<p>I am going to be a freshman in the fall. Next week I can start selecting my top 5 choices for the UWS writing course. Anyone have any advice on which courses are the best/which teachers you had a good experience with? Thanks</p>
<p>UWS is an interesting class. Each one is formatted similarly - one short (usually 4-5 pages) close reading essay, one medium length “lens” essay, and a more substantial research paper of 10 or more pages (all these terms/assignments are explained in the course). The instructor teaches whatever he or she feels is relevant information given the course topic, along with writing skills. You then take what you’ve learned in class and create your own papers based on that.</p>
<p>Obviously, some teachers are tougher than others, some are more competent, etc. But I don’t know of any truly outstanding or truly horrible instructors, so your best bet would be to go with the topic that really interests you most - no matter what you choose, the structure of the course and the assignments will be similar, and no UWS is really “fun” because of all the strictly formatted writing and seemingly endless revising/peer editing, so why not at least enjoy the topic?</p>
<p>The instructor I had is not teaching a UWS next year (and the course I took isn’t being offered), so unfortunately I can’t comment. But if you find some that seem really interesting and you’re having trouble putting them in “top 5” order, definitely let me know and I’ll see if I can get information on the courses/instructors from friends who might have more knowledge on them.</p>
<p>Here are the descriptions of all the fall and spring UWS offerings, for anyone who hasn’t seen them yet:
<a href=“http://www.brandeis.edu/registrar/schedule/classes/2010/Fall/7050/UGRD[/url]”>http://www.brandeis.edu/registrar/schedule/classes/2010/Fall/7050/UGRD</a>
<a href=“http://www.brandeis.edu/registrar/schedule/classes/2011/Spring/7050/UGRD[/url]”>http://www.brandeis.edu/registrar/schedule/classes/2011/Spring/7050/UGRD</a></p>
<p>Check out the professors on ratemyprofessors.com. Unless the professors aren’t listed or something. Ratemyprofessors has never failed me.</p>
<p>UWS is taught by graduate students instead of professors (and it’s probably the only class you’ll have like that at Brandeis). So unfortunately, ratemyprofessors probably won’t have much. But you can try the Brandeis course evaluation guide and you will be able to find some info if a particular instructor has taught UWS in the past:
<a href=“https://sys.brandeis.edu/ceg/index[/url]”>https://sys.brandeis.edu/ceg/index</a>
Good idea, by the way.</p>
<p>Wow, that’s a really useful site in any case. Thanks for sharing that. Yeah, I didn’t realize UWS was taught by grad students (I’m glad I don’t have to take it as a transfer!).</p>