Jump to content

The Academics Thread


Pariah

Recommended Posts

I'm reminded of the old bit about the pre-med who blurted out in the middle of a calculus lecture, "Why do we have to learn this crap?"

 

The professor calmly replied by saying, "Because calculus saves lives."

 

"Oh yeah," the student retorted. "How?"

 

"By keeping certain people out of medical school."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My institution has an advising program for people trying to get into medical or dental school.  The person who runs the show knows what it takes to get in, and is one of the three bluntest people on campus (I'm another of the three), and if a student is unlikely to make it there's no sugar-coating what it would take to get back on track.  There's faculty reps from the four science departments (I've been the one from my department since this program's inception in 2014).  We have an astonishing success rate for those who make it all the way through (just above 90%), but there are some kids who can't take the hint and push on despite bad chances.  Among the things we do is give two practice interviews to each candidate in the final stages of the process; interviewers are required to have had no prior contact with interviewee (so you can't interview former students of yours, which has meant I don't do many interviews since I've been a fixture in the pre-med physics series for more than a decade).  I usually do one or two each year.  Some kids are really good.  Some kids ... aren't.  And while interviewing is a coachable skill and a few kids have had some coaching, I don't give a lot of weight to how slick an interviewee is during the session.  I have a few of my own stock questions I ask, some of which I place high weight on.  (There are more non-stock questions that come from things I see in the applicant's document package, of course.)  My latest stock question so far has caught every candidate by surprise, as something they had never thought about before: "What do you hope people will say about you when you're gone?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Cancer said:

I am pretty sure I've posted this before, but here's the most famous undergrad physics lab write-up of all time.

 

I think that is from the 1990s, but in a sense it is timeless.

 

It also features the best graph-caption combination ever published.

 

The rest of my M.S. cohort gave their project presentations last week and are submitting their final papers in the next two weeks. I think I'll send this link to them for inspiration.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Pariah said:

 

The rest of my M.S. cohort gave their project presentations last week and are submitting their final papers in the next two weeks. I think I'll send this link to them for inspiration.

 

Is is too late for them to change their major to something worthwhile like liberal arts? ;) :P 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

After checking for the first time today, I have a total of 83 registered for my two sections of the 2nd quarter of algebra-based physics next term (the syllabus includes hydrostatics, oscillations, waves, and sound, and electromagnetism).  That's about a half-dozen more than any previous total that I can remember.  I genuinely did not expect the total to go up in the plague year, though I suppose I should have, knowing what I do about incoming class sizes over time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...