<p>I am so glad I researched my professors. I couldn't find one of my Spanish instructors on ratemyprofessor.com so I googled him, and it turns out he's just a grad student. So I definitely switched to a morning class, which sucks, but it's taught by a PROFESSOR that I found many great reviews for. The end.</p>
<p>Which professor/graduate student were you looking for? Because I couldn't find my professor for sp 76 on ratemy prof either...</p>
<p>This isn't to say you should always switch out of classes that graduate students teach. There are some terrible ones out there, but for the most part my experiences have been terrific. There are a ton of grad student out there TAing Chem labs and recitation, and I honestly feel like I learned SO MUCH Chemistry from my recitation TA, it was just insane. My roommate also had a graduate student teaching her Math 103 course, and ended up doing 100 times better than me on the math final, and I had Clary Bray.</p>
<p>Anyway, basically I'm just trying to say don't put graduate students out of mind. I mean, I wouldn't take a course with one unless you've heard good things, but graduate students can actually be OK, contrary to popular belief:)</p>
<p>I agree.</p>
<p>The thing with the Spanish department is that a lot of the instructors are graduate students, which doesn't mean they're unqualified. I had grad students teach Spanish and knowing that my friends did made me shrug it off-- and my professors were SO COOL and so good (definitely infinitely better than my idiot HS Spanish teacher).</p>
<p>I know there is such a stigma against grad students teaching, and that part of the reason why one may have chosen Duke is because of a Duke PROFESSOR.... but honestly, have an open mind when it comes to things. I took an English course taught by a graduate student (granted she was just getting her phd) and it was one of the best courses I've had at Duke -- I had a brilliant prof passionate about what she was teaching, who was young and could relate to us super well. It was great. Thankfully your new prof has gotten great reviews, so other than the time, it might be worthwhile to stay in the class, esp. after finding no reviews for the grad student.</p>
<p>Yeah...I mean, I'm only a rising sophomore so I've only taken 8 classes at Duke so far, but of the 8, my absolute beyond favorite class that I took (that, for a while, convinced me to switch majors) was taught by a grad student, and my least favorite class was taught by a professor. So I mean, don't jump to the conclusion that Professor = Good and Grad Student = Bad. As bluestar7 said, it may be worthwhile to stay in the class anyway just because this professor has gotten great reviews - but that doesn't necessarily mean you couldn't learn just as much from a grad student.</p>
<p>Oh it wasn't for Spanish 76, I switched to Spanish 101. It was Zachary Thomas Erwin...? </p>
<p>But yeahh, I think I've just been hearing the horror stories from my friends who go to UCs and have grad students teaching them. Thanks for the advice-- if there's a TA in the future for one of my classes, I'll be sure to ask around to see if he/she's good (I just can't now because, well, I don't know anyone there).</p>