Swat '07 Will Try to Answer Q's

momof3sons
Wed, 11 Jan 2006 20:05:04 +0000

I’m majoring in political science and history. I think that the political science department is very strong; I like all of the professors with whom I’ve had contact. In some areas, the course offerings are a little spare (I’m particularly interested in political theory, and there aren’t any courses in the political science department that focus on two or three thinkers). The other drawback is that because the professors are so good, most of the classes are packed to the limit. That really turns some students off; in my opinion, it depends on the professor. Some are better as large class lecturers, others are really only worthwhile in a small class seminar format.

I’ve had more issues with history. I wouldn’t say it’s a “weak” department; I think the professors are very knowledgable and they are generally good teachers. However, I’ve found that most of the history professors take a very postmodern approach to history, which I completely disagree with, and so that’s made some of my classes less enjoyable.

I’ve taken classes in a number of other departments; lab sciences are more time-consuming because you have a lab section as well as class. It’s hard to really pin the demanding label on some departments more than others. Different people have different strengths; I had a particularly rough time in Physics 7, which is a major track second semester course. However, I don’t get the sense that most physics majors do more work than I do. I think a lot of the physics majors do basically all of their work for a given physics class in a group session on the night or two nights before their problem set is due (usually it’s one problem set a week).

Departments also vary widely on the requirements necessary for majoring. Thus, some departments only require eight credits in the dept. for a major. Others require as many as 12-14 credits for the major. I think that regardless of the requirements for the major you’re considering, you obviously need to decide if that’s what you want to concentrate on.