<p>I'm a 2015-er planning to apply for Directed Studies, and I was wondering if anyone knew how competitive it is to get in? Is it very difficult to get a spot if you haven't already been invited? Thanks for your help :)</p>
<p>The majority of students in DS are by application and not invited. Even students not accepted by August can can fill spots that are vacated by admitted students in the first week of classes. DS students have little flexibility on their sections (but can change with one another) and this is a challenge if your 4th or 5th class or EC doesn’t mix well with the DS schedule. Hence, students drop it the first week of classes and even more do so at the beginning of the second semester.</p>
<p>aladdin394,</p>
<p>Yes, admission to DS is difficult. In past years, most of the coveted 125 spots in this Program were filled through a competitive application process involving some of the best and brightest incoming freshman at Yale. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, don’t let the competition discourage you from applying. DS is an immensely rewarding program that allows you to explore the canonical texts of Western literature, philosophy, and history with some of the best professors and smartest students at Yale. </p>
<p>Keep in mind, however, that DS is not for the academically faint of heart. If the current schedule resembles the old one, don’t apply for it unless you are prepared to spend your Thursday nights writing papers while the rest of the campus is out having a good time. </p>
<p>Good luck with your decision!</p>
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<p>This is hardly the case. Few people bother applying in the first place, much less all of the best and brightest. Admission to DS isn’t that difficult – most people who really want to do it are able to. In fact, my suitemates, who expressed passing interest in DS on their applications, were invited upon admission – they didn’t even bother applying to the program, and they’re by no means the smartest students at Yale.</p>
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<p>This is also hardly the case. Most of the topics and texts are covered in superficial depths at a rapid pace (i.e. you go through Kant’s Critique in a week, that is, in 2 lectures). If you’re REALLY interested in the Western canon, you’re better off taking specific courses in philosophy, literature, or history. DS is, more or a less, a large survey program for these fields. </p>
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<p>You could say this about any course and any program at Yale.</p>
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<p>This seems to be a common misconception, even among Yalies. If you’re taking 3 humanities courses in similar topics, you’ll have just as much, if not more reading than DS’ers will, and your papers, though less frequent, will be much longer and much more ambitious. DS isn’t that much more work than non-DS humanities courses. Most of it is just the ethos of the program – the idea of being in DS is more daunting than the reality of it is.</p>
<p>aladdin394,</p>
<p>Sometimes the more things change the more they remain the same. According to a February 2011 article in the Yale Herald, DS remains a prestigious and rigorous program that represents the classic Yale experience for many. And for what its worth, the Yale Daily News reported on October 16, 2006, that D.S. usually rejects about half of the students who apply to the program each year. </p>
<p>Yale established DS after World War II to counteract the growing pre-professionalism of American education. As American education has become even more pre-professional in the post-war period, DS is more important now than it was when it was originally founded 65 years ago. Indeed, it is one of less than a handful of courses in America that offers students the opportunity to study the canonical works of Western literature, philosophy, and history in an integrated manner. And it does so by providing selected Yale freshmen an invaluable opportunity to learn from dozens of the best humanities professors at Yale as well as academic luminaries from other leading universities who lecture at DS colloquia. </p>
<p>Yes, DS has an ambitious and rigorously fast-paced curriculum. And no, it does not have a monopoly on excellent humanities courses for freshmen at Yale. However, it does uniquely provide a comprehensive introduction to each of the three disciplines it studies that cannot be replicated by taking survey courses in ancient, medieval, and modern literature, philosophy, and history. For example, as the first semester DS Literature syllabus includes readings from Homer, Virgil, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Ovid, the Bible, and Dante, it would take several literature courses to duplicate the works covered in this one DS course alone. </p>
<p>In the interest of full disclosure, the 2011 Herald article does note that there has been a high drop out rate in the DS this year. However, it reports that this increase may be anomalously high, and it observes, For every disillusioned ex-DSer, there are handfuls more who still rave about the program. It also quotes a current DS student who explains that DS is what I want out of college because, DSers are entering a conversation that has been going on for 2,000 years. We are using this great vehicle to teach us how to read, write, and think.</p>
<p>DS is admittedly not a good fit for everyone. Nevertheless, it has been and will continue to be the correct choice for many Yale students.</p>
<p>does anyone know how difficult it is to do well in DS?</p>
<p>Please use old threads for information only. Members often don’t notice the date and answer the question asked in the OP. Start your own new thread.</p>
<p>Closing old thread.</p>