<p>About the MMC, clearly our opinions differ. The best way to get an objective answer would be to email someone in the academic advising or economics department.</p>
<p>I had Dr Bray for 212. Dr Bray is one of the heads of the math department and knows the subject inside and out. Multi is one of the largest classes offered at Duke because it is a req for so many majors and many students enter with significant math history- many calc BC at least. Because of the large demand, many of the sections are taught by new professors or by professors who’s primary study lies outside multivariable calculus. Having a background in mutivar has certainly been a big plus but math Duke is much more challenging than the college math I had taken before. I wouldn’t call it boring though because I personally find calculus to be one of the more interesting subjects of math as opposed to geometry, linear algebra or discrete.</p>
<p>While Dr Roy is a really great professor, to rule out all the other professors especially at a school like Duke is quite unfair. I don’t mean this come across as rude but are you a student here or just an applicant because resources like rate my professor and subjective opinion seldom do due justice.</p>
<p>The introductory calculus sequence is difficult. Really, really freakin’ difficult, and I’ve seen a lot of friends struggle through it (at times, it is irrationally difficult). I think that even with a great professor, calculus is going to be difficult, but you’re absolutely right that there are some instructors teaching sections who aren’t the best (and I hope your son filled out the course evals to give feedback to the department).</p>
<p>Even a really great professor can’t make multi easy, just more lucid, and I don’t think I’ve seen a person at Duke say multi is ‘easy.’ Dr. Roy is fantastic, but so are Dr. Bray (who is the director of first-year instruction) and Dr. Daubechies (Ingrid), who perhaps are more ‘difficult’ but are also fantastic professors, and those are the only ones with name recognition that I know. Dr. Roy is perhaps the first name that comes up in a conversation about multi-- but it also means that for most students in the second and third registration window, he won’t be an option. However, I have had friends sit on Ingrid’s and Dr. Roy’s lectures just to learn the material because they are such good lecturers.</p>
<p>(Disclaimer: I was able to skip out of the calculus sequence and am taking an advanced probability course right now, so perhaps my opinion doesn’t mean as ‘much.’)</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses! My son had 3rd window to register and Dr. Roy only had one section, which was obviously gone by noon on the third day. Not knowing profs, we actually checked out Rate My Prof and Prof. Daubechies did NOT get good scores. Basically, he chose a prof with a name instead of “Staff” which was really all that was left. It was also tight getting into a writing seminar. </p>
<p>When my son is taught well, he understands things REALLY well, so a great prof would’ve been great for him. But now, after his own work/learning of multi, he feels VERY comfortable with it Also, for him, a more math and sciency kid, I think it was nice to get the writing seminar over with and now for second sem to have a bit more freedom of choice. And also second registration window!</p>
<p>Yeah, Ingrid Daubechies has a reputation has a horrendously difficult professor (sometimes unnecessarily brutal). However, I know I have a friend who sat in on her review session after being in other section and said that she managed to explain things really, really well. Is he taking linear next semester? (I’ll be taking that ‘fun.’)</p>
<p>For prospective students reading this, Duke also has tremendous help room hours (open nine hours a week in the evening) and peer tutoring, I believe, is available for multi.</p>
<p>I can’t count how many times I’ve heard lament Daubechies class. I also can’t count how many times I’ve heard people say she’s the creator of jpg image compression. She’s responsible for creating the exams for 212 and she does a hell of a job at it. That’s arguably the benefit of subjecting yourself to her class.</p>
<p>Yep, he’s taking linear. With a female prof whose name I can’t remember. SHE got good ratings. I’m sure he chose her because the class meets later in the day or something like that. </p>
<p>As to the sections, I thought it was great that Duke offered so much for classes like 212 and Econ (forget which #) and that after fall break, any multi kids could get help from any other prof or section. That would help kids whose learning styles didn’t match the teaching style of their prof. I’m wondering if my son took advantage of it.</p>
<p>Purple, how do you KNOW so much? You know pretty much everything there is to know about everything at Duke! In the future, can you set up my sons plane reservations, find him cab shares to the airport, and help him pack? ;)</p>
<p>Sarah Schott is really awesome! I’m not taking her (taking the course for math majors), but she’s been a really big advocate for women in math and is super approachable. I haven’t taken a class with her yet, but she’s always seemed very available for her students (and they definitely know where to find her for help).</p>
<p>And…I just like knowing things. It’s fun.</p>
<p>–</p>
<p>Okay, I’ll let catamount take this back to answering questions for prospective students now.</p>
<p>Congratulations to everyone that made it!!! Like I said in the results page, Welcome!!! The coming months till August will be grueling (in a great way)- you will be so glad you did ED. Feel free to message me, introduce yourself, and I look forward to seeing you all in beautiful Durham NC!</p>
<p>And be sure to support your new amazing football team as they play TA&M in the ChickFilA bowl!!</p>
<p>Just finished 212 yesterday. Took AP credit for the intro calc courses. No benefit in my opinion to take them for multi if you don’t have to. Big advantage in avoiding them. Primarily private school kids who had multi have an advantage for the first 7 or 8 weeks then the course goes beyond what they had. Very hard course but if you are strong in math should not have a problem with a B or higher. I’m saying this not knowing what my final grade is. But a 35% or higher on the final is A territory.</p>
