I got an email saying I was selected for a guaranteed spot in DS so now I’m just wondering how much reading per week is there? Like in terms of numbers of pages on average. And do you ever have time to do anything else with your life in DS?
You take Directed Studies courses in place of other courses. Yes, they are reading- and writing-heavy, but so are lots of the other courses you would take if you weren’t in DS and you are the kind of person who would even consider taking DS.
I am pretty old. My wife and I both did DS a geological age ago. So I will leave it to current students or much more recent graduates to talk about page numbers. But at my last reunion I went to a program on DS and asked a question the essence of which was “Why do you design DS so that it is incompatible with taking a lab science?” And I was told that I was mistaken, that lots of prospective science majors do DS now. And did in the past – the guy sitting next to me at the program, who had been in a bunch of my DS classes many years before, had been a prospective MB&B major pre-med, something I hadn’t known then.
As to whether you have a life – that’s going to depend on you more than on DS. If you are the kind of person for whom your school work fills up all your time, you are going to have an issue, DS or no DS. If you are dyslexic or have trouble writing short papers, that’s going to be an issue. I do suspect that people who combine DS with a lab science and math (i.e., 100% of pre-meds) are challenging themselves a lot.
My impressions from someone I know very well who took it recently:
DS is hundreds of pages of reading, and one paper, per week. That sounds like a lot, but the classes are highly coordinated so that the assignments are like clockwork - you don’t get slammed with three things due on the same day.
It’s compatible with a lab science, but that and DS are likely to be all your classes you have time for each term in your first year.
About 100 kids take it every year, and 15-20% of those only take the first term.
It’s a wonderful program, probably unmatched in the exposure it gives to the Western canon. Lectures are often given by eminent senior faculty who enjoy being involved with DS.
DS kids are involved in all sorts of ECs - like everything else in college, it’s about time management.
You have into do triage; know the one third of the reading you MUST do, the one third you should skim, and the one third you don’t read.
My son had a roommate in DS who read every assigned reading. You would not want to be that kid. From my understanding, DS is a lot of work, but if you’re not obsessive, you can do the work and still enjoy your freshman year.