<p>Hey all, </p>
<p>My cousin who is an international student is currently looking for additional information about the Brandeis mathematics department. How rigorous is it? how are the teachers? class environment? is it competitive?. Any info would be great thanks.</p>
<p>My s is a physics and math major. My only comment about the math courses are they have all been taught by ta’s. I’m hoping by junior year he gets a real professor. The physics program has been great, all professors with the help of ta’s.</p>
<p>Littlemimie,</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your reply i will take note of that and relay that to my cousin. The main thing thats worrying her is that she would want to do a BA/MS in math and recently they have canceled the masters program for this upcoming year. Are they planning to re-establish this program?</p>
<p>The BA/MS program most likely will not be reinstated any time soon. The university isn’t really huge fan of the dual degrees in 4 years because it is so rushed, so they’ve been trying to phase the programs out in other departments as well. </p>
<p>TAs only teach the Calculus (10a and 10b) sections, and even with those there is one section with a professor and usually 4 others with TAs. Occasionally, a TA will teach Linear Algebra (15a). Other than that, the rest are taught by professors.</p>
<p>My s had a TA in linear alegbra, and the course after that as well. Hoping this year to have a professor. The math TA’s have been less than spectacular, but the physics onees were great.</p>
<p>This kind of makes me worry. I’m an incoming freshman this fall [:D] and while I’m not a “math person” by any means, I was thinking of taking 10a this fall (partially for a potential bio major, but mostly just for the personal satisfaction of being able to say that i conquered Calculus). Now, as a rule I really don’t have any problems with having TAs- frankly, i can see how that would be beneficial in a few ways. But, if I’m not exactly math-inclined to begin with, would i just be utterly lost and frustrated by having a shaky TA for a teacher? I mean, this will be one of my harder courses this fall, and i really don’t want to compound the situation by placing myself in the hands of someone who may or may not be entirely competent (even if that sounds a little harsh).</p>
<p>infinity-- if you can, try to enroll in Susan Parker’s 10a class. She’s an actual professor, and I’ve heard she’s really great–she always gets great course evaluations. If it’s closed or you can’t do it because of a time conflict, enroll in a section with an English-sounding name–seriously. Some of the TAs are foreign, so it’s hard to understand some of them. I took 10b two years ago, and I tried three different calculus sections before I settled on one. That’s the great thing about the shopping period–you can try whatever class you want. I eventually found an English-speaking TA who was AMAZING. Unfortunately, he is no longer teaching at Brandeis. In some cases, the TAs are better than the actual professor. My section had the highest average and most positive feedback than the section with the actual professor.</p>
<p>My s found the TA for his quantum physics course much better than the professor and very accessable.</p>