<p>Math 212 is a difficult course for many people because it is graded on a very sharp curve, many of the professors haven’t taught it in a while, and it is usually the first math class taken at Duke. Thus, you will hear terrible things about this course from 90% of Duke students, but to be honest, I think people hate it so much because it was the first time in their lives that they didn’t excel, and that’s hard for people to adjust. That being said, here’s what you can do to succeed:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>First, if you took AP Calc in high school, especially BC, I would strongly recommend starting at the level again (like Calc 1 or Calc 2). You will become used to college math lectures, but you will be familiar with the material, so it won’t be as difficult. Don’t worry about “being behind” because you will be a lot happier your first semester here and you might come out with an A.</p></li>
<li><p>Look at ratemyproffesors.com and the aces course evaluations to determine the better professors. Try not to shy away from “hard” teachers because you might learn more, and everyone takes the same exam at the end, and it may be better for you to have that more rigorous course.</p></li>
<li><p>If you think you need help, sign up for a peer tutor early in the semester. They will meet with you an hour every week, and it will help you stay on top of the material. Sometimes, they run out of tutors later in the semester so get them early!</p></li>
<li><p>If you do have a bad teacher or need another explanation then watch all of the Multivariable lectures on MIT open courseware–it’s a great professor, and all of the material is the same (perhaps a slightly different order?)</p></li>
<li><p>Paul’s online notes explains things in pretty lame terms, which is helpful.</p></li>
<li><p>GO TO OFFICE HOURS!!! I can’t stress this enough. Some students don’t like to admit they need help, or they are intimidated by their professors. Get over it! You can benefit so much from going in once a week for 15 minutes and asking him or her to explain a concept or answer a question. They will probably learn your name and you can learn about them, which could be very useful for a future recommendation that you need. Also, subjective grading does happen…just saying that it doesn’t hurt to show your professor that you are trying…</p></li>
<li><p>Relax! Multivariable calculus is a difficult course because there is a lot of material, and you might get a lower grade then what you were expecting on your first exam. Don’t stress too much! When you first learned algebra, it was probably very difficult too, but now, you can probably recite the quadratic formula without thinking! So just try to stay positive and don’t listen to the grumblings of your classmates.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Sorry this is long, but best of luck! I personally really liked this course and you can too!</p>
<p>^100% disagree with taking a math class that you don’t need to at Duke. There is a lot of work that is really hard, and the curve isn’t that good. It is best to cut your losses and take it for as few semesters as you have to. It’ll be hard no matter who you take it with or what your math experience is. 111/112/122 are all curved to a B-/C+. The average Duke student will get those grades, and really a lot of the less smart students of the class are getting a major which doesn’t require math (which kind of makes them smarter), so even the above average students are getting mediocre grades.</p>
<p>I agree with Patriotsfan on this one. Math here is deceptively difficult even at the intro calc AB/BC levels (I don’t know what the new numbers are, when I took it it was math 31 and 32, respectively). </p>
<p>In fact, AB/BC are perhaps even more so because they’re one of the early semi-weed out classes for freshman premeds. My advice would be to use AP credit to place out of those two if you scored high enough on your AP exams, take multi if you need to ASAP, prepare to study/go to office hours/have no social life for a semester, and pray you make it out with a B…possibly an A. </p>
<p>Bottom line: minimize the required math courses you have to take at Duke. That is, unless you’re majoring in it or something.</p>
<p>Nope. You will automatically be reconsidered in the RD pool. You’ll need to send in your mid-year report with grades, and I would encourage you to also update the admissions office with any new awards/activities/honors/etc. that would add to your application.</p>
<p>So I was looking at the curriculum requirements for Duke and it seems like a lot of classes, but I thought I’d be able to get out of a few with AP credits. Then I read that the credits do not get you out of the requirements, but only place you at a higher level. Is this true? How difficult is it to take all of these classes? It seems like a waste to take math classes I already have AP credits for when I have no interest in majors related to math.</p>
<p>Which curriculum requirements? Most majors at Duke are 10 classes, plus the T-Reqs. Is there a specific combination you’re worried about?</p>
<p>AP Credits count as ‘pre-matriculation credit’ by allowing you to lower the graduation reqt from 34 courses to 32 (if you are planning on graduating in eight semesters). You’ll have to fulfill two Quantitative Studies courses of your T-Reqs, and AP credits will not count towards those requirements (known as areas of knowledge). One of the two QS must be in the math or statistics department; the other can be any other course (comp sci, another science course, etc.). You can use the AP credits, you’re right, as pre-reqs-- so if you wanted to take Regression (in Statistics), you could use an AP Stats credit to take Regression, but you’ll still need two QS courses at Duke.</p>
<p>From the student perspective - is there a “type” of students that go to duke? Of course, they are very smart, but are they more on the preppy side/liberal…? Sorry to sound uninformed, but I really don’t know anyone with a great insight on the school:(</p>
<p>In my opinion, there is no catchall description to accurately characterize the University. Everyone comes from a unique background and diversity is very obvious on campus. With that said, I think the almost cliche description of a elite academic institution with an exceeding amount of social life/partying rings true- this being made possible because of the presence of basketball and now football, as well as the Greek system on campus.</p>
Basically, he chose a prof with a name instead of “Staff” which was really all that was left. It was also tight getting into a writing seminar. </p>
I’m sure he chose her because the class meets later in the day or something like that. </p>