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Hey current WUSTL students, which classes/professors are really great and which should i avoid at all costs?

By Milemarker7 (Milemarker7) on Thursday, May 20, 2004 - 07:46 pm: Edit

Yeah, and in addition, what tips/advice can you give us before we get on campus next fall?

For example, popular hangouts, popular activities, popular classes, ETC.

By Econrobot (Econrobot) on Sunday, May 23, 2004 - 12:24 am: Edit

I'm from St. Louis and a lot of my friends are WUSTL students. I've heard Gen. Chem is a KILLER. Also, college of arts and sciences has massive grade deflation, but Olin is supposed to be very easy. Hope it helps.

By Milemarker7 (Milemarker7) on Sunday, May 23, 2004 - 12:27 am: Edit

Really? So kids in Olin can attain hire GPAs more easier than kids in the college of arts and sciences?

Well, Olin kids still have to take classes in the college of arts and sciences, but that is still an interesting point you bring up.

Does anyone else want to elaborate on the level of difficulty ofOlin and if grad schools look down on it because of grade inflation?

By Pdragon17 (Pdragon17) on Sunday, May 23, 2004 - 11:09 am: Edit

I went to Wash U and Olin in April when they invited their top accepted students back for a special weekend, and the consensus among the Olin students there who were hosts was that Olin was pretty easy compared to all the other schools. It's pretty easy to maintain a high GPA there. My host, who seemingly did not care about school too much and work too hard, has a 3.5

Also, there are some easy classes in Arts and Sciences that many business students take such as introduction to psychology.

You'll be taken care of at Olin. Olin has the most money by far of all the schools at Wash U and the facilities there are certainly something.

By Pdragon17 (Pdragon17) on Sunday, May 23, 2004 - 11:13 am: Edit

Oops, here's some more stuff that I left out.

I heard from Wash U students when I was there that Arts and Sciences isn't too hard, except for Pre-Med, which they weed half the class out of. Engineering and the sciences (chemistry, physics) are supposed to be the toughest, but it's like this at all places.

By Econrobot (Econrobot) on Sunday, May 23, 2004 - 11:37 am: Edit

Yeah, many people are pre-med majors at Wash U, but its extremely difficult. A recent grad I knew was a pre-med major and couldn't get into a decent med school. He ended up going to the Caribbean. Many people think that Wash U is better for pre-med due to the national reputation of its med school. But their reasoning is flawed; pre-med is more difficult due to the great med school. As for Olin, it is the easiest school at Wash U. So, it should be pretty easy to maintain a high GPA. But I don't think its regarded very highly. For example, Kelley Business School at IU Bloomington has a better reputation.

By Sakky (Sakky) on Sunday, May 23, 2004 - 12:55 pm: Edit

Well, I don't know if I would say that their reasoning is necessarily flawed. The fact is, premed is difficult pretty much everywhere, no matter whether a school has a famous med-school or not. And it is indeed true that WU premeds get a slight boost due to the national reputation of its med-school which contributes to at least the perception that WU's premed program is highly rigorous. But of course rigor cuts both ways - you look great if you do well at a rigorous program, but conversely it's very hard to do well at a rigorous program. You can't have your cake and eat it too. This is the same reason why premeds at MIT and Caltech sometimes have problems.

By Pdragon17 (Pdragon17) on Sunday, May 23, 2004 - 03:50 pm: Edit

Actually EconRobot, Olin has a great reputation. Although it's ranked 14th by USN&WR, the way the rankings are done for undergraduate business schools is very flawed. It's only based on the schools reputation by other schools. And of course, since schools like Indiana, Wisconsin, and Texas are largely and more nationally known, they get a higher ranking. Caliber of student body, admissions rate, faculty/student ratio, financial resources, are not counted so that's why Wash U isn't higher.

By Tao (Tao) on Sunday, May 23, 2004 - 03:59 pm: Edit

If you are going to be a premed at WashU, chances are GEN CHEM is going to weed you out.

By Tobes (Tobes) on Sunday, May 23, 2004 - 07:13 pm: Edit

what about the school of art? and how are the humanities in arts and sciences?

By Sakky (Sakky) on Monday, May 24, 2004 - 10:45 pm: Edit

Uh, pdragon17, I don't want to be overly combative, but I don't follow your logic. You say that Olin has a great reputation, butit just isn't well-known nationally. Well... To have a great reputation necessarily means to be well-known nationally. That's what it means to have a great reputation. You can't really have a great reputation and not be well-known nationally, both at the same time. That's like saying that although nobody has ever heard of a particular person, that person is still famous. All those things you cited like student body caliber and faculty/student ratio may affect the quality of the education, but have nothing to do with reputation per se, unless you're choosing to redefine the word 'reputation' to include undergrad quality. However, the classic definition of 'reputation' is how good everybody thinks you are. Not how good you actually are, but how good people think you are. If nobody has ever heard of you, then, by definition, you don't have a strong reputation.

