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Bob, that test sounds like it was torture. I think people who say multiple choice is easier are used to a different kind of multiple choice test and are more likely to get an essay test instead of multiple choice. I mean, for something like history, you can test really tiny details, etc, but it's very different from a math multiple choice, or the kind with answers like you are describing.
Posts: 2867 | Registered: May 2005
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I did my degree in the UK and am only familiar with that system. From reading all the posts here about courses, credits and majors it seems that you have a completely different structure than we do.
In Britain you apply for a course in a specific subject at a university (in my case Pure and Applied Ecology) then in your first year you often choose 2 other subjects to study (although in my degree you only had the option of one other subject and most people chose entirely from within the biology department). In the second and third year you usually only do subjects offered by your own department.
Reading this thread it looks like you have to or can choose to cover a much wider range of subjects. Are there any general restrictions on the breadth / depth of your choices?
Also our courses are for a fixed length of time (usually 3 years full time in England) and you have to take a set number of courses per year (although there are part time options). Does the system of credits mean you take as many courses as you want and it takes as long as it takes? If so, what is the typical length for an undergraduate degree?
Posts: 169 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Well... I graduated and completed my red seal chef papers.
Now I'm going into food and nutrition sciences.
So lets see here... General Chemistry Intro to Business Sociology Comp & Comm Software Professional Perspectives Biology and Microorganisms Food and Nutrition Issues
I think I might add a french credit in there
Posts: 944 | Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
In the US we generally subscribe to a model called "liberal arts education".
This means students take a variety of courses in various subjects in order to have a broad exposure to different areas of thought and experience.
Courses are almost always one semester long, and there are two semesters a school year (also almost always). A course is usually either a survey course or a fairly subject-specific course. So a person might take "World Literature Before 1500" as a survey-type course, or "Search Engines: the Technology of Google" as a very subject-specific course.
A typical course is 3 to 4 credits, and most students take 12 to 21 credits a semester.
Graduation generally requires around 120 credits. Courses in a major take 40 to 60 of those credits. Other requirements (the broad spectrum of courses isn't just available, its enforced to a certain degree) take 15 to 30 credits, often, though they're pretty variable. Typical non-major requirements include a freshman course in composition, a quantitative analysis course, something "sciency", and often something like a philosophy course, plus others.
This is all just the "typical" system; some places use different numbers, different semester systems, and the like, but they all generally map onto this description.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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It varies a lot from coIt varies a lot from college to college. A LOT. However, in general:
You don't have to choose a major immediately – typically not until half way through the second year (four years is the standard length of study). If you do have to chose early or upon entrance, then you can normally switch between majors or even colleges in one university. The difficulty of doing this depends on the school, of course, and if you switch late you may end up having to stay longer to complete all your requirements.
Your major course work will typically be about 1/3 of your course work. Some majors require more work, especially if there’s a number of prerequisites required for your courses (needing calculus for physics, etc.). The rest of your coursework will be spread between general distribution requirements and your minor, if you have one.
General distribution requirements vary a lot, but the general idea is to make sure that a student can’t graduate without taking courses outside of their department. It’s suppose to make one more rounded. A liberal arts college typically has a more demanding set of distribution requirements than a large university would. At my (liberal arts) school, they recently changed the requirements. To graduate every student must take two classes in each of the following classes:
natural science and math (with at least one lab course required)
literature and the arts (can be any language or culture)
history and philosophy
social and behavioral science (pysch, economics, sociology, etc)
foreign language (actually, you can test out of it, or take one upper-level language class)
self-expression (music, p.e. drawing, painting, etc. Some extracurricular such as working on the newspaper, debate, or being a dj on the radio can also count).
You’re also required to take one W, one Q, and one S course. The W stands for writing, and the a course which features a W will require a lot of writing – although not necessarily literature style writing (there’s a math course that’s a W – it features a lot of proofs). The Q stands for quantitative. Most math classes are Q courses, of course, along with logic in the philosophy department, most natural science classes, and some economics classes. S stands for speech – these classes normally have at least two or three presentations in them.
