<p>This question is for people who already attend NU, and also students who attend/have attended schools other than big state schools and community colleges. Do you guys use <a href="http://www.ratemyprofessor.com?%5B/url%5D">www.ratemyprofessor.com?</a> What is the best site to use to look at ratings for professors and classes at NU? The reason why I'm asking this is because I watched a short video about NU and some dude said something like "We use 'c tech' to rate professors and classes." Can anyone elaborate on this?</p>
<p>"CTEC" (course & teacher evaluation something) is a system that allows students to provide numeric and verbal evaluations of courses they have taken. You can search either by professor or by course to find all of the CTECs in the past decade. It's really helpful in determining the level of difficulty, quality of instruction, and amount of work for each course. It's especially helpful when you have to take a course (if you're in a foreign language, math, econ, engineering sequence), but you can pick which professor. I bleieve you need a NU net id to see them. Also, if you don't submit CTECs at the end of a given quarter, you can't see CTECs the following quarter - this is the mechanism that coerces students to enter them in.
It's a really beneficial system that helps you find the "right" course for you. A lot of kids don't look at them and then wind up in courses they don't like. I highly suggest using CTECs to do some research and get some good classes. Also, when you come onto campus find some non-freshmen and get their input. Nearly everyone has taken Intro to Macro, a 2nd year spanish course, a calc course, intro to psych or their likenesses.</p>
<p>there's something called like CTEC where you can check that stuff out</p>
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Also, if you don't submit CTECs at the end of a given quarter, you can't see CTECs the following quarter
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</p>
<p>yeah ugh, i forgot to fill out a ctec for one of my classes and now i can't use the website :/</p>
<p>Damn, if you have to fill out a ctec to use the site, guess I won't be able to use it my first quarter. Can anyone tell me a good professor for intro to econometrics and intermediate micro? Those are both classes I am planning on taking my first semester. (I am a junior transfer)</p>
<p>Scratch that, I tried logging in with my netid/password and somehow I am able to navigate the site. Maybe they have no restrictions for first time users?</p>
<p>How do you guys typically use this? Do you go on the class schedule for your next semeter, sort the CTECs by professor, and go down the list and check every professor who is teaching the classes you are planning on taking?</p>
<p>edit:</p>
<p>I've been looking through the class schedule for Fall 2007.. and it doesn't seem like I have much of a choice concerning which professors to select. Most of the classes I am planning on taking are only offered by one professor according to this:
<a href="http://www.econ.northwestern.edu/classes/fall07.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.econ.northwestern.edu/classes/fall07.html</a></p>
<p>How difficult is it to get classes by the way? At the community college I am coming from, it took me 3 semesters to get into the art history class I wanted to take. NU's econ department does not give priority registration to econ majors because of the very small number of non-majors who enroll in econ classes, so I hope that it isn't too difficult to get into core classes. I would be ****ed if I couldnt get into 310-1 and 281.. I have all the prereqs done so I want to get those out of the way.</p>
<p><em>IMPORTANT</em> Where do I find out how the grading curve for classes are? This is what frightens me the most, since I have heard horror stories about classes at other schools that only give 1 A and 1 A- and the rest get Bs and Cs.</p>
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Maybe they have no restrictions for first time users?
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</p>
<p>yep, they only restrict access to punish you if you don't fill out a ctec AFTER you've taken a class</p>
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Where do I find out how the grading curve for classes are?
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you just have to read what people say in their descriptions, i very much avoided any classes where people said stuff like "HARD grading" "arbitrary scoring on papers" etc.</p>
<p>Have you had ridiculous classes like the one I described where 5% got As and 5% got A-s in a 20 person class (so 1 A and 1 A- per class)? The friend who had that class goes to Stern, and she told me that it was somewhat typical.</p>
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The friend who had that class goes to Stern, and she told me that it was somewhat typical.
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<p>no, i haven't had a class like that, and to be honest many people try and overexaggerate the difficulty of the school they go to, i have taken several classes where i found the grading to be unfair/arbitrary to the point where getting an A was not necessarily a rare thing, but rather completely dependent on how the teacher felt when grading your work and independent of your effort/ability. classes that are like that are usually noted in caesar and i would probably try to avoid them.</p>
<p>the bigger problem with northwestern, is some classes require a TON OF WORK. they still give out a fair amount of As, but in order to get an A you need to spend lots and lots of time reading/studying the material. Classes like this are usually pretty obviously identified on the CTECs, just look at the bottom at "average hours spent per week" and read the reviews students write.</p>
<p>Thanks for your helpful responses. What is cesar? I thought that was the web utility that allows you to register for classes and stuff. Does cesar also contain class/professor reviews?</p>
<p>Also, do you know anyone who is dual majoring in econ and math? Some of the higher level classes overlap and I'm planning on at least going up to real analysis, so I figured I might do it. However, I probably shouldn't because all the 300 level classes would completely destroy me. What kind of classes do juniors and seniors typically take in addition to 1 or 2 300 level classes in their major department? I have taken a lot of random classes at my community college to fill up GE requirements (random as in geography, sociology, humanities, physics, poli sci, all intro level). Should I just single major in econ, take 1 or 2 econ classes, 1 math class, and another random class?</p>
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What is cesar?
