<p>I’m in the same boat…I will be heading there this fall and just resigned the lease on my apt. a few weeks ago. I live about the same distance from you out and I dont mind the drive…but only when there’s no traffic. I will probably move closer next year, mainly cause I have always despised commutes. </p>
<p>I have a friend who started at State and takes Marta. She leaves her house (Johns Creek/Alpharetta area) at 6:30am, goes to chamblee marta station and walks into class about 7:55, just before class starts. I am considering it too, but there will be a bit more of time from the station to your class for Tech. So that is hour and a half minimum.</p>
<p>It will depend alot on the classes I take. I am NOT looking forward to the labs…I will most likely have to drive down 2x on those days…I work between 2-6ish which is really inconvienant, but I’ll live…should only be this year I’m in a bind. </p>
<p>yeah im at gpc…i live in lawrenceville and il probably be taking atleast 15 credit hours so il have to drive almost everyday especially since some recitations fall in the middle of the day on tuesdays and thursdays. I might just end up dorming though…i hate the traffic on 85…especially in the mornings. Were you at gpc also?</p>
<p>Yep - gpc…I did most of it online and those prob. won’t transfer to Tech so I may have to retake those…ah well, live and learn. But took calc.II and lin. algebra at Dunwoody last semester. I’ll have to retake that this fall too. </p>
<p>I will be driving everyday too…on lab days probably twice a day…lucky me. Next year, I will be able to move closer :)</p>
<p>I highly recommend staying on campus. You’ll meet more people, spend more time at social events, and be more focused on school (both academically and socially). Besides, when you meet a nice girl, do you want to invite her back to your parent’s house? </p>
<p>You pay for dorms by the semester, so you can move in for the Spring. The only downside to living there just one semester is if you have a lot of things to move in/out. But realistically, all you really need a fully-furnished dorm is a flat screen TV, small refrigerator, microwave (maybe), clothes, books, and computer. That shouldn’t be too bad to move (one, maybe two car loads if you have a small car). </p>
<p>But if you are going to commute…
</p>
<p>MARTA really would only take an hour and a half if you have class on far west campus. Even considering the frequency of trains, from the Chamblee station to on campus is less than 45 mins. The walk from North Ave station to west campus would be about 45 mins. To east campus (say Skiles), only about 20-25 mins. </p>
<p>If you drove to campus and had to park on East campus (say the Tech Square parking deck), you’d still have that walk from the deck to class, and you’d still spend 30-45 mins (or more if there’s an accident) in traffic on the way to campus. So really, MARTA doesn’t cost you much time. Meanwhile, on the MARTA train you can read your text book, which is something you can’t do while driving. Also, with MARTA, you don’t have to worry about breaking down or accidents/construction slowing you down. With the student discount, a MARTA pass costs less than gas money + a parking permit ($600+/year). </p>
<p>All-in-all, I would definitely take MARTA if you live near a station and don’t plan to stay on campus until very late at night. If you’re on campus late at night, I leave it to you to determine your level of comfort on MARTA.</p>
<p>@tinselcleo If you have to retake those classes id recommend taking them with rusodimos. The guy is a sheer genius and his tests are challenging. The reason i recommend him is because he will prepare you for tech…especially if your majoring in any type of engineering and if you have to take physics at tech. Who did you take lin alg and calc 2 with before?</p>
<p>@banjo Ive had bad experiences with public transportation especially around midtown areas…most probably il stick to dorming…plus i want to spend as much time as i can doing homework and studying. The drive will atleast take me 2 hours each day(counting the traffic) , so about 10 hours each week so dorming does sound definately better in terms of saving time.</p>
<p>That’s probably the best option. Good luck.</p>
<p>And public transit in Midtown really isn’t that bad. I ride it all the time for many years and have had no problem. Maybe you just had an isolated incident?</p>
<p>Akbar - LOL…I had Rusodimos for calc. II this past semester. He’s the main reason I ended up wanting to go back to Tech after all this time and major in math with lots of physics to boot!