That’s almost a third of your course work right there – although your major coursework will probably overlap with some of the requirements.
Because there’s a lot of flexibility in the schedule, many students structure their classes so that they graduate with two minors (a minor requiring about 1/2 the work of a major), or they double-major. You can split up how you complete your requirements however you’d like. Of course, some courses build on each other, so you have to organize your schedule that way.
I’m doing two majors and two minors, but I’m only able to get away with that because I took a fair number of college classes while in high school, and I came in knowing exactly what I wanted to study, so I didn't waste any time. As it is, my last two years are going to be completely filled up with finishing my requirements for my majors and minors.
As far as the number of courses you’re allowed to take – well, you can take however many you’d like, but it’ll cost you extra. At my school regular tuition covers 4.5 classes Half classes are typically labs, p.e. or music classes, all of which meet less reqularly (one or two hours a week instead of three or four). If you want to take more credits than that, you’ll have to pay some amount more. Other schools bill you per credit.
The typical number of classes varies depending on people's schedules and how many hours a class meets. Normally four or five classes is typical per semester or quarter. This is roughly 15-18 credits, at least on the quarter system. (The quarter system means a school has three grading terms during the regualr year, and one during the summer - this is in contrast to the semester system, with two terms during the regular year, and sometimes a summer term as well.)
To give you an idea of how many credits each class is, at the college I went to while in high school, a calc-based physics class with a lab was worth 6 credits, calculus was 5 credits, most social science and humanities classes were 4, there were a few easier classes worth 3 credits, and p.e. classes were 1 or 1/2 credits.
Posts: 2409 | Registered: Sep 2003
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That sounds a lot harder for someone like me who is relatively good at science and poor at foreign languages / history, English etc, but great for someone who isn’t sure what they want to do when they leave school.
I dropped to 3 subjects at age 16 (3 A levels, typical then, now 16 – 18 year olds tend to do 5 subjects for at least the first year) – the last time breadth was required was from 14 – 16 when you are expected to do at least English, maths, science and a foreign language at most schools (typically 8 – 9 subjects in total).
I can see the advantage of more breadth than we get, but I would have hated it. I think your post graduate study is typically longer than ours too (our masters are 1 year, PhDs are 3 years) possibly because you have had less depth than us as undergraduates?
Posts: 169 | Registered: Aug 2005
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posted
Masters and PhD again ( ) vary by program and by subject. There's a lot of masters programs that are one year in length - altho there's also a good number that are two years. But a Ph.d almost always runs around 5-6 years. I know some econ programs run at 4, but it's pretty hard to get that finished.
A lot of it probably has to do with the breadth vs. depth issue - if you want to go to a good college in the US, you better stay strong in ALL the basic subjects. And then with the first two years of college also given up to distribution requirements... It means you guys get at least a two year head start on us in the depth department.
It might also be because Ph.d students are expected to teach a class or two while both taking their own classes and writting up their thesis. Do Ph.d students do the same over there?
The idea behind the breadth focus is to force students out of their comfort zone. The philosophy is to create scienctists who have studied ethics and can write well, arts majors who understand politics, and, basically, citizens who can add to the world in more than just their major subject.
What you major in doesn't matter as much when getting a job after graduation in the US, unless you're going into something specific such as accounting, education, engineering, biological research, etc - in which case it's likely that you'll continue your studies in your subject. It's more a matter of showing that you're intelligent and hard-working enough to graduate from college with decent grades. The breadth helps in this matter as well.
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Hooray, finally someone else around the 'rack who shares an allied profession with me (I'm an architect-in-training). Once you get into the semester, you'll have to detail what the Urban Archeology class entails. It sounds like something I could have been arrested doing at various times in the past, and is definitely an interesting concept.
Oh, and I might be taking a class for professionals over the LEED Accreditation Exam (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) this fall, should my place of employment choose to pay for such a course.
posted
-Philosophy of quantum information theory -Seminar in ancient philosophy -Something in physics: either relativity or quantum field theory.