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</p>
<p>oops, i meant to say CTECs... yeah, caesar is the class registration, transcript, etc. website for students: <a href="http://www.northwestern.edu/caesar%5B/url%5D">www.northwestern.edu/caesar</a></p>
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do you know anyone who is dual majoring in econ and math?
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yeah, actually, i do, he said econ is easier than math, and a lot of people say once you get past the pre-reqs (310, 311, econometrics), the actual field courses in econ are rather easy.</p>
<p>Can you ask him whether he skipped stats 210/econ 281 (econometrics)? the site say you can do that, and take econ 381 right way if you complete math 310. I am already straying away from that path by taking the equivalent of stats 210 this summer and econ 281 next term :(</p>
<p>Please also ask him what kind of classes he takes other than 300 level math/econ courses at this point (I'm guessing hes a junior or senior). Like I said already, I kind of ran out of ideas for random filler classes since I finished my GEs at community college.</p>
<p>I thought I could wait until freshman orientation and meeting my advisor before I had to decide what classes to take. Am I behind the curve on this one?</p>
<p>You are supposed to, zoomers, don't worry. This person is not a freshman but a transfer student.</p>
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[quote]
How difficult is it to get classes by the way? At the community college I am coming from, it took me 3 semesters to get into the art history class I wanted to take. NU's econ department does not give priority registration to econ majors because of the very small number of non-majors who enroll in econ classes, so I hope that it isn't too difficult to get into core classes. I would be ****ed if I couldnt get into 310-1 and 281.. I have all the prereqs done so I want to get those out of the way.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>You need to calm down a bit, you shouldn't have trouble getting into econ classes. They are all fairly large. Also, only one professor teaches most Econ classes, but per quarter. So if you wait until Winter there will be a different professor, more than likely.</p>
<p>Several things:
1. Getting an A is very manageable, except in science and engineering courses where you could work like crazy and still get a B-.
2.If I remember correctly, they specifically open up spots in classes for when freshman register in the fall quarter. I remember some classes I wanted being closed and then suddenly having 30 spots open up. So don't worry.
3. CTECs are amazing! use them!</p>
<p>That "calm down" was random but thanks for the info.</p>
<p>I have looked at the CTECs for the two econ classes I want to take, and the econometrics class got 4's all around and the micro class got 5's all around. Looks pretty good to me.. I just don't like how they bundle all the user comments into one huge extended single spaced paragraph.</p>
<p>taro, i know you can skip 281 and take econometrics 381, but i also believe, though i might be wrong, that one might only need one of the two? to graduate? and i think 281 is supposed to be easier (FYI 381 econometrics is supposed to pretty much be the hardest pre-req in the entire school)</p>
<p>what you should do is schedule a meeting with an advisor, or call the school and get the name of someone to email about this, an advisor will be very helpful in helping you finish your course plans.</p>
<p>my advice? take only the classes you need for your math/econ majors in math and econ, and fill up the rest with easy geology 101/intro to music type classes to pad your gpa. you'll find out when you fill out a resume you only write "Major: Math/Econ, GPA: 3.6" or whatever, you don't list your classes so they see what grades you got in what. taking easy filler classes will help to boost up your GPA from your harder math/econ classes.</p>
<p>Ok, if Econometrics 381 is hardcore I am definately not taking it, since I can get by with Stats 210 (taking it now) and Econ 281 (taking it next term). I will speak to an advisor and see if its even possible for me to dual major in math.. as a junior I am REALLY behind since I've only finished calculus 1. If its not possible, I'll just major in Econ and use my time to pursue internships and join department-related clubs and organizations.</p>
<p>you will almost definitely have time to finish both majors, especially if, like you say, some of the classes overlap</p>
<p>i transferred to northwestern from another university, changed majors in weinberg, then switched SCHOOLS within northwestern, and am still getting a double major in two different schools.</p>
<p>the quarter system is a helpful commodity.</p>
<p>thats encouraging.. how many quarters is realistic per year? I kind of want summer off so I can go home/do internships. also, what if I have to take 2 300 level econ classes AND 2 300 level math classes per quarter? do you think that would kill me?</p>