<p>My college counselor in high school always told me that one of the huge drawbacks of UC Berkeley compared to other schools of its stature is that it is so big, I will never get to know any of my professors. Well this is 100% false. I am in my 4th semester here and I have NEVER had a professor that did not know me by name, I have been to 2 of my professors houses for very nice dinner parties, I have gone to coffee with others, and even in a class of 500 students, which I did have last semester, the professor always made himself available in his office to talk to students about the coursework, classes, majors, life, etc. I have never had a professor who was not genuinely interested in the success of his or her students. Yes, Berkeley is big, yes there are large classes... SO WHAT? get out there and do something about it, go to office hours, have discussions with your professor, they are VERY SMART people, and love when their students take an interest!</p>
<p>Agreed. I've befriended professors and GSIs.</p>
<p>It's possible to make friends of course, but I think at private schools students probably have to make less of an effort to get known(?)</p>
<p>ditto, i agree completely with UCBnatalie</p>
<p>How about the fact that TA's teach the class a lot? It's a known reality, but is it an issue for most people?</p>
<p>"TAs" teach sections. each large course is broken down into smaller sections where you generally discuss more, and these are lead by the graduate students. Also, almost all of the basic writing classes (R1A, R1B) classes are taught by grad students (mine isn't). But almost all lectures are taught by PhD holding lecturers or faculty (usually faculty). There are rare exceptions.</p>
<p>I really want to know who came up with the myth that TAs teach classes.</p>
<p>I mean, in a sense they do . . . sorta kinda. Meh. </p>
<p>This kinda guy.</p>
<p>What blows my mind about these types is how they always seem to portray Korea and Japan as some holy grail of education, yet have no practical experience with how bad education there is in many areas. </p>
<p>The fact is, while American educational standards may have lowered, much of what the author uses as his evidence is weak at best. Scores on the SAT do not show anything, since the test changes every year. </p>
<p>Meh, I know. The sky is falling on every generation, and everyone is the worst one.</p>
<p>Yeah. From where does that impulse or feeling originate?</p>
<p>The issue is not that you can't get to know your profs at Berkeley. Obviously you can, if you put in the effort.</p>
<p>The real issue is that other schools make it easier to do so. And in fact, Berkeley itself makes it easy to do so, if you're a graduate student. For example, Haas MBA students barely have to put in any effort at all to get to know their profs. It just happens as a matter of course. This befits Haas's status as being one of the smallest, most intimate, and most personal of all the top business schools. And of course the Berkeley doctoral programs are all extremely intimate where you basically have no choice but to get to know your profs.</p>
<p>The issue comes down to personality. Let's face it. A lot of Berkeley undergrads simply don't have that aggressive and outgoing personality to get to know people. This is particularly true in the sciences and engineering where a lot of students don't speak English fluently and are therefore not confident with their communications skills. One might say that these people need to develop a more outgoing personality and build their English skills, and I agree. However, I would also point out that a lot of Berkeley graduate students, especially the doctoral students in science/engineering, are also quite shy and also don't have a good command of English. But that doesn't really matter if you're a Berkeley doctoral student because as a doctoral student you will suffer from no lack of personal contact with your profs. But it does matter if you're an undergrad. </p>
<p>This is why I have always said that Berkeley ought to run its undergraduate program more like the way it runs its graduate programs.</p>
<p>Well, what feasible suggestions do you have to do that (that are also the most likely to be accepted)? Or could you post this on the other thread geared towards improving the campus so as not to hijack this particular thread?</p>
<p>"I really want to know who came up with the myth that TAs teach classes."</p>
<p>Well, when I took a tour of the campus, the tour guide said that for most classes the professor lectures on the general topics that week, and then the TA's go into more indepth on the subjects and break the large class up into smaller groups or something. Can anyone confirm if this is true?</p>
<p>
[quote]
TA's go into more indepth on the subjects and break the large class up into smaller groups or something
[/quote]
This is known as a discussion section and usually meets once per week, while lectures are 3 times per week. You just work on problems or get homework questions answered. This isn't unique to public universities by any means.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Well, what feasible suggestions do you have to do that (that are also the most likely to be accepted)? Or could you post this on the other thread geared towards improving the campus so as not to hijack this particular thread?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Sure, we can cross-link them if we have to.</p>
<p>One suggestion - honors college. In fact, my idea is not substantially different from what calkidd just recently suggested. Break apart the Berkeley student body into 2 groups - those who really care about learning, and those who are just there to do pre-whatever or just there to get their tickets punched so that they become eligible for jobs in consulting/banking. Give close personal contact with profs to the students who really care about learning. Let the others get taught by lecturers. Since these people aren't really there for the professorial contact anyway, there is no point in offering it to them.</p>
<p>What a novel idea -- going to college for the "learning experience"!</p>
<p>Yeah, I know, it sounds strange, but the fact of the matter is, plenty of college students aren't really interested in learning anything. All they care about is getting a prestigious degree so that they can get a good job. Or to get into med/law/business school.</p>
<p>Of course you can get your professor to know you. You have to see them during their office hours...and do so frequently. In a liberal arts college, however, your professor will know you without your having to put in effort. If one professor teaches a class of 30, he will learn every name.</p>
<p>Well, I experience classes of thirty here. Also, some (althought uncommon) lac classes are bigger than 30 people. It's still the same deal- to really talk with your professor, you often need to go to office hours, even at an LAC.</p>
<p>I was thoroughly impressed by the story I heard of Berkeley Professor Meghan Busse who made it a point of trying to memorize the names of all her students in the 2 classes she teaches each semester, on the first day of each class. For example, on the first day of class, she has every student state their name and something to remember them by, and at the end, she goes through the entire class, one by one, and says that person's name. She generally only gets only a handful wrong. And remember, this is the first day of class.</p>
<p>Of course what exactly is she a professor of? She's a professor of business administration at the Haas School, specifically the MBA program, and so she only has to remember about 30-40 names per class (so about 60-80 total people). It's still pretty impressive, especially to guys like me who can't remember names to save our lives. However, clearly she wouldn't be able to do what she does in a 1000-person undergraduate lecture.</p>