Posts: 4600 | Registered: Mar 2000
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Architraz, I know the course involves some fieldwork, digging around in a hole for part of it.
Aside from that, I used to want to be an architect, but then I experienced a summer of studio and ran away as fast as I could. I still wish I could do mechanical drawing though, that was the part of it I loved.
Posts: 2867 | Registered: May 2005
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I thought of fleeing architecture on at least a weekly basis. Never did manage to though, for better or worse.
One of the hobbies my architecture friends and I had was to trespass in buildings that were derelict / abandoned or into buildings that were in various stages of construction. In some cases the expirience were very similar except the area around the building was filled with grass / weeds in one case and cement bags / fast food wrappers in the other. For as dull a use as something like grain silos had, they're wonderfully interesting (and intimidating) structures. And quite fun to explore on a whim as well.
quote:Originally posted by Allegra: I also have four semesters of both ear training and written theory. Is it common for freshman theory classes to start at 8am? All of the people that I know that are going to be going to school for music this year have 8am theory. It seems like a horrible hazing ritual or something.
yep. all of my theory classes have been first thing in the morning at 8 am....the time of the day when i least want to be learning theory....
Posts: 217 | Registered: Mar 2002
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I have an 8:00 class this year but I'm actually happy about it. I'm going to be up anyway, to get the kids ready for school, and the parking is much easier if you get there before 8:00.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Okay -- I'm kinda jealous -- just because I loved going to college and wish maybe I could take more courses in the future -- when I'm through sending all my kids through college.
But in the meantime, I have to live my life through my children, so I'm going to post my oldest son's fall semester courses. This is his last year at the University, and by spring he will have completed his biology/chemistry degree.
I get to count these as MY classes for the purpose of this thread -- simply because I lend moral support, as well as editing and proofreading skills to all his college papers!
General Ecology General Ecology Lab Analytical Chemistry & Lab World Masterpieces Into to Psychology Intro to Computers (those last three are pud freshmen-type courses, but he kept putting off his general ed stuff and took all his hard stuff the first three years, so now he's having to take general ed stuff to qualify for graduation. I warned him!) He's done with all his math and other biology requirements.
oh - and Senior Seminar -- which is some kind of special senior project he has to do for his major.
posted
Here are my classes for the fall. Kind of a boring bunch, but after this semester all I have left are history classes and electives (hooray for being a history major).
Political Institutions in the US and Texas (2nd required Government class) Humanities: Reading and Writing Texts Introduction to Philosophy Historical Inquiry (or as I call it "How to Write History for Dummies") Honors: Basis of Evolution (my one required honors level class for the semester)
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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I'm taking "American Literature at Mid-Century: Race and Sexuality at a Crossroads" and I'm working on my thesis.
Posts: 2880 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Calculus Introduction to Engineering Chemistry English Clemson University 101 Clemson University Singers
It's 16 hours total, and with the extras I have (Cu 101 and choir) I should be able to focus most of my study time on the important math/science stuff.
Posts: 4174 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Eh, it works. I took all my remaining bad courses at once. I figured it was better to suffer a lot for a short period of time than to suffer a little over a long period of time. Plus some of my classes might not be too bad (the humanities one and the honors one).
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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intro to sociology intro to philosophy exposition and persuation US History 2 (1870 to 1970)
These are classes to transfer from the community college to the state college I'm moving to in January.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I'm taking a fiction class this fall. My schedule seems light, but I'm working on my master's degree, working full-time as an English instructor, and raising two kids. Still, all of the classes you all are taking brings back fond memories. Best wishes to you all as you begin a new school year.
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) vary by program and by subject. There's a lot of masters programs that are one year in length - altho there's also a good number that are two years. But a Ph.d almost always runs around 5-6 years. I know some econ programs run at 4, but it's pretty hard to get that finished.![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
I still wish I could do mechanical drawing though, that was the part of it I loved.
