<p>I'm taking Stat 430 in the Fall and was wondering which professor I should choose. My choices are Cai and Foster. Foster has slightly better PCR scores, but if I take the class with Cai I can take OPIM this semester. If anyone has had either of these professors can you tell me how they were because I'd like to know whose class to take by time school starts, or at least by the end of the first week of classes.</p>
<p>i'm gonna be in fosters class this semester too...i've heard he's pretty good</p>
<p>I've also heard that the Asian professor isn't the best. I'm not sure which Asian professor my friends were talking about though because it was all second hand.</p>
<p>I was in Cai's class last year for one day. I couldn't really understand what he was saying, so I had a hard time following what was going on. I'm sure you can get used to it with time, though.</p>
<p>megaman, how did you get into Foster's class? PennInTouch says I need permission. Are you in a special program or something?</p>
<p>I think Foster's is honors version? Cross-listed w/ grad class.</p>
<p>Would that make Foster's section a lot harder than Cai's? I'm up for a challenge so long as it is with a better professor.</p>
<p>I was in Cai's class and didn't have any trouble understanding him. He was a good professor in my opinion, and taught mostly through practice problems. Never had anything with Foster though.</p>
<p>No idea if its going to be much harder. I only decided to take it because it was the only one that fit my schedule. I had to go ask for permission to be able to register it.</p>
<p>sorry to intrude on your thread. i was planning on taking stat 101, but many people have recommended taking stat 430 instead. if i haven't taken math 114, should i take that first and then take stat 430? is taking math 114 necessary?</p>
<p>Sup "venkat". I took it last semester with Krieger (irrelevant to this debate, i know), but I think that your teacher doesn't really matter. I honestly went to about 30% of the classes, and learned everything from the textbook and problem sets.</p>
<p>And shadowx, don't bother with stat 430 unless your A) an engineer/natural science/math/econ major who wants to get a better understanding of stat and wants to take more advanced stat courses B) a wharton stat concentrator or C) a stat minor (duh). If you just need to fill your wharton stat requirement or college math requirement, 101 is probably enough. the 114 knowledge is pretty basic (double integrals, etc) - I'd recommend 114, but you could probably use the Stewart textbook and teach a little background 114-math to yourself.</p>
<p>Hey "abhim". </p>
<p>I really don't care about the professor if it's a class like Pietrovito's Chem 101 class where you can get everything in the book and online. However, if it's one of those where the professor goes over other stuff in class or a lot of his inclass examples show up on tests (like my 114 professor) I really want a situation where the guy speaks English.</p>
<p>Yeah from what I've heard, my STAT 431 prof next semester speaks very crude English. My options are 1) learn from the textbook or 2) learn Russian haha</p>
<p>And a note to high schoolers- YES! Penn, like any other top 1000 school, has teachers that can't speak english well. Especially in engineering/math/science, doing good research edges out english skills. So please don't hate on Penn because of my STAT 431 teacher. Thanks :)</p>
<p>I hope foster is good. I guess english in his case won't be an issue lol, but I just hope he's good at delivering class lectures.</p>