Business, Society, and Ecomomics Scholars Programs information?

fresh42jazz
Mon, 01 Feb 2010 01:00:07 +0000

There are too many posts to keep track of at the moment. :)

I’m actually not a business major; I’m pursuing a double degree in Environmental Science and Policy and Spanish. (It’s a mouthful, especially when I add on the concentrations to the titles…)

It depends on the class, for laptops. I personally write much more quickly (and much more legibly) when I can use my laptop, so there were some classes (mainly the larger lecture ones) where I would definitely use it. For the most part, it depends whether you prefer laptops or writing your notes out. A key thing to keep in mind is that laptops are distracting… both to the kids surfing random pages around them, and for the people sitting around that kid, who can’t help but see that he/she is busy playing Farmville while the professor is talking about historical economic trends, or whatever the lecture topic is.

For the main part, I’d see how the first week goes. There are some professors whose teaching styles work quite well with note-taking on laptops, and for some classes, it just becomes obvious that it’ll be easier to just use a notebook (and less distraction). Also, it’s important to keep in mind the professor’s opinion. Some professors HATE laptops and ban them. In these cases, don’t even consider bringing it, because they get angry. Then you have some professors who say that they dislike them, but if you need one, it’s okay… don’t bring one.

To conclude my mini-novel about laptops, it’s easier to go to the first few classes, and then you’ll start to instinctively make decisions. I used a laptop in 3 of my 6 classes last semester, and not in any this semester. It just depends. :)

Scholars isn’t really time consuming. Each program is different, and has different expectations and requirements, but the thing to keep in mind is that the colloquium is usually a 1 credit course, which means that you’ll be expected to do the work for that credit. (One of my advisors likes the rule of thumb that you should spend 3 hours out of class studying/reading for every credit hour; a three-credit class should take 9 hours, four-credit 12, etc.). On that note, however, most of the programs are reading and discussion based, so you’ll often read something to get background knowledge then either discuss the information or the professor will present it in a different/interesting way.

As far as I’m aware, the focus is on developing knowledge and learning new skills/information, and there aren’t a lot of exams (if any). Scholars is supposed to enhance the university experience, not be an unbearably large amount of work. So, I’d say that I can’t speak specifically for BSE, but it isn’t really time consuming, no.