<p>Here's my experience so far in the CS and math departments:</p>
<p>1) Lecture consists of somebody repeating what's already written in a book. I'm not looking for somebody to talk over my head for an hour and a half, I'm looking for somebody to make the material approachable and to offer ways to think about problems. You might scoff at the "making material approachable" bit, but try opening a book on real analysis and come back to me.
2) Assignments take weeks to be graded. There are people in an upper division CS class--which I'm not going to name--who didn't have (probably) their single most important project graded even prior to the midterm. The project took 3-4 weeks and was the only assignment out of the three which involved applying knowledge from the class.
3) Office hours usually end up functioning as a secondary lecture session since so many people show up. You wanted to discuss something with the professor? Forget it.
4) Material is consistently being glossed over. It's funny how people pat themselves on the back for the education they receive here. I've taken a community college course which has been pretty much identical to the upper division linear algebra class here.</p>
<p>Although I agree with some of your other claims, I do have to refute a point:
If you’re having trouble reading the text for a course, chances are you’re in the wrong class. When I took real analysis, the only thing hard about reading the text was that it was boring and often trivial conceptually. After all, I simply thought of the course as returning to elementary notions (that is, concepts we already know) and making them rigorous.</p>
<p>Also, which community college and course has material equivalent to Math 110? Do you have a copy of the syllabus or any evidence? Just curious.</p>
<p>A well written real analysis textbook like Rudin is perfect for studying by yourself. In short, he does such a good job of presenting the material, and the problems build up concepts so nicely, there really is little for the professor to add to.</p>
<p>True story. We might be #25 for research but I have friends at lower tier UCs, private schools, even some CSUs and CCs that get the same information in a much more efficient way.</p>
<p>Instructions on getting a degree from berkeley:</p>
<p>1: Pay tuition
2: Buy textbooks
3: Download .pdf or powerpoint from bSpace
4: Attend lecture/section and listen to professor/GSI read said textbooks, .pdf, or powerpoint to class
5: Memorize said textbook, .pdf, or powerpoint the weekend prior to the exam
6: Take exam
7: Forget everything you just memorized until the finals week*
8 (Option 1): Receive your score without ever seeing what you missed
8 (Option 2): Receive back hastily graded exam that lacks constructive criticism and return it to GSI because you are not allowed to keep your exam
9: Repeat for 7 more semesters
10: Obtain degree</p>
<p>*If exam was a final, forget everything you memorized forever because material will not be applicable in the real world or relevant to future success in your career</p>
<p>We’re actually uh . . . #2 or 3 for research . . . </p>
<p>And adfddasfgad, you have a pretty pathetic approach to learning. If you have no interest in what you’re learning, then why force yourself to learn it? You only have one life to live, why waste it on things that you don’t seem to enjoy?</p>
<p>hi…next year i’m going to be a freshy at high school i know it’s to early to think about this but i want to know if there is any classes for psychology in usc and oregon…hope i get a reply thnx ;D</p>
<p>I always find it funny when people say that assignments here take a long time to be graded, because my experience is EXACTLY the opposite. I’m always absolutely astonished at how fast my exams and assignments are graded…For example, in Chem 4A and 4B, EVERY SINGLE EXAM was graded THE SAME DAY that the exam was taken. We would take an exam from 12-1 or 10-11 and would have the score by 6pm that night, without fail. And my GSIs for those two classes graded formal labs (often 15+ pages per person) within just one week (by the next lab meeting). Crazy.</p>
<p>As for professors, every professor I’ve had here so far except one (Teleman) made “material approachable,” so I find your claim about that very strange.</p>
<p>I have friends who go to other colleges and I’m VERY surprised about how <em>easy</em> everything is for them; the homework, the notes, the labs, the tests, etc. It’s crazy how elementary things are for them, and when I compare it to stuff (and we’re in the same YEAR of courses) I do here at Cal, I’m SO glad I go to a school that actually teaches you something. </p>
<p>And I totally agree with @singh2010, it’s really amazing how fast things things get graded here. In high school we were lucky if we got a test back within a month or two, lol</p>
<p>Not trying to ■■■■■ but adfddasfgad really does have it right more or less. Most of the professors I’ve had don’t seem interested in teaching or are pretty crap at doing it (aka giving me an overview of the chapters in the book…thanks, I guess?). I learn much more from the GSIs or lab (at least, from the ones who actually try to hold a discussion).</p>
<p>English. We’re all such nerds that right now we’re reading Joyce’s Ulysses and having the time of our lives and literally crying in lecture lol. I’ve heard awesome things about Filippenko too. It’s just a disparity of values I guess. I think college is for intellectual enrichment not just a stressful preparation for some stressful career. I want to be a professor and actually got taken aback the other day when someone asked me how much they made. I was like hm, you know I’ve never looked it up I have no idea lol. What’s your major LemonCat?</p>
<p>I’m a first-year so I haven’t gotten way into all of the prereqs, but I’m an intended Econ major
And btw, friggin Joyce’s Ulysses?? I’ve always wanted to read that but didn’t feel I could do it by myself without all the annotation help and everything to point out allusions and stuff…sounds awesome! And I completely agree on knowledge for the sake of it, because you want to learn…money is far from the 1st thing I think about.</p>
