<p>I'm an international student, and my English is just about average-ish.</p>
<p>I was wondering,
a) are there a lot of international students in the Directed Studies Program?
and b) would it be too difficult for international students??</p>
<p>Please help me out :)</p>
<p>Were you accepted into DS? If so, I trust your writing was deemed more than adequate to be successful in the program.</p>
<p>Actually I’m only applying this year, and I’m really interested in the program. I think it’s similar to Columbia’s Core but it provides all of Yale’s wonderful resources and student life. (Eeek I sound presumptuous now) I suppose I should be worrying about this after I get in, but I was wondering whether I should mention it in my applications to increase my chance of getting preadmitted :)</p>
<p>I saw an international in there and he was struggling. Then again, I saw another international thrive. It all depends.</p>
<p>Remember: The DS curriculum is quite unlike what foreign high schools may have prepared you for. Many foreign schools place great emphasis on remembering and understanding the material. But DS will expect you not only to do that, but come up with your own theories and conclusions on the materials that you have encountered.</p>
<p>Welllll… Im at OIS right now, and I can say that there are not that many doing DS. However, I was in a smaller group of ~25 people, and 4 said they were doing DS… continue that statistic to the 139 internationals this year, you youre looking at ~20 some odd international students doing DS from the class of 2014 - not much</p>
<p>^ About 10% of the incoming class does DS. Those statistics you just quoted suggest that there is a dispoportionately high number of international students in DS.</p>
<p>YaleGradandDad… I wasnt quoting a statistic… I was in a group of ~ 25 people and 4 said they were doing DS. All I said was that if the trend continued, it would put (out of the 139 intls this year), ~20 students doing DS. </p>
<p>And, you said about 10%… if were talking 20/139, thats only 14%… hardly a “disproportionately high number”</p>
<p>As well, who is to say that its not a popular thing to do among internationals? Im not saying it is, and Im not quoting any statistics, but maybe when you take the WHOLE freshman class, the number drops to 10%, but in the INTERNATIONAL community of the class of 2014, they like DS.</p>
<p>^ Don’t be rude. It was your claim that “20 some odd internationals” MAY be doing DS based on what few people you probably met through the internet. And you claimed that it was “not much”…</p>
<p>And yes it is disproportionate if a higher percentage of internationals is taking DS over the overall percentage of freshman. Traditionally, internationals take less of an interest in a fixed curriculum that focuses on the “great works of the Western Civilization”.</p>
<p>My son was in DS last year and says that there were quite a few international students in DS generally, and several in his sections, some whose English was not yet completely fluent. However, if you are really passionate about the readings and ideas in DS, your engagement should compensate for any linguistic disadvantages. I also have several colleagues who have taught in and also directed the Columbia Core and I would say that the faculty in both Yale’s DS courses and Columbia’s Core courses are uniformly outstanding and all are dedicated to inspiring the students and facilitating each student’s ability to formulate and express their own ideas.</p>