Michelle graduates June 6, has been accepted into graduate school

[antmanb]

Have you ever been to grad school? I have my MA, MS and am 3 months from my PhD and I have NEVER had a first day of class where we did nothing. In fact, most classes expected several chapters to have been read and it was not uncommon to have an assignment due.

On the first day ever of grad school, before you knew the exact syllabus, had ever even set foot in a class, you had a an assignment due??

Ant

[vLadiMiRa]

Well, thanks to the internet, professors can now post the syllabi & assignments on the internet prior to the first class... *sigh*

[soogar]

Well, thanks to the internet, professors can now post the syllabi & assignments on the internet prior to the first class... *sigh*

Yup, just as they communicate which books you need to buy prior to class. Grad school moves a lot faster than undergrad.

[jsmith]

Didn't Michelle's sister go to school in Boston too?

[dwiggin3]

On the first day ever of grad school, before you knew the exact syllabus, had ever even set foot in a class, you had a an assignment due??

Ant

Syllabi are posted on the web and faculty advisers/instructors email students with reading assignments that are due on the first day of classes. Many schools snail mail out information on first term classes along with required readings that they'll be expected to discuss the first day. And I too teach at a large University and require my graduate students to have read several chapters/case studies so we can hit the ground running.

[Mathman]

I guess it wouldn't work anyway. Michelle could get her first week's lessons together at home on Monday through Wednesday of that week, and then skate on Thursday and Saturday.

But the problem is, what if she won (Nationals)? Then she would have to skate in the Olympics and miss even more classes in February.

[ae9177]

Congratulations to Michelle and Sarah! So happy for both of them.

When's the due date for USFS to announce the TBA at SA?

[Tinymavy15]

I am not a grad student, but know some people who are. They say that most work is done alone...reading dozens on books etc. There are not many formal scheduled classes in the undergraduate sense.

[shopgirl543]

Didn't Michelle's sister go to school in Boston too?

Yes, Karen went to Boston University.

[antmanb]

Syllabi are posted on the web and faculty advisers/instructors email students with reading assignments that are due on the first day of classes. Many schools snail mail out information on first term classes along with required readings that they'll be expected to discuss the first day. And I too teach at a large University and require my graduate students to have read several chapters/case studies so we can hit the ground running.

Wow that is very fast paced, but then I think the US model for learning is different to the one used in the UK. I remember taking a few modules of my undergraduate degree that were in the "American" style. We had to prepare certain topics for every single lecture and would be randomly picked on to answer questions for the first half of the lecture. That is more the way out small group sessions or seminars would go.

Even in post graduate courses though we usually got the first day for introductions etc and generally taking it easier than the rest of the course would be

Ant

[feraina]

Even in post graduate courses though we usually got the first day for introductions etc and generally taking it easier than the rest of the course would be

Well, back when I did my undergrad on the east coast, we always had full lectures on the first day, and we often got homework assignments on the first day, too. But when I came out here to the west coast, I was very surprised to discover that as a professor you're expected not to give a full lecture on the first day, and that you're guaranteed a bad student evaluation if you don't let the students go early the first day! So I think the practice differs a lot among U.S. schools themselves! Tufts having a serious graduate program, though, I expect they'd want to have a "real" first lecture.