Before this semester, I was planning on being a regular ole teacher (in math), now I want to be a professor just like him…though I don’t have the $$ to stay in school and get a gazillion degrees like he has, but I hope to come close.</p>
<p>I have to retake them at Tech. Tech doesn’t accept grades for courses that you failed there previously which I did. I wish I had known about it before I paid for them at GPC, but then I wouldn’t have seen what I wanted to do…lol!</p>
<p>@banjo Yeah it could be that it just happened with me but i guess since im gonna have to be there for a long time i might as well get used to marta…i mean so many ppl do it so it cant be that bad i guess…</p>
<p>@tinselcleo haha great man rusodimos is the man…the way he teaches makes me want to take all my math classes with him…but atleast now that you took calc 2 with him youll be ready to take it at tech again…he teaches really really well. Im sure your much more ready now to take those classes at tech. I wish there were more professors like him around. Anyway good luck with tech man…hope your semester goes really well.</p>
<p>Glad to hear that Rusodimos is still around. Took him for Calc II & III. Probably the smartest - student oriented - teacher i’ve ever had.</p>
<p>A friend told me that him and another fellow were playing chess one day when Rusodimos walked up to them. They asked if he played chess and he told them he didn’t know how. So they explained each piece to him and he looked at the board and told my friend that it looked like he won. My friend was confused by this statement for a little but apparently Rusodimos saw something like 5 moves ahead. I thought this was impressive considering the guy didn’t know how to play. I heard he still doesn’t have a tv either.</p>
<p>I can believe that…i mean the guy solves extremely hard integrals in a matter of seconds in his head…he doesnt even need the book to teach…i definitely have to say im impressed with his teaching. He is nice enough to help students with math even if they are not in his class…and some professors dont even like to help students in their own class haha</p>
<p>Yeah - he is definately a people person. He helped me more with your basic career and life stuff more than the math and he is more than willing to answer questions about what he’s been through which was great to hear. I could probably talk to him for hours. </p>
<p>That’s a funny chess story…I’ve found a few stories like that about him around. No tv? Though I shouldn’t be surprised, he still referred to his computer as a word processor :)</p>
<p>Watching him do integrals is crazy…I loved it, its almost humorous how many steps he does in his head, but you have to remember he’s been teaching for 20+ years and if you have the same ones pop up 3 or 4 times a year, after all that time, you’d be able to do that too ;)</p>
<p>Sadly, I never crossed paths with a similar teacher at GT. It’s really a shame. All my teachers at GT were ridiculously smart and on top of their game but none of them had the drive to genuinely want to teach and be helpful like him.</p>
<p>Didn’t he get a ton of degrees from GT? In the late 90’s he was working on his mathematics PHD and I believe he already had a master in electrical engineering, physics, and mathematics. Is this right?</p>
<p>that sounds right…i know he got his masters in mathematics from tech im not sure about other degrees but he is ridiculously good at physics also so im sure he has a degree in physics too</p>
<p>THAT’S what I’m worried about…that the prof’s at Tech won’t be as awesome as he is :(</p>
<p>Yeah - he’s got BS in EE and Masters in EE, Physics and Math. He was here on a visa and couldn’t find a job so he just stayed in school. He’s actually in the same position I was in with trying to get readmitted to Tech to finish his phd. Not that I think he’ll have a problem with it…lol. He’s basically got everything finished, just needs to fine tune some things per his advisor. I asked him to please let me know when its scheduled…that would be one dissertation I would love to go to.</p>
<p>if i was you i’d still stay in touch with him and i’d recommend just asking him to tutor you for an hour or two each week im sure he would be more than happy to help you out…i havent been to tech yet so i dont know anything about the professors who teach there.</p>
<p>What you have to realize is that Tech is a research university, while GPC is a teaching college. What that means to you is that Tech professors are paid, promoted, and granted tenure based on research, while GPC professors are paid, promoted, and granted tenure based on teaching. Further, at GPC, professors only teach, so they’re expected to spend 90% of their work week with students (in class and out of class). Tech professors split time between teaching and research, and are expected to spend about 30% of their work week with students. This means that professors necessarily give you less time.</p>
<p>So why would you ever go to a research university? First of all, they’re higher ranked and attract better employers. But beyond that, they teach you self-sufficiency (teaching yourself a topic rather than being spoon fed a procedure), they tend to have better professors (they pay more), and the professors in those fields are on the cutting edge of research (and teaching schools, they don’t have time to study the new methods and procedures, so they’re giving you information based on books written by people at research universities or they’re giving you 30+ year old information - which in the case of integrals is not that big of a deal, but in the case of engineering, is).</p>
<p>akbar - I will, he’s already said if I have any questions from here on out to let him know esp. since I am going into math. Doubt he would have time for tutoring and not sure that I would need it, but it’s nice to know he’s there if I need it. </p>
<p>banjo- Tx, I know and I’m looking forward to it. I look at it from a different perspective now too since somewhere down the road I want to be a professor. I want to see how each professor I have works, what they do well (or not so well) and why. I cannot wait to see how research factors into all of it. Since I’ve seen how GPC profs work…I honestly hope Tech profs do things differently to compare them. If I have any issues, I plan on going to my Tech profs. first esp. since most of my questions are more about the whys rather than the hows.</p>
<p>Earning a PhD, then finding an academic position has very little to do with teaching, and very much to do with research. Rather than observing professors’ teaching techniques, I very strongly suggest that you look for undergraduate research.</p>
<p>I plan on it…I’ve got a ways to go and research is something I am very much interested in…my problem will be finding something to focus on.
Yeah, but I still want to get the material across the best way I can (when I get there) and figuring out what works and doesn’t works helps; though I think being totally excited about what you’re talking about plus a sense of humor will go a long way too. Tx for your advice…its right on par with everything else I’ve heard thus far :)</p>