sometimes, i am a nerd!

Congrats on being accepted to UVA!!!check back regularly for posts on our next topic, Our fav classes and Professors:
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Classes are a huge part of college life (you are a student afterall :P). So if you ask me what classes/professors I liked the most in the brief one year I’ve been here…

1/ USEM- First- year ONLY, everyone should go take a USEM!! They’re a small class (around 10-20 people) where you get close interactions with your Professor and other students in the class. The topics are generally specific and interesting, and the professor is usually pretty flexible in adjusting to where the students want the class to go. My Professor, John Nemec was really funny and nice, and he always asked us whether we liked the books we were reading and adjusted the assignment deadlines to our schedules. The class was just mostly chatting, him telling us about his adventures in India and interesting people he met etc…highly recommend his classes!

2/ Poetry/ fiction writing- Love creative writing but feel like you haven’t written anything creative in a long time? (because writing is now all about essays and papers…) Take one of these classes. I am taking a poetry writing class, and not only is the writing process fun and relaxing, it’s amazing to see how well your peers can write!(Fiction writing is equally great too as I heard from friends who were in it- also, these classes are an easy A as long as you participate!)

3/ TA- Maybe you have heard that TAs are just sucky teachers that don’t really matter in a course. But I can prove you wrong. I’ve been in a class with Jon Shoup, TA for politics, for two semesters because he is such a great teacher! He’s really encouraging and nice, speaks eloquently and explains concepts very clearly. I wouldn’t have learnt so much without him! So if you ever get to be in a class where he TAs for (I think he’s going an African-American studies class next semester), remember to go to his office hours because you really can learn a lot and have great conversations with him: )

Speaking of office hours, go to a Professor’s office hours! That’s why they have it for- so students can go talk to them! Don’t feel intimidated to go the first time and just introduce yourself, prepare some questions about the course or something that’s related to his/her field of research…once you start establishing a relationship with him/her, you’ll understand how valuable that can be.

ella 26/3/09