This is an urban myth. I don’t know any school where that happens. There are very few classes anywhere where a TA is a primary instructor. They are normally in subjects that have high enrollment but do best with small classes (e.g. Intro Foreign Language).
Thank you! Great idea to read student reviews of professors!
And as I said in original post, we have already considered many other things about the three univerisities that I didn’t add to keep this short. Yes, the reason we are looking at these are COA (he’ll have full tuition+ paid at Alabama and Mississippi, waiting to hear from Utah. We’ve looked at Honors Collges. Other factos, too I won’t bore everyone with! So right now we are focusing on history department. Why history? He has LOVED history since age 4 and knows so much and it’s a huge interest. He’s always known he’d study that. The goal isn’t law school and how does he get there. The goal is study what he loves and then probably law school. So he wants to study what he loves in a place that has a better history department. Hope that makes sense.
I read CC a lot, but rarely ask for advice. I forget that it is very heavily focused on things like rankings and how to make a decision now to get into grad school. So I should have explained myself better in the original post since that really isn’t our focus. Thank you so much for your responses, very helpful!
A parent with a history major at Alabama PM’d me about that yesterday. That all the 100-200 classes and many of the 300 level classes were taught by TAs (her son is there and changed his major from history because he was so unhappy). So I don’t think it’s an urban myth (since I heard it directly from a parent with a history student)…but maybe the student didn’t communicate it clearly to his parent or exaggerated or something. Not sure, but I think I’ll call and ask.
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You can go here at look for yourself Select Term or Date Range
The recitation section will be lead by a TA.
If you want to know who the instructor is, you can find their bio here
https://history.ua.edu/contact-us/faculty-and-staff-directory/?_sfm_affiliation=Faculty
I spot checked the spring 22 semester. Only 1 200 level class. It is being taught by an adjunct. The first 10 300 level are all taught by Faculty.
Edit to add: I looked at all the 300’s and 400’s. HY358 is taught by a Senior Instructor with help from TA’s for recitation sessions. It is a WWII class that must be popular. HY 368(History of Rome) is being taught by an Instructor. Everything else is by some level of Professor.
Interesting, thanks so much. I will use that to check. I think she also said that some were supposedly taught by professor, but used a TA. I have no idea if that’s correct. I just checked with my son who is a senior at Alabama - he confirms he has NEVER had a TA! Wow! So great!
Thank you! I just mentioned that my son had a love of history not as far as comparing schools (when it comes to specialties), but to say that is why he is studying history…not as a goal for getting into law school. So he isn’t trying to choose the best route for his after graduation goals when he just isn’t sure. I realize a lot of CC kids and their parents seem to have VERY solid end goals! That is not us. I think it’s important to help him with this first step since this is what he is sure of and has always wanted to study history. It’s hard to imagine that admission to law school is going to depend on which state school you went to based on it’s history department ranking?? Because at this point we are just comparing these three schools. If I’m wrong, please let me know. It may not be a deciding factor for us but would be something to consider. Wow, I hope not. I can see comparing one state school to another, but will they look at one state school history department compared to another?!
I like your point that a big university has more to offer. He has been looking over courses offerred at each, requirements, etc. This is the kind of general thing I mean about a good history department. It doesn’t need to be a specific professor with a specialty my son is intersted in. But overall benefits, such as wider selection of courses, possible internships or other programs or other things we hadn’t considered about any history department. Internships was just one example where we’ve seen some state schools look to have good options and others pretty much none. Internship is not his main goal (so he isn’t going to consider other majors), but it’s an example of something that might separate one history department from another.
Thank you again! You are kind to respond! Will look more at TA vs. profs and analytical writing. Great idea. Also maybe at their senior project kinds of things. I see Alabama also has The Crimson Historical Review - an undergrad history journal. Seems like that would be great!
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When you look at courses - don’t look at the catalogue but the current offerings.
My son is a MechE at Bama but doing a geography minor.
They list some really cool classes - he takes one a semester.
For the really cool ones, he’s still waiting two years (four semesters later). Being in the catalogue doesn’t mean they’re regularly offered.
So something to check.
And yes, the rate my professor website is wonderful. Just google a profs name and ratemyprofessor.com It’s not going to be perfect but gives good insights.
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if your son is interested in historical research, he can check out Randall Research Scholars at Bama as well. Usually people think its just for STEM majors but all subject areas are welcome
and yes he could do this and Blount at the same time
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