@bernie12 What do you know about the academic support services/tutoring at Emory College particularly in STEM courses and in writing intensive courses?
Do you speak of main campus? Main has e-pass and peer mentoring. Peer mentoring is basically the supplemental instruction sessions invented and typically used at large public schools. I think research suggests that it may be more effective than the standard recitations (which are run by graduate students)you see at many other selective schools for intro. STEM courses, This is particularly the case at a school like Emory where some intermediate chemistry courses or even intro biology courses may cover much different or more challenging content than what graduate students were exposed to as an undergrad at their own institution. For example, I wouldn’t want a 1st year graduate student trying to run problem solving sessions for Dr. Soria or Weinschenk (or Gallivan really) all of which cover concepts and problem types far beyond the typical organic chemistry course (even in comparison to most selective schools). Better to have undergrads who succeeded and are capable and willing to teach it.
@bernie12 Can you please explain how e-pass and peer mentoring work? And for which classes are these services offered at Main?
Which classes in biology and chemistry at Main are especially challenging in the way you described?
@MyOdyssey : e-pass is one on one tutoring and peer mentoring is group session tutoring (students show up and ideally collaborate on the problem set, but unfortunately many times students show up unprepared only looking for answers and refuse to work or attempt problems before or during the session. An effective session involves the students and is not the TA solving problems for them…If that worked already they would not have to show up to such sessions because the instructors lectures should be sufficient).
Challenging courses
Biology: None really lol other than maybe NBB 301 which has graduate TA’s for its problem solving sessions as does physical biology, but most pre-meds don’t take those (unless majoring in physics or NBB). Okay, nm. Many are challenged in certain biology 142 sections and classes with Eisen and Beck will certainly require more than memorization (which is a great thing). Upperlevels like immunology are not a cake walk either
Chemistry: If you desire a good organic or biochemistry instructor, those sections will be far more challenging than most schools. Same for analytical (which a pre-med can take but likely will not unless a chemistry major).
Note that this does not mean avoid these classes. Many of them have some of the strongest instructors and best learning outcomes, one should just be prepared to work harder or more efficiently than normal to do reasonably well. You’ll have to snap out of rote memorization or algorithmic problem solving to do extremely well. That works in biol 141 and often in chem 141/142, but not with a good instructor in the classes I mention. Ultimately this is a good thing as graduate school and the MCAT are not memorization festivals. You need strong reading, independent learning skills, and great on the spot problem solving capabilities to solve unexpected or sometimes even open ended problems for these and in life in general so don’t be daunted by these courses. All of the professors I allude, as I’ve mentioned before, actually have fairly high ratings despite the challenge. This is rare, so you know they’re good. Usually students punish challenging instructors in ratings.