<p>Apparently, I randomly checked Sakai yesterday and they've already added in my Histories of the Pacific class in there. My professor is Matt Matsuda. I have two questions about this. Does this mean that I'll be able to see my other classes on Sakai prior to August 20th? How difficult will this class be since I went on Rate My Professor and saw mixed opinions of my professor.</p>
<p>You may see your other classes on Sakai prior to Aug 20. Are you trying to screen your professors? Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. My son tried that with his classes one semester and Rutgers ended up switching 3 of his instructors at the last minute. Sometimes you win, and sometimes you are RU screwed (the funny part is, he got his best grades from 2 of these instructors).</p>
<p>As for Rate My Professor: take the reviews with a grain of salt. The A students tend to write good reviews and the complainers seem to be the ones with the worst grades. I have read a lot of these reviews myself and the one warning I would pay attention to is “Avoid this professor at all costs!” as it does seem to have some validity. If you see that statement several times, you might want to change your section ;)</p>
<p>Otherwise, the reviews do give a good <em>general view</em> of what you can expect.</p>
<p>I was trying to screen my professors because I wanted to start off with a great GPA. I have graduate school plans in mind (especially NYU, UCLA, Columbia, and UPenn for their film studies programs) and I need all the good grades I can get. I will definitely keep your advice in mind. The RU Screw is definitely real, but I’ve been expecting that for months. I checked Professor Matsuda’s Rate My Professor page again and I only saw three reviews that said to avoid taking the class out of the multiple reviews I saw. The rest either like the professor or think he’s annoying and not funny. At least I didn’t get a TA or anything like that and I got an RU veteran for my professor.</p>
<p>If you are a diligent student you will be ok. Lots of kids don’t go to class, don’t do homework or extra credit, etc, and they will be the ones doing worse than those who actually do all those things. You don’t really have to be a genius to get As in many classes, you just have to be diligent. (This rule does not apply to the chemistries. Try to maximize your chances there.)</p>
<p>I definitely learned that from experience from the summer college courses I took this summer, including an Intro to Philosophy class that I did really well in because I did all the work, took a lot of notes, and did whatever extra credit my professor assigned. I got almost nothing but As on most of the quizzes, essays, and miscellaneous assignments he gave the class. A lot of people actually found philosophy really difficult while I picked it up really quickly because I had always been interested in learning about the subject, so I’m hoping Rutgers classes are a lot like that.</p>