<p>I'm a high school junior beginning to put together an application list, so I have a couple of questions. The answers to both of these might vary from department to department, so for those of you with specific knowledge, I'm particularly interested in math, physics, international relations, econ, and philosophy (broad spectrum, I know). </p>
<p>1) How tolerable are specific core classes to people not interested in the subject being taught? </p>
<p>2) What's the quality of teaching like, given the size of the graduate program?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>The Core is supposed to be enjoyed…not “tolerated.” It’s one of the things that sets Columbia apart from other schools. If you want to take major oriented classes freshman year, go to Brown, you Ivy whore.</p>
<p>the quality of teaching is good. sometimes you get grad students teaching you Core, but they’re highly qualified, so there shouldn’t be any problem. </p>
<p>and conorske is right. you’re supposed to enjoy the core!!! if you don’t want to take the Core Curriculum, don’t apply to Columbia. you’ll just be taking up someone else’s space.</p>
<p>1) If you really dislike reading or participating in discussion, then they will be very intolerable. While the core classes will not be extremely difficult, there is a significant amount of reading to do (although this varies by instructor), and sometimes you will feel that your core classes are deterring you from studying harder for your major classes. Grading isn’t too bad, at least a quarter to a third get A range grades.</p>
<p>2) Most core classes are taught by graduate students, and there many sessions for each core class to accomodate for all the students that have to take them, so there is a large variance of instructor capability. In general most are quite knowledgeable and can lead discussion well, although some will emphasize certain readings over others and the workload will vary as well. The quality of students in your session also contributes heavily to your experience as well.</p>