We’ve just recently completed pre-registration for Winter term classes, so I’ve been thinking a bit about why students do and do not sign up for things. Thus, a poll:
Feel free to replace “English” with the non-lab-science major of your choice when answering.
I think you left out an option that would amount to, “Doh! I’m a science major, of course there’s a lab.”
I think you left out an option that would amount to, “Doh! I’m a science major, of course there’s a lab.”
Basically, the Eeyore option, then? “As I expected. It Would Do That. No matter, no need for Expressions of Concern…”
I picked the “fit into schedule” option but it’s more nuanced than that. Labs are great and fun (option 1) if the lab is done well. For the most part at my liberal arts undergrad, the labs were really good. In grad school, most undergrad labs for the first two years of chemistry were just attempts to get huge numbers of students through three hour blocks with no serious injury. If there was time, they might try to teach the students something. They were boring (option 3).
In choosing lab courses, I always found out whether the lab was an enjoyable 3 hours or 3 hours of tedium before signing up. When I had an option anyway.
I learned more in labs as an undergrad than I did in lectures.
You need another choice : “Totally depends on what course it is.”
The option I’m missing (after having suffered through a 6-hour physical chemistry lab in college) is ‘how long is the time block and will there be meal breaks?’
You forgot the most telling: “Three hours? Pfft, I can knock these out in a half hour easy.” Of course, that usually occurs on the first day of class rather than during registration.
When I was in college, I used to try to get to registration early for the express purpose of making sure I got into Friday lab. I had a lab course nearly every semester, and lab courses were always all afternoon. Other afternoon courses were nearly always Tues/Thu or Mon/Wed. (Morning courses were M/W/F or T/T.) As such, if I *didn’t* get Friday lab, it nearly always conflicted with something else I wanted to take.
As a frosh, I thought Friday Lab was the worst ever. It was Southern California, and being cooped up in Lab at the beginning of the weekend (which, let’s be honest, is what Friday afternoon is) seemed like the worst ever. But I quickly realized that Friday lab was necessary if I wanted to take all those jolly humanities and social science courses that were scheduled either M/W or T/T afternoons.
I had to pick the last answer there.
My real answer would be,
Lab class? Sure, as long as it doesn’t conflict with the hours I spend working in a lab.
I did just short of 3 years worth of working in labs during college.
As a frosh, I thought Friday Lab was the worst ever. It was Southern California, and being cooped up in Lab at the beginning of the weekend (which, let’s be honest, is what Friday afternoon is) seemed like the worst ever.
What, you’re complaining about a Friday afternoon lab? As a first year grad student, I was the lab TA for a Friday evening lab. This on a campus known for (1) its party scene and (2) its habit of turning the heat way down (i.e., only enough to prevent pipes from freezing, in a place where the average daily high in January is below freezing) in academic buildings during the weekend. Oh yes, it was the winter term, too.
The concept is foreign to me. All our labs were mandatory. None of our electives had labs. And the useful ones I took went from 8:00 to 5:00 PM. With a separate elective wedged in during the lunch hour.
Uphill.
In the snow.
Both.
Ways.
In analytical chem, while the labs are neat and all,I have to do 12 labs in 3 months, with a Monday and Wednesday per week. Some of them are freaking long, and the stupid calcium carbonate solution I had to make kept messing up. So I have mixed feelings about labs.
Since it is an elective, interest is a more compelling factor than if it has a lab.
I’ve found with my undergrad experience that lab or no lab, the same amount of work ends up being required. Non-lab courses are very fond of extra terms papers, presentations, and paper summaries.
That said, I find that science electives outside my major are definitely a make-or-break. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to suffer through a first-year chemistry lab next term to finish off my degree. It will be an odd juxtaposition going from thesis work on the electron microrobe to making pink solutions in a wetlab with a bunch of teenagers. I understand it’s necessary for prospective majors, but will end up being a waste of time for me.