<p>Who teaches them? Profs or grad students? For those of you at the College, how many of your classes were taught by grad students?</p>
<p>Freshman seminars are taught by professors. W&M has an unusually strong commitment to undergrad teaching by faculty members, not teaching assistants. Here’s a link to what W & M has to say about faculty involvement with undergrad teaching (maybe a tad biased, but of interest anyway): [William</a> & Mary - A memo to prospective students If you have the choice, I think that you should attend W&M over UVA.](<a href=“http://www.wm.edu/blogs/wmblogs/larryevans/a-memo-to-prospective-students--if-you-have-the-choice,-i-think-that-you-should-attend-wm-over-uva..php]William”>http://www.wm.edu/blogs/wmblogs/larryevans/a-memo-to-prospective-students--if-you-have-the-choice,-i-think-that-you-should-attend-wm-over-uva..php)</p>
<p>A word about registering for a freshman seminar: lots of different topics are offered, but many kids are disappointed in not getting one of their initial favorites. Remember that you can take a freshman seminar during second semester of freshman year, though not as many are offered. (Sometimes the same seminar is offered in both fall and spring semesters and is easier to register for in the spring.) You don’t necessarily have to settle for a topic that’s of little interest to you.</p>
<p>My youngest d, a prospective history major, was initially disappointed that she couldn’t get into the history seminars she found most interesting. She wound up with one on Native Americans and the Environment, and was skeptical until the first class meeting. She wound up loving it, though it had an intense workload (like all freshman seminars). She was impressed by how available the professor made himself to the class and how much help he offered with their first college research papers.</p>
<p>Very few (if any) are taught by grad students, I believe. This goes for regular classes too. Usually it’s professors who teach regular classes, and if there’s a TA it’s for the lab sections.</p>
<p>Freshman seminars are designed to put students directly in contact with professors and with each other in a more intimate setting that fosters discussion. It would surprise me to learn that some are taught by TAs.</p>
<p>Professors. The only class I’ve had taught by a grad student was a Geology lab. The rest are taught by Professors.</p>
<p>Yeah, I was not prepared for the amount of work my Freshman seminar has entailed this semester. We read between 50 and 150 pages of a book/novel/essays (many of which are very dry and compact) for each class (Tuesday/Thursday) and write a 2 page response paper each time. In addition, we have 2 larger papers due over the course of the year. It is taught by a professor. </p>
<p>The only time I have ever seen / talked to a Graduate TA is for my 1 credit geology lab where we memorize rocks, play with play-do (to model tectonic movements/bending) and go on field trips (including to an outcropping of 4 million year old fossils on campus!).</p>
<p>I am also in ENSP 250, which is a mid level interdisciplinary seminar. It is comprised of 3 lectures by guest lecturers followed by s meeting of your small group to discuss the scientific, legal/policy, and humanitarian approach to mercury and heavy metal contamination. It’s only 1 credit, so our main grade for the class is participation and a semi-research paper due at the end. The professor for my section of this class is actually in the history department, and he’s showed us some of what he has done in researching artisanal gold mining (a major source of mercury emissions, after coal fired power plants) in Peru, where he has videoed miners pouring elemental mercury into the palm of their hand, pouring it into a tumbler, then into a skillet where they vaporized it. Watching that video was very eye opening into seeing what poverty can due to convince people to endanger their own health like that just for a few pasos.</p>
<p>what are the best freshman seminars and best professors?</p>
<p>The seminars change every semester, so there’s no telling what you’ll be able to choose from. A little over half of Freshman take the seminar their first semester, and the rest the second semester.</p>
<p>err… there are hardly any TAs at William and Mary. They supervise lab sessions (calc, comp sci, science). They are not responsible for your education. Some department chairs even teach their intro level classes.</p>
<p>there are tons of freshmen seminars on a wide variety of topics. I took Nationalism in the Balkans, which was taught by a professor who had done a lot of work in that area, and covered a very specific topic, much like an upper level class would. It was really good. The class was all discussion based, and we had no exams (3 papers and a term paper though).</p>
<p>I don’t know many people who disliked their freshmen seminars. There’s not a great chance you’ll be able to get your first choice because they’re all so small, but there are many good ones. From what I’ve heard, most disappointing is Emerging Diseases and most fun were Music of the Beatles and Monsters. The latter is only offered in spring.</p>
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Really? I’m so surprised - this was my oldest d’s favorite class she’s ever taken. A ton of reading and at least one extensive paper, I think. She still talks about it. In the past, it’s been offered both semesters. For someone who really wants this topic, it’s easier to register for it in the spring.</p>
<p>freshman seminars are amazing. i’m currently taking mine in a subject that has little to nothing to do with my intended majors and it’s fascinating; i’m definitely taking more classes in the field in the future. use freshmen seminars to explore your interests.</p>
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It’s not a light topic, and she’s not the type to make it easy. You really have to know your stuff because she’s so bright you can’t slip anything by her. I can see how it might seem overwhelming to freshmen, but I don’t think there have been too many people who came away disappointed.</p>
<p>On second thought, disregard that. My friends who did not enjoy Emerging Diseases are the types of people who would be put off by hard work, which seems to have been the problem.</p>