It’s quite rare for students to attend sample classes with instructors that they plan to study with
Every school I’ve been at had a strong tradition of a “shopping period” at the start of term where students tried out different classes, including different sections of the same class. Is this what you don’t see happening? If this is something that varies a lot from school to school, it’s probably just a matter of inertia, not of students having better methods. You suggest that lack of flexibility may discourage students from doing this, but my impression is that large inflexible state schools force a different kind of shopping through wait lists.
I’ve never seen it, but it might be better to sample a class in the middle of the previous term, to get a more representative sample; the drawback is that it might be incomprehensible.
@Douglas: ” but it might be better to sample a class in the middle of the previous term”—that’s actually what I meant. I’ll update the post to clarify. At UChicago, classes generally get full before the quarter begins, so it’s hard to make changes even if one wants to, after the quarter begins. So people who don’t sample classes the previous quarter are often stuck.
Also, thanks for sharing your thoughts! I really appreciate it.
Every school I’ve been at had a strong tradition of a “shopping period” at the start of term where students tried out different classes, including different sections of the same class. Is this what you don’t see happening? If this is something that varies a lot from school to school, it’s probably just a matter of inertia, not of students having better methods. You suggest that lack of flexibility may discourage students from doing this, but my impression is that large inflexible state schools force a different kind of shopping through wait lists.
I’ve never seen it, but it might be better to sample a class in the middle of the previous term, to get a more representative sample; the drawback is that it might be incomprehensible.
@Douglas: ” but it might be better to sample a class in the middle of the previous term”—that’s actually what I meant. I’ll update the post to clarify. At UChicago, classes generally get full before the quarter begins, so it’s hard to make changes even if one wants to, after the quarter begins. So people who don’t sample classes the previous quarter are often stuck.
Also, thanks for sharing your thoughts! I really appreciate it.