<p>Now that my freshman year is coming to a close, I’m going to post a list of issues I’ve observed at Poly and the cause for a TON of student discontent.</p>
<p>Problem One: The largest complaint from the student body in general - the terribly low ratio of alotted Credits to the number of hours spent working and in labs/lectures every week. </p>
<p>Let’s take a look at a typical Schedule for a 16 credit courseload a freshman math major friend took up - </p>
<p>Mondays + Wednesdays: 3-4:30 Writing seminar, 4:30-5:55 Intro to Computer Science</p>
<p>Tuesdays + Thursdays: 2-3:50 Honors Multivariate Calculus, 4-5:20 Honors Newtonian Mechanics, 6-8:50 P.M Graduate Number Theory</p>
<p>Thursday CS Lab: 11:00 A.M - 2: 00P.M</p>
<p>Fridays: 3-3:55 p.m recitation</p>
<p>Now as a mathematics major interested in engineering in poly, he doesn’t have to deal with the onslaught of 9 A.M - 12 P.M Labs but still, this is a courseload that would be considered “light” in poly - essentially 7-10 hours straight of classes without break on tuesdays and thursdays for a measly 16 credits. There are also roughly 3 hours of homework for each class per week. Now let’s compare it to a math major freshman of equal caliber (similar GPAs/SATs) in CAS taking what appears to be a schedule full of 4-credit courses</p>
<p>Mondays + Wednesdays: Microeconomics 8-9:15 A.M 11 A.M - 12:15 P.M: Cultures and Contexts MAP China, Analysis 1 2-3:15 P.M</p>
<p>Tuesdays: 8-8:55 A.M CnC Recitation, 9:30-10:30 Economics Recitation, 11:00A.M - 12:55 P.M Honors Calculus, 2-3:15 Data Structures</p>
<p>Thursdays: 11:00A.M - 12:55 P.M Honors Calculus, 2-3:15 Data Structures</p>
<p>Fridays Off</p>
<p>Two people of equal </p>
<p>Now if it just ended at the point where we had twice the amount of lab/lecture time it’d be ok, but let’s take a look at one big gripe the student body has with the rubric. </p>
<p>Problem Two: The Weight of the grading rubrics</p>
<p>All the courses are based on departmental curves and share standardized exams. If you have a genius tenured professor that has English as a say, third language, you’re pretty much screwed if he can’t teach at a sufficient level. You’ll find yourself doing 4 hours of homework a week for 13 weeks for a meager 5% of your overall grade in a ton of your classes. </p>
<p>Problem Three: Unforgiving Grading</p>
<p>We’ve all had our teachers in high school give us “slaps on the wrist” for minor oversights on exams. Forget to write + C on an indefinite integral? subtract 4 points on your test. Forget to write dx while setting up an integral showing work? -4. In poly? that’s anywhere between 6 to 10 points gone out of 100. Expect to receive a score in the 80s on non-multiplechoice tests even if you understand the related concepts fully</p>
<p>Problem Four: Lack of any attempt at increasing student morale
Although students are now welcome to attend welcome week at NYU and all NYU events, the campus itself is pretty dreary. You have an engineering institute in the middle of a region that has barely pulled itself upwards out of urban decay and barely anything to do there. There’s a library for studying, a bunch of computer labs for programming and practicing your cracking skills, a basic gym to work out at, and a ping pong table, that’s it.</p>
<p>Problem Five: Edibility of Food</p>
<p>General rule of thumb in the Lackmann Dining Hall - If it’s not chicken, off a grill, a sandwich, soup, or a pastry, it’s probably barely edible and probably. Tomato-based foods such as pasta tend to have a STRONG tomato flavor, Your mileage will vary on them.</p>
<p>I’m sure there are other poly students here that can pitch in about the campus issues</p>
<p>I’m also fairly certain the administration reads these forums considering the flak i got upperclassmen into a few weeks ago</p>