have the old dates on them. One such syllabus still had the old course name ("Gender Inequalities"), where the new course name should have been "Human Sexuality."

That's one way to do it. Another way of course is to ask students who've taken those professors. RateMyProfessors.com is pretty popular. It's pretty up to date. Every quarter or semester students give thier feedback.

But generally, it's not hard finding out which professors are the "hard" ones. Unless your a hermit and you don't talk to anybody in college. But what are the chances of that?

 

[1069]

I believe in most schools, professors are required (or at least encouraged) to give thier students a syllabus that tells them exactly what will be the criteria for grading. Most professors don't usually change thier syllabus, at least in my exerpience. Most of my professors use thier old syllabus, and most of the time they still have the old dates on them. One such syllabus still had the old course name ("Gender Inequalities"), where the new course name should have been "Human Sexuality."

That's one way to do it. Another way of course is to ask students who've taken those professors. RateMyProfessors.com is pretty popular. It's pretty up to date. Every quarter or semester students give thier feedback.

But generally, it's not hard finding out which professors are the "hard" ones. Unless your a hermit and you don't talk to anybody in college. But what are the chances of that?

I wonder, then, if there isn't a lot of pressure on professors to be "easy".

 

[Lightdemon]

I wonder, then, if there isn't a lot of pressure on professors to be "easy".

Well, I'm not saying teachers are the problem to grade inflation, but it'd be a lie to say that they're not part of it.

 

[Redfactor]

I wonder, then, if there isn't a lot of pressure on professors to be "easy".

Each institution has their own philosophy to grading. Some go up to a 4.3 scale, others up to a 4.0 scale, while a few others don't use grades at all (Reed college). Most schools don't use quotas while others use them heavily. Some teachers are reprimanded if their students don't adhere to a bell curve in their grading, but those are usually the top tier schools who plan for an estimated average GPA of their undergrads.

UCLA School of Law has designed the program for an average GPA of 3.19 - just to give you an example of how specific it can get.

 

[jfuh]

Generally, in my experience, most students tend to favor professors who explain what their expectations are, what will be on the test, etc.

The first thing that most college students, me included, look for in a class is how to pass the midterm and final. At the first meeting of class, the typical questions are: Is the Final cumulative? Is it multiple choice? Will there be an essay question? Will we be graded on a curve? etc. The content of the class isn't really all that important it seems. What's important is how to get an A.


In classes that tend not to be "easy" are those in that do not have specific answers to certain questions. This leads students to an unfamiliar way of taking notes, as well as having difficulty finding answers to very generalized questions. Such classes generally requires one to give a speech or an explaination or an essay, instead of multiple choice or fill in the blanks type exams.

Do you find this generally to be true among college students?

Yes, and it's even more true the worse the instructor is. However if the instructor is very passionate about the content and presents a good lecture that is both entertaining and informative driving the student to want to dwell deeper into the topic these become less important.

 

[jfuh]

I wonder, then, if there isn't a lot of pressure on professors to be "easy".

Yes there is.

 

[new coup for you]

No, it depends on the school. Many schools have grade deflation.

 

[Lightdemon]

No, it depends on the school. Many schools have grade deflation.

What are the causes of grade deflation?

 

[new coup for you]

schools that aren't quite Ivy League but are comfortably high in national ranking (BU, my school, is a good example) use grade deflation to increase their national ranking.

Any school between about 30 and 100 in national ranking probably engages in grade deflation to some degree.