<p>I plan on taking English 125, Math 115 (probably) and Spanish ____ (depends on placement) and a distribution course. I was trying to prepare for my June Summer Orientation by getting the scoop on the best professors for each of the classes, but it turns out many of the professors don't even know their class assignments until late July or August. So, if you sign up for courses at the June Orientation, then you have no idea who your professor will be in most classes. Is this correct? Have I wasted my time researching different professors because freshmen are "flying blind" when it comes to professor selection for the fall term?</p>
<p>You would probably ve wasting your time because generally speaking, English 125 and Math 115 are 2 of the handfull of courses at Michigan that aren't taught by professors. Each of those classes are so popular and required for graduation that they each offer a dozen sections each semester and as such, professors aren't availlable to teach those classes. You will most likely be taught by a graduate student. Spanish should be taught by a professor, but again, that's not a guarantee if you take an intro-level class. Don't worry, only 3% of Michigan classes are taught by GSIs, so it's not going to be common, but it so happens that two of your three classes listed above are usually taught by GSIs.</p>
<p>Thanks, Alexandre. That is good information to know.</p>
<p>In general, do you know how difficult the foreign language placement tests are? I have had three years of Spanish, but our only Spanish teacher at my high school was not so great.</p>
<p>I only did Spanish 1 and 2 at my high school, my spanish 2 teacher was pretty worthless, and I still tested into second year spanish. From what I've heard from people who had more of a clue when they took it, they said it was a lot easier compared to things like the AP test. It's also all multiple choice, which makes things a lot easier.</p>
<p>Thanks, Dilsky... did you feel comfortable with the material in Spanish 231? Was 231 taught entirely in Spanish? I'm not as concerned with the written material, but I'm not sure if I picked up enough of an ear to follow a class that is taught entirely in Spanish, especially if, as I fear, my teacher was not using a correct accent.</p>
<p>Right now I'm in the middle of Spanish 230, which is an intensive spring term course covering both 231 and 232 in 7 weeks. We started off working almost entirely in Spanish, but I'm not sure if they do for Spanish 231 during the school year. I haven't had any problems with following things moreso than anybody else who did the U of M spanish classes. There have just been maybe 1 or 2 things we were kinda expected to know from spanish 103 that I never learned from high school, but I've been able to just pick them up.</p>
<p>one or two of my classes still have a pending professor... :(</p>
<p>Is there any way to get out of language totally? I really hate foreign language!</p>
<p>the 3% figure is misleading...because u have to factor in the proportions of students taking each class, and it just so happens that 50-75% of students will take that "3%" class.</p>
<p>but anyway it doesn't matter. if the student knows how to learn, prof/GSI isn't going to affect that</p>