<p>Couple questions:</p>
<p>How prominent are grad students on campus? Do most live on campus or commute? Are they part of the experience at all?</p>
<p>While Deis is a research university it is still quite small populaiton wise. Undergrad ~ 3100, grad ~ 1800. Do undergrads have easy access to their professors? Are they available in their office hours? Do they <em>care</em> about their students? Do they know their names? And what’s the average non-intro class size at Deis - I assume most are taught by professors, not TA’s.</p>
<p>Any and all responses would be so appreciated.</p>
<p>Grad students are not so prominent. I feel that the undergrads are treated far better which is the opposite of most universities. All professor's I've had were very available during office hours and by appointment. Many have open office hours, where they just generally leave their door open and you can stop by whenever...my advisor has this. The professor of one of my other classes has a schedule for 2 weeks on her door and you can sign up whenever you want. Most professor's I've had have been very caring. Regarding the names...it depends on the professor and the size of the class. And doesn't say all that much. My roommate had a class that she loved where the professor just had a difficult time with names and never really learned everyones. Upper level classes can be teeny... independent studies are only one or two people. Creative writing classes are capped at 12. Advanced chem courses, though intro and orgo are packed, are usually less than 10 people. This semester third year chemistry has 8. Though popular professors can have classes as big as 50 or more. Usually they don't go over 100. I believe TA's only teach calc 10a and b.</p>
<p>Grad students may teach the writing part of the USEM.
Yes, we DEFINITELY have easy access to them. They are there TO TEACH which is awesome-you won't get the "I'm-too-cool-for-undergrads" mentality. These are people who genuinely enjoy working with bright 18-22 year olds. I think that the professors are one of the best parts, if not THE best part, about Brandeis. They definitely care about you as a person and some of the ones I've had have quite the sense of humor. In smaller classes, like language, the teacher will learn your names, but in huge lecture classes like econ or chem the professor can't possibly learn every name. Although in my large intro to politics class last semester the professor attempted to learn names, which was nice. I've had a very positive experience with the TAs so far too.</p>
<p>WARNING: Many science and math department TA's cannot speak English. Apparently the requirements for grad students are lighter because international undergrads speak English just as well as us Americans do. These same non-English speaking TA's also grade your papers, tests, labs, etc. which means your college grades may be in the hands of people who don't necessarily have good command of the language the work is in.</p>
<p>Some TA's are better than others, in things besides English ability. However Ph.D. students are required to teach; they're not doing it because they volunteered.</p>