Comments on: Overview of my Yale Coursework: Fall Semester 2008 http://www.samjackson.org/college/2009/01/18/overview-of-myyale-classes-fall-semester-2008/ all the exciting parts, none of the heavy debt burden Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:03:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Sam Jackson http://www.samjackson.org/college/2009/01/18/overview-of-myyale-classes-fall-semester-2008/comment-page-1/#comment-36451 Sam Jackson Tue, 20 Jan 2009 01:50:05 +0000 http://www.samjackson.org/college/?p=467#comment-36451 The Yale course numbering system is not as precise or scientific as you might imagine. There are some high level courses with low level numbers, and generally higher numbers are used more for arbitrary or subject-discipline distinctions, I believe -- so different kinds of poli sci (international relations, american government, political theory, that kind of thing) might have different initial numbers -- to a point. Something like that. ANTH 473 was a higher level seminar, but nothing extreme. At the same time, many classes will be cross-listed with grad schools and have two numbers which differ -- numbers above 500 ARE grad school, but could also be the same class. In other subjects, it is rarer to find sophomores in higher level seminars, but this is mostly a matter of sophomores and freshmen not believing that they could get into xyz classes -- many would still be selected if they expressed genuine interest. I have a certain talent for getting into classes that I would like to be in. In the case of ANTH473, things really ought to have been more structured, but for the first part of the course we would read a book or maybe a hundred pages of science journal articles on speleothems and suchlike, come into class and discuss; writing-wise, that course had a final paper (15-20 pages, or so) and a take-home miderm (I wrote something like 10 pages, but others did less). In this respect the course actually was a lighter load than many other seminars, I think. The composition of the course was as follows: there were maybe 3-4 grad students, who spent a lot of time away in Syria or wherever on digs, some juniors and seniors (maybe 5 total), and I think one or two other sophomores; several of the upperclassmen were anthropology or archaeology majors, most of the rest of the group came from a varied background. As for other courses I considered: I can't really recall at this point, to be honest - other seminars, I believe. I asked Anna about your last question, and she confirms that they're all professors, i.e., senior lecturers, since language profs don't research, that's the title they're given. But yeah! No lame TAs or something like that. We have grad students for tutors, in terms of the ones who are assigned to us; if you get additional tutoring just on the side, they tend to be undergraduates. They rotate profs so you get to hear different accents and learn tones etc better -- so some are from Taiwan, some are from different parts of China, some are women, etc etc etc. It's very helpful. The Yale course numbering system is not as precise or scientific as you might imagine. There are some high level courses with low level numbers, and generally higher numbers are used more for arbitrary or subject-discipline distinctions, I believe -- so different kinds of poli sci (international relations, american government, political theory, that kind of thing) might have different initial numbers -- to a point. Something like that. ANTH 473 was a higher level seminar, but nothing extreme. At the same time, many classes will be cross-listed with grad schools and have two numbers which differ -- numbers above 500 ARE grad school, but could also be the same class. In other subjects, it is rarer to find sophomores in higher level seminars, but this is mostly a matter of sophomores and freshmen not believing that they could get into xyz classes -- many would still be selected if they expressed genuine interest. I have a certain talent for getting into classes that I would like to be in.

In the case of ANTH473, things really ought to have been more structured, but for the first part of the course we would read a book or maybe a hundred pages of science journal articles on speleothems and suchlike, come into class and discuss; writing-wise, that course had a final paper (15-20 pages, or so) and a take-home miderm (I wrote something like 10 pages, but others did less). In this respect the course actually was a lighter load than many other seminars, I think.

The composition of the course was as follows: there were maybe 3-4 grad students, who spent a lot of time away in Syria or wherever on digs, some juniors and seniors (maybe 5 total), and I think one or two other sophomores; several of the upperclassmen were anthropology or archaeology majors, most of the rest of the group came from a varied background.

As for other courses I considered: I can't really recall at this point, to be honest - other seminars, I believe.

I asked Anna about your last question, and she confirms that they're all professors, i.e., senior lecturers, since language profs don't research, that's the title they're given. But yeah! No lame TAs or something like that. We have grad students for tutors, in terms of the ones who are assigned to us; if you get additional tutoring just on the side, they tend to be undergraduates. They rotate profs so you get to hear different accents and learn tones etc better -- so some are from Taiwan, some are from different parts of China, some are women, etc etc etc. It's very helpful.

]]> By: David http://www.samjackson.org/college/2009/01/18/overview-of-myyale-classes-fall-semester-2008/comment-page-1/#comment-36450 David Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:33:10 +0000 http://www.samjackson.org/college/?p=467#comment-36450 Thanks. But could you flesh this out with more detail about number of students in the course (at least ANTH 473) and workload, especially how many hours per week you spent on this and how much writing was assigned? Also, could you give a sense of how you end up in these courses and who else is in them, at least with ANTH 473? I would not have expected a sophomore in a 400-level class, but maybe I don't understand Yale's course numbering system. I would also be interested to know which other courses you considered and why you choose these over those. Also, were those all "professors" in your intro Chinese or language instructors? Thanks. But could you flesh this out with more detail about number of students in the course (at least ANTH 473) and workload, especially how many hours per week you spent on this and how much writing was assigned?

Also, could you give a sense of how you end up in these courses and who else is in them, at least with ANTH 473? I would not have expected a sophomore in a 400-level class, but maybe I don't understand Yale's course numbering system.

I would also be interested to know which other courses you considered and why you choose these over those.

Also, were those all "professors" in your intro Chinese or language instructors?

]]> By: David http://www.samjackson.org/college/2009/01/18/overview-of-myyale-classes-fall-semester-2008/comment-page-1/#comment-36449 David Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:32:15 +0000 http://www.samjackson.org/college/?p=467#comment-36449 Thanks. But could you flesh this out with more detail about number of students in the course (at least ANTH 473) and workload, especially how many hours per week you spent on this and how much writing was assigned? Also, could you give a sense of how you end up in these courses and who else is in them, at least with ANTH 473? I would not have expected a sophomore in a 400-level class, but maybe I don't understand Yale's course numbering system. I would also be interested to know which other courses you considered and why you choose these over those. Also, were those all "professors" in your intro Chinese are language instructors? Thanks. But could you flesh this out with more detail about number of students in the course (at least ANTH 473) and workload, especially how many hours per week you spent on this and how much writing was assigned?

Also, could you give a sense of how you end up in these courses and who else is in them, at least with ANTH 473? I would not have expected a sophomore in a 400-level class, but maybe I don't understand Yale's course numbering system.

I would also be interested to know which other courses you considered and why you choose these over those.

Also, were those all "professors" in your intro Chinese are language instructors?

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