<p>My high school son took a course at Hopkins to get a sampling of college level instruction. His course is seminar-based and was taught by a graduate student. Is that common during the regular school semester? I was somewhat surprised the summer program had a grad student rather than a faculty member teach the course, since I imagine the summer program is, in part, a way to market the university to students that might be interested in attending Hopkins.</p>
<p>All classes are taught by professors during the academic year. When a class has recitation sections, a graduate student directs the discussion, although sections are only necessary for large, introductory level classes. Graduate students teach summer courses in some departments because professors are either out of town or have other obligations for the summer months. It isn't the case during the academic year.</p>
<p>As a freshman, a lot if not most of your classes are going to have teaching assistants who are either upperclassmen or grad students that teach your section.</p>
<p>I think most classes are taught by faculty members - either professors or lecturers. The exceptions are the "Dean Teaching Fellowship" courses where grad students propose classes they want to teach and the deans pick a handful to be taught each semester. Also, a lot of the foreign language classes are coordinated by a professor, but each section is lead by a TA. The same is true (i think) for writing classes.</p>
<p>That said, I remember when I was applying to colleges, my parents were concerned about classes taught by professors vs grad students. But now that I've taken two years of classes, I really have no concern with this at all. I've talked to friends at other schools and they all feel the same way. Grad students often do a better job teaching than professors. They're much younger and can relate much better to students. Plus, all the grad students I've ever had have really really cared about teaching and making sure their students understand everything (most professors care about teaching too, but I don't know many professors who would be willing to meet students at a coffee shop or be on AIM at 11 at night to help answer questions).</p>
<p>Grad students are allowed to teach classes during the summer b/c it gives them a way to learn to be teachers, and many professors are away during the summer. </p>
<p>More importantly, grad students who teach at Hopkins have to be approved by their department as good teachers. During the school year, the Dean's Teaching Fellowships courses are taught by grad students (usually about 12-15 each semester, often in Humanities and Social Science disciplines), and they have a LONG application process in order to be chosen. In most cases, they're teaching about their dissertation topic or a derivation thereof, so they're super-passionate and incredibly knowledgeable about the topic. In fact, the two DTF classes that I took were among the best I had at Hopkins (not because the regular professors are bad, but because the DTF courses are usually small - capped between 18 and 20 - and because they're seminar style). The grad students work REALLY hard to be good teachers, because their evaluations at the end of the semester can be good (in which case they'll be helpful for getting a prof job later on) or bad (in which case they likely won't get to teach again for a while). </p>
<p>Like tanman said, most Hopkins students figure out soon enough that those grad students who teacher courses are really talented and driven to be great professors in the future; so it might take some getting use to (they often like to go by their first names, for instance!) but it's a great opportunity to build a close relationship with someone.</p>
<p>Well tanman and JHU_michelle (as usual) have supplied excellent answers that I really don't have much to add to. </p>
<p>Based on our most recent Fast Facts:
Classes taught by professors: 96%
Faculty with terminal degrees: 94% </p>
<p>So yes there are a handful of courses taught by Graduate Students, but as they said this tends not to be a big deal. </p>
<p>Also, don't judge the fall and spring semester by what goes on during the summer ... major difference.</p>