<p>It seems to me that Carleton has a very strong Field Bio program for a LAC. I was wondering if anyone could talk about class sizes or teaching strength for field bio?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>There is no special ecology or field biology major at Carleton, but there are a good number of classes on it. The biology course listing for 2005-2006 can be found at <a href="http://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/biol/courses/%5B/url%5D">http://apps.carleton.edu/curricular/biol/courses/</a> . You'll see quite a few ecology classes, and you can bet that the ones with labs will make use the arboretum. Carleton also has a strong geology department, so someone interested in earth science and ecology would probably take courses from both departments, and maybe even create a special major combining the two. I'm not a biology student so I can't address the teaching strength of the department (anyone else around CC who can?), but biology is one of the most popular majors, if not the #1.</p>
<p>Looking at the fall class sizes, it looks like the largest classes are part of the intro to biology sequence and have around 50 students. The other classes in the department have 15-25 students as the maximum limit, aside from a couple of the courses required for the major that have 40. You can look over fall class caps at <a href="http://www.carleton.edu/cgi-bin/enroll/full/F2005/BIOL%5B/url%5D">http://www.carleton.edu/cgi-bin/enroll/full/F2005/BIOL</a>, winter at <a href="http://www.carleton.edu/cgi-bin/enroll/full/W2006/BIOL%5B/url%5D">http://www.carleton.edu/cgi-bin/enroll/full/W2006/BIOL</a> (where you'll again notice the larger courses that are part of the major requirements), and spring at <a href="http://www.carleton.edu/cgi-bin/enroll/full/S2006/BIOL%5B/url%5D">http://www.carleton.edu/cgi-bin/enroll/full/S2006/BIOL</a> . Some courses are offered alternating years, too, so some of the upper-level elective classes might not be around next year but with different ones to replace them. The full listing is at <a href="http://apps.carleton.edu/catalog/catalog.php3?dept=BIOL%5B/url%5D">http://apps.carleton.edu/catalog/catalog.php3?dept=BIOL</a></p>
<p>Thanks a lot. If you could ask around for teaching strength in bio dept, I'd be eternally grateful:) Either way though, how cold is it when school is in session? How outdoorsy are people?</p>
<p>I looked up the reviews of some of the bio professors who teach the ecologyish classes. The professors who seem to teach most of them both have great reviews on the Carleton student forums, but if you'd like to verify that for yourself, I'd recommend visiting and trying to sit in on a couple of classes in the department. It seems to me that the teaching strength is quite good. There's also a bunch of good study-abroad programs both run by Carleton and affiliated schools in ecology. My neighbor last year did something with tropical rainforest ecology in Costa Rica and had a great time. I know there's a biogeoscience program that goes to Australia headed by two professors, one from the biology department who specializes in ecology and the other from the geo department.</p>
<p>Coldness, hmm. It's fine all the way through fall term, though towards the end there are some chilly winds and a jacket is nice. January is cold winter term and it doesn't really go much above freezing for the first month back, but after that it's a piece of cake. My roommate and I were both used to mild/warm climates, but after a while we were saying, "Oh look, it's 20 degrees today, pretty nice!" and meaning it. You adapt. People told me before I went that it was going to be below zero sometimes, but you really have no idea what that feels like until you've experienced it. I think it's not a big deal for most people, but if it is, there's always winter term abroad somewhere nicer as a sophomore or junior.</p>
<p>Carleton is sorta outdoorsy, but probably either more or less than you're expecting. There's a pathetic skiing hill nearby that some students use in the winter, but as far as winter sports go, you're pretty limited to cross-country skiing in the arb or snowshoeing or something. Not that many people do it, I think, though pretty much everyone goes sledding or traying down the good hills on campus. In the fall and spring quite a few people do random outdoorsy things on the weekends. Some Minnesota students have lakeside cabins and the like a few hours away and take people to those, for example. I'm not outdoorsy myself so I'm not really very helpful, but I think there's definitely a sizeable number of students who actively do that kind of stuff.</p>
<p>Cool, could you also look up reviews for International Relations profs? (I probably won't get a chance to visit and I'm assuming this Carleton student review site isn't something I can access myself...)</p>
<p>And, ooh, ooh, what about Bruggeman for art?</p>
<p>Also (sorry about all the Qs), how many hours a day would you say the typical student studies?</p>
<p>1) The IR profs are reviewed as all being pretty good. One of them seems to have a lot of reviews where students either think he's a god or they don't like his style and way of handling class work. One of the newer IR professors seems to be very well-liked and doesn't have a negative review. Another one of the professors who seems to teach a few of the IR classes people either think he's an amazing lecturer or incredibly boring. I know there are a few other professors who teach IR stuff, but they don't have review files for some reason, maybe they're too new.
2) Bruggeman is supposed to be very good. He seems to teach observational drawing (a required course for all art majors) a lot, and has positive reviews besides one minor complaint that he didn't give enough feedback for students who really are clueless about drawing. Everyone else who posted on the review (about 16 people) seems to love him and think everyone should take a class with him.
3) Most students probably study anywhere from 10-40 hours a week depending on what they're taking and what their work ethic is. I think the average is probably around 25 hours a week, so maybe 3 hours a day on weekdays and a little more on weekends. Sundays are the big work days. It's very easy to only have class 3 days a week, too, so a lot of people won't study at all on Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Saturday nights but will spend lots of time on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday working.</p>
<p>I love you. Okay, just one more; I swear: Jay Levi.</p>
<p>and Tsegaye Nega.</p>
<p>Levi: Highly praised, teaches very fun classes and has a very distinctive lecturing style that students seem to like. A few people did not like him because he seemed too disorganized and didn't like the way he ran discussions, and they thought he was overrated. There were a few who thought he was their best professor at Carleton, too, though.</p>
<p>Nega: Not reviewed.</p>