By Cj3051 (Cj3051) on Tuesday, May 25, 2004 - 03:25 am: Edit

OK, let me jump in this debate.
Olin has very good reputation based on its faculty's academic researches. In this regard, it is better than Indiana University, for example. However, among the general public and the business community, it may not be regarded that highly yet. But it is definitely on a rise.

By Tobes (Tobes) on Tuesday, May 25, 2004 - 09:00 pm: Edit

ok i didnt start this thread to argue about prestige. lets just talk about the classes and professors so that us pre-frosh will know which classes to pick this fall!

By Goofy (Goofy) on Thursday, May 27, 2004 - 11:59 am: Edit

What are your criteria for a good class/ good instructor etc.? Do you want an easy grade or do you want to learn a lot etc.? I can tell you that the English dept. has some very fun classes and that you will probably learn a lot. No specifics though.

By Tobes (Tobes) on Friday, May 28, 2004 - 11:49 pm: Edit

Sure it's nice to throw in an "easy" class every now and then to give yourself a mental break but I'm really looking for classes with professors that will change my life. I want a professor that knows me by name and has long discussions with me after class. I also want fun, active classes---not snoozefests. I would certainly be willing to take a hard class if it matched this criteria, although I'd like to avoid most of the "impossible" classes if i can (like gen chem apparently...). College life is all about balance .

Thanks for the tips on the English dept btw.

By Goofy (Goofy) on Monday, May 31, 2004 - 02:20 pm: Edit

quick though, try as hard as you can to avoid ecomp....no fun, though not sure if you can avoid that. Yes, avoid gen-chem....know lots of people who say that. If your profs at WashU do not engage you in discussion etc., I would be very surprised and disappointed. And knowing your name is absolutely something you should demand from every prof. I can tell you each and every one of my students' names, know where most of them sat and what probably half or so studied. And I guess a good sign; no one has fallen asleep in one of my classes yet. These are reasonable expectations of every prof.

By Tobes (Tobes) on Monday, May 31, 2004 - 09:12 pm: Edit

oh you're a professor goofy? what do you teach? and what's ecomp?

By Cj3051 (Cj3051) on Monday, May 31, 2004 - 11:16 pm: Edit

I cannot believe he is a professor. He probably is a TA.

By Tao (Tao) on Tuesday, June 01, 2004 - 09:51 pm: Edit

Ecomp = english composition...It is a required course for freshmen.

By Kingdvl (Kingdvl) on Wednesday, June 02, 2004 - 01:01 pm: Edit

Unless you're in engineering then you can get out of it by getting a 5 on ap, 700 or higher on sat 2 writing, or passing a test at orientation.

No ecomp for me :-)

By Stanfordnualum (Stanfordnualum) on Thursday, June 03, 2004 - 07:49 pm: Edit

I hate that E-comp and I spent a lot more time on it than any other classes including gen chem. I managed to get a B+ (not bad for an international; for those who are curious about my handle: I did my freshman year at WashU). I love gen chem--the best class I had at Wash U; the prof (Buhro is his name?) made everything crystal clear and I kicked butt on the sequence.

By Melissa27 (Melissa27) on Thursday, June 03, 2004 - 10:07 pm: Edit

stanfordnualum, when did you go to wash u?

By Stanfordnualum (Stanfordnualum) on Saturday, June 05, 2004 - 06:06 am: Edit

95. If Buhro still teaches gen chem, don't miss it cos it's going to be an awesome class! When I took it, nobody bitched about the lectures though some people hate the weekly quiz. But then I didn't cram when the final came. Anyway, the material is not difficult to understand; "A" may be a bit harder to get because of the competition.

By Goofy (Goofy) on Saturday, June 05, 2004 - 07:16 am: Edit

I am a TA indeed. No, ecomp is not "required" of all freshman - as has been noted. When I said, "not sure if you can avoid it," I meant that I don't know the person asking, so I can not tell if he can test out etc. There are also many who have managed to avoid it by taking it elsewhere in the summer before WashU or other methods. I would definitely do that if I were in your shoes. Thankfully undergrad is long behind me. That said, most undergraduates find the class boring, but many need it and benefit from it immensely. My experience with Gen-chem comes from a lot of students!! and friends. In fact, my all time favorite excuse from a student for not reading for my class the night before was: "I had to study for gen-chem." Just a hint, don't use this excuse if you want to be on the instructor's good side. That's like saying xyz's class is more important than yours. My girlfriend (at the time) was a pre-med major, so I know how demanding the gen-chem class was. I would avoid it. But, I am glad to hear that there are good gen-chem classes.

By Melissa27 (Melissa27) on Saturday, June 05, 2004 - 10:38 am: Edit

goofy, I've been looking on the website, but it doesn't say how you would place into ecomp 123, which involves literature and is more than just a writing class. It says you need a 5 on the lit ap, but it also says something about a wash u placement test. when is this test given? Have you heard anything about this class, and do you think it's a better class than ecomp 100?