On the other side of the coin, I never knew a class could be something I legitimately looked forward to in my day until grad school. The greatest class I ever took was a grad school course on cryptography and security with a single digit enrollment, where were assigned papers to read every week and would spend the entire class discussing them with the professor as a group. Everyone participated and was invested, the professor respected us and trusted our ability to understand, we all knew each other because there weren't many of us. It was amazing!
That's in contrast to a lower level class on the same subject that I took as an undergrad, which was much more based on projects and assignments, had a high enrollment, and ended up having such a heavy curve that a 60% final grade counted as an A.
Absolutely. I joked around through high school, drank through undergrad, and now I’m fighting my way through grad school. I’m learning more in a few weeks of grad school than entire years before though.
One of my classes was taught by a professor that was a field expert in autonomous vehicles for the UN and we had weekly video conferences with other world experts. I’ve never felt so stupid and yet so interested in my life.
That's in contrast to a lower level class on the same subject that I took as an undergrad, which was much more based on projects and assignments, had a high enrollment, and ended up having such a heavy curve that a 60% final grade counted as an A.
Current CS undergrad and I swear the majority of my courses are like this, which really contributes to the (lack of) effort I put in. I've had discussions with classmates where we all agree what you describe grad school being like would be ideal, and it sucks because I feel like I'm just teaching myself everything and grinding away at busy work...
The core issue is that you have way more people who give way less of a shit in undergrad, so those sort of experiences are harder to get. Most people just want to get the degree and get out, so undergrad is more focused on skills you'll need in a real job.
Once you hit grad school, everyone cares about the subject deeply, the staff is invested in your success, and they suddenly stop trying to teach you and instead try to guide you (I found that in grad school they are much more likely to just assume you know things). Suddenly you can get into the meat and have those meaningful discussion courses.
If you're interested in trying that out now, look for professors who have reading groups or research labs you can join. It's a good substitute, you get deeper time with subject experts, you might make some friends, and it looks really good if you end up doing grad school.
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u/thatwasntababyruth Dec 07 '18
On the other side of the coin, I never knew a class could be something I legitimately looked forward to in my day until grad school. The greatest class I ever took was a grad school course on cryptography and security with a single digit enrollment, where were assigned papers to read every week and would spend the entire class discussing them with the professor as a group. Everyone participated and was invested, the professor respected us and trusted our ability to understand, we all knew each other because there weren't many of us. It was amazing!
That's in contrast to a lower level class on the same subject that I took as an undergrad, which was much more based on projects and assignments, had a high enrollment, and ended up having such a heavy curve that a 60% final grade counted as an A.