<p>I totally love my honors chemistry courses along with biochemistry, and the department's very tight knit atmosphere, and their open-ended exam questions.</p>
<p>And on the bio side, I've generally done well on these large lecture courses from the bio department always entirely tested in MCQ. </p>
<p>But now I'm really annoyed. I hate these multiple choice exams where you can get 10% off even if you knew 99% of the material inside out; also insufferable are the bloody premeds who basically have no passion for what they're studying or interest in the mechanisms of life and they could care less about teasing apart the inner workings of a cell but they somehow find ways to do better than you.</p>
<p>I mean I guess it's not just an LAC or non-LAC issue. I wish they could segregate courses for people who really like the subject (and could thus take written answer exams and have intimate discussions) and just put the premeds in their own factory concentration camp course somewhere else, where they won't bother the students who really love science.</p>
<p>Yea I have this train of thought sometimes too. I actually got into Swarthmore and elected to go to Columbia instead. IDK…everyone here is so driven but also at times shockingly indifferent to their class work. But I think it’s prolly the same at LAC’s, though I can’t prove it. So meh. And yea, premeds are pretty lame, I agree.</p>
<p>I like large lectures because I don’t feel as guilty when I walk out in the middle of the lecture or when I just don’t feel like going. I never skip my tiny math discussion because the TA always works so hard to help us understand and does so much for us outside of the class.</p>
<p>And yeah classes with premeds in them are always terrible. They constantly ask if things will be on the test or whether there will be curves.</p>
<p>You’re generalising about pre-meds too much. Not everyone interested in biology might be especially interested in cell biology anyways… And about grades, it’s not completely their fault… look at the state of medical school admissions. If you were pre-med, you might be hyper-concerned with your grades too.</p>
<p>And same here, op. In my experience, the grading for math and science courses are completely ****ed up. Making a simple mistake or not knowing one tiny obscure fact can cost you an entire letter grade on a test. Multiple choice should be easy. It’s the tests with a short number of large questions that are truly horrible. </p>
<p>Anyways, research institutions tend to be less focused on teaching than liberal arts colleges, that’s just how it is. Wait until more advanced classes where classes are smaller.</p>
Or you could, you know, just study harder instead of shifting the blame for your shortcomings on anything and everything (premeds, class size, class composition, exam structure, LACs vs research institutions).</p>
<p>If you love science, if you are really interested in what you are learning (and beyond the scope of what is taught) then learn on your own. Discuss with others online, friends who are interested, etc. It is maybe sad that that level of interest isn’t encouraged or valued in the classes you are taking, but that doesn’t undermine its value. Ideally, you should both be able to do well on the mc tests, as well as understand the material in the depth that you want to.
Those things may not exactly be compatible though (you may have to choose to some degree one in favor of the other), which is ok I think…frustrating maybe, but still ok.</p>