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<p>Sounds about right. :-)</p>
<p>Let me give a more specific example of a professor (Let’s call him Prof. B). I learned a great deal from him. As I reflect back on my experience at Carleton I learned tons from the guy about how to interact with others even though I wasn’t aware I was learning anything at the time. Prof. B had been their for decades, and he is recently retired. I had him for upper and mid-level physics courses. He abhorred grading students, so you’d take your exam and you wouldn’t get a grade or score. You’d get a “O” for outstanding, “S” for satisfactory, or just a bunch of comments. The final grades I got in his classes were fairly awarded…I think I got an A and B+. Still his method of grading drove me nuts, didn’t seem rigorous, and his endless comments about how the focus should be on “learning” seemed excessive at the time.</p>
<p>Looking back at this after finishing a PhD, I see the “method in the madness”. I’ll try to summarize. If you are a PhD student and you write a paper, thesis, etc, you don’t get a grade. Instead you get many comments. Some come off as very critical. Prof. B’s methods taught me to be gracious (this didn’t come naturally to me), and look at the comments as a way to improve, learn, and make your paper better. Going into graduate classes and research with some level of a mindset that the interactions with others are about learning rather than competition makes life a lot easier. It can ease relationships with your advisor and co-researchers. My experience in grad school is that even if you don’t believe your interactions about “learning”, I found that repeating Prof. B’s comments to others can put people at ease or at least throw them off enough so they let you alone.</p>
<p>I also remember working hard in Prof. B’s classes…spending hours in the lab.</p>
<p>Not every Carleton Prof. is like this. I remember getting a grade changed after the term was over because I missed a cutoff by 0.2%, and was able to find the points. </p>
<p>As for this comment</p>
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<p>Yes, Carleton students are smart and capable of performing. One shouldn’t take the indirectness as a weakness. I was reading the post about a parent’s observations from an accepted student weekend. On many levels, I don’t think the parent got it. Carleton isn’t an extended summer/winter camp where they play Frisbee or broom ball. I don’t think the competitive/intense streak or the ability to formulate life goals has been brainwashed out of Carleton students. I think it is just not on the surface.</p>