<p>I'll be taking ENGL 1102 this fall, and I've been doing some research on the professors. Using SGA course critique grade distributions and Rate my Professors, I've narrowed it down to Trivedi, Crawford, Leland, Santesso and Stommel. But I'd like some more input; I'd really like a professor who's easy and doesn't give out unnecessary busy work. Which of these would you recommend?</p>
<p>I liked Crawford and so did most of my friends but you aren’t really going to have a choice. I’m assuming you’re an incoming freshman. You’re going to find out that when you do registration at FASET that there are not going to be many sections of ENGL 1102 open, let alone seats with the professor that you want. All of the professors are about the same when it comes to work load. English at Tech is pretty easy. They know engineers can’t read or write very well.</p>
<p>I also had Crawford and agree that he was excellent (and easy, since that is what you’re after…). However, not all English classes are the same, and some professors do assign more time consuming assignments, even if they are not “hard.” For example, Jesse Stommel, another terrific professor, typically has his students produce a short film, and they spend a TON of time on that. I also do not agree with RmblinReck’s assessment that “engineer’s can’t read or write very well” and that all of Tech’s English professors make their classes easier than comparable classes at more liberal arts focused institutions. That is a stereotype that, as a Tech student, I know to be false. Yes, there are bad writers here, like there are at every institution, but being an engineering major does not make one a bad writer, and not all English classes are easy.</p>
<p>InPursuit: The grade distribution table supports your argument about the courses. Some (like 3-5) seem tough, but those 3 seem to be the norm here (or, at least you’ll probably never see 3.5+ however, they only have like 5-25 people so the average GPA will be a little higher. Maybe 3.1-3.3ish on average) where most students will receive B-range (normally a reasonable helping of B- scores and perhaps some C+s) in the freshmen writing requirements (some profs. grade harsher though). The same pattern is observed in introductory polisci and history courses (strangely low grades for social sciences at a private school. Plenty of Cs there.).<br>
Also, I’m not sure, but I find weird the disparity between SAT Writing scores (I dont’t think these are meaningful yet, not sure) between us and y’all. We score about the same in math and verbal (in fact y’all should have beaten our class of 2013 hands down), but our writing scores are quite a bit higher. However, this may not say much to how well a student handles a college level English course (I don’t know if profs. would take this into account, ideally they would not). I’m just throwing it out there that both of y’all seem to have a point. All of our English sections have pretty solid instructors and most of the topics are pretty cool, but the grading was much harsher than I expected (worse than what most freshmen expected. Most classes were much worse off than mine which had only 6 students). I was expecting to benefit more from the grade inflation to be honest, but apparently our English dept. is one of the more serious ones. I think there may be a difference, but it of course depends on the nature of the professors and predominantly different expectations given differently oriented student bodies moreso than student potential.
Just looked at intro. history and polisci class grade distr. They seem very similar to ours (lower grades than one would expect). What’s the deal w/the English courses then. Are the intro. polisci/history classes over there hard in any particular manner?</p>
<p>Trivedi grades 50% participation. But it is actually more work then you would think. I had plenty of friends with 40s in participation (which is made up of blog posts, wikki edits, and talking in class about the super long readings he gives every class). If you are prepared to put in the time, it is an easy Tech A.</p>
<p>Can you give me some recommendations regarding professors for English 1101, Biology 1510, Physics 2211, and Chemistry 1311 and 1312?</p>