<p>Here is from ND website:
"90% of Undergraduate Notre Dame courses are taught by professors. The remaining 10% of courses are taught by teaching assistants near the end of their graduate requirements who are preparing for their careers as university faculty." </p>
<p>I am very surprized by this. All courses in a top private university are normally taught by professors. A private university as good as ND and focusing more on undergraduate education uses TA to teach so many courses. Does anyone know what kinds of courses taught by TA at ND?</p>
<p>Your assertion that “All courses in a top private university are normally taught by professors” is not true. 90% is a phenomenally high percentage for professor-taught undergraduate classes.</p>
<p>maybe 90% is relatively good. Still,many top-tier schools pride themselves on having virtually no classes taught by TAs. This number is a cause for concern for me.</p>
<p>10% is a low number of classes. Plus, the classes are probably basic introductory classes. And also think about all the classes the school offers.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t be too worried about it. The only courses I had in my 4 years at ND that were taught by TAs were the discussion sessions or tutorials associated with courses taught by professors. I don’t know if those count towards the 10%, but it would explain the numbers. Of course, it might also vary depending on which college/major you are in.</p>
<p>For the discussion sessions, tutorials, or some labs only, it makes sense for TA to do it, as long as all lectures are taught by professors. This seems to be the answer from information session of some schools. I saw that the Rice University also lists 10% of courses taught by TA on its web site. Rice has students:faculty of 5 or 6:1. I heard from a friend who went to Cornell to say the same thing. Hopefuly this is the case for ND.</p>
<p>My experience has been that a fair number of first-year general requirements are taught by graduate students. My intro theology, philosophy, and composition courses were taught by advanced graduate students (though there were also sections taught by professors, so one could conceivably work one’s schedule so as to avoid classes taught by TAs.) I know some of the lower-level math courses are also taught by TAs. I’ve never heard of a TA teaching any higher-level courses, though.</p>
<p>I don’t have any, though a couple of my friends have labs or discussions or tutorials with TAs. I do have a lecture class where the TAs help out, but the professor is teaching. From what I gather, that 10% number likely includes labs, discussions, and tutorials that accompany lecture classes, and so should be regarded in a more positive light. The professors are outstanding, and most of the TAs are good as well.</p>
<p>I’d say it’s anecdotal. Some TA’s cover the discussions I have, but Dr. Smith teaches my Intro to Theology. Professors teach in all my lectures and my karate instructor (for gym) is the Dean of First Year of Studies.</p>
<p>A lot of TAs are also post docs, meaning they have a PhD in the field in which they are teaching - they just aren’t a professor. They don’t count TAs leading discussion sections or recitations in that statistic. If a TA is teaching a course without a PhD (or other relevant degree) they are working directly with a professor.</p>
<p>I’m a freshman, so most of my classes are intro level. Even those are all taught by full professors with great credentials. The only TA’s I have encountered are in my discussion groups outside the regular classes.</p>