<p>Very few full professors teach first year writing (what’s generally known as freshman comp). It’s a real shame, of course, and tremendously unfair, and it has to do with money. At many Ivies and near-Ivies, teachers of first year writing are generally published authors and the classes are kept to a fairly manageable size and number. This is not true everywhere, however: Columbia, for example, has more adjuncts teaching, and graduate students, and it is quite frequently the case that they are really good at what they’re doing. Not all full professors should be teaching something like first year writing, and the university’s money is better spent doing other stuff.</p>
<p>Harvard’s Expository Writing program is generally regarded as one of the best (and least exploitative of teachers) in the country. Cornell’s Writing program is also excellent; likewise Michigan’s. What you want to look for in a really good first year writing program would take more time and space than this post would allow, but some rules of thumb: do the teachers seem to be full-time? is there is a good mix of teachers who are published novelists, with people publishing non-fiction, and people who mix academic with popular writing? Are there at least three or four people on staff who do new media writing? Look for diversity, full-time employees, a range of ages and preparations, and you’ll often have a good writing program.</p>
<p>Exempting out of first year writing is very difficult in most Ivies or near-Ivies that I know of. Many schools have a higher level writing course to satisfy the first year writing requirement if students have made a certain cut-off level SAT score. It is woefully common to exempt out of first year writing by getting a high AP score or high SAT score, in many large state universities. This is a great question, and I hope this helps! If anyone else has more info out there, I’d be interested to read it!</p>