To Drop or Not to Drop
 

Yeah. So I'm a freshman at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

So to make this real brief nothingness: Should I drop my Western History before 1710 class?
Reasons why I should.
a) My Ukrainian TA is freakin' obsessed with history and scares me. Plus she makes up words like "diffusension"--Hellenistic culture blending but not taking over the Near East.
b) She makes the discussion session freakin' 4x the amount of work it should be. If you do not answer in a full intellectual sentence your participation is lowered. You have to formulate thesis papers from random facts she has included. You can't restate the book at all--you have to interpret it :smack:
c) She called me childish for not carefully reading her email carefully since I had not read a specific section in an extraneous book she assigned. :redface:
d) I'd still be more than a full time student (14 credit hours with the drop, 17 with the class--12 credit hours to be full time student).
e) No early classes! At all! (11 AM would be my earliest)
f) She grades like a monster and I would avoid getting a B- (which is my guess of the grade I would receive in the class), thus lowering my GPA.

Reasons why I shouldn't.
a) I should suck it up, some classes are a bitch.
b) I won't be a "real" sophomore if I drop down to 14 credit hours (14 this semester + 14 last semester = 28 which does not equal 30, the requirement to be an Illinois sophomore).
c) I wasted a shitload money on buying a textbook and multiple paperback readings that I'm just going to have to sell back.

Help me!

Suck it up until the add/drop deadline, then re-examine the class so far and decide whether to drop or not.
TA's can be such a pain, part of the reason I transferred from Ohio University to a small private school after my frosh year (small classes, most of my major specific are <15:1). This is my 2nd semester of Junior year and I have yet to regret the decision.

The only real consideration is how not being a true sophomore will affect your housing options.

You will have to get used to foreign professors butchering English. I had a physics class with a Bengali guy who couldn't speak a word of English. If you were just having problems with the language barrier I would say suck it up.

You could always take a summer course to make up the credits. It's great fun cramming 15 weeks of work into 4 or 6 weeks.

Just as a by the by: some of the best teachers I've ever had have been graduate student TAs. Undergraduate TAs mostly suck balls.

I can see that being generally true. Undergrad TA's probably get annoyed dealing with undergrad students.

Also is this a major specific class or is it a gen. ed/elective. Some schools have a surprising amount of classes available to take online. Convenient if you just need the elective credit and don't care much about the subject matter.

Well, its a gen ed. And the only history I like, is like ancient history. And classical history (Greek, Rome) classes were full, so this was the only one I could sign up for.

as long as it doesn't jeopardize your funding, housing, or other stuff, I think the arguments for dropping win. 17 is a buttload of credit hours for one term, and 14 is still a lot.

Yeah then I'd say drop it, put it off till next semester and try to get a class you want to take, esp. since its just a gen ed. Ask around towards the end of this semester and see what profs are good, aim for those classes.
17 hours can be a bit much depending on the classes you're taking, I aim for 15-16. But again it depends on the classes and any labs. What's your major?

University of Illinois, you say...

Maybe you know piercehawkeye45's friend Henry Blake?
Narrow shoulders, wide hips, shaped like a pear, hates flying?

I'm going to apply to switch into the Sports Management Major in the Department of Recreation Sports and Tourism in the School of Applied Life Sciences. That is always a mouthful to explain. I'm undecided right now.
No, it's hard to know everyone in a 38K student population!!!!!

You didn't mention receiving any federal aid, but if you are keep in mind dropping classes can affect your Satisfactory Academic Progress, which is mandated by the federal government. The premise is to keep "professional students" from abusing federal (ie our) monies. Each school designs its own SAP system, but "w" courses are always considered; in fact FA GPA can differ from academic GPA for that reason.

Just info for anyone interested.

Look at Shawneee, sharing her professional expertise on the subject! Your school is lucky to have you, Shawnee.

You're sweet. Aw shucks. :blush:

Yes, drop acid before speaking to the TA. Oops, misinterpreted the title. Are you too far in to add a course?

Umm.....satisfy my curiosity: What is a TA ? and what is a 'sophomore'?