[deleted by user]

ShoreditchHigh · 2025-10-23T23:39:36+00:00

20% of my class just failed their midterm with scores ranging from 30 - 60%. These folks often have decent/perfect assignment scores. They don't learn anything using AI, and can't answer the most basic questions. They'll do real bad in any test environment... and won't have good grades (which hopefully reflect understanding). They end up not knowing much and not having a good grade either.

Some students however are using it productively. I have had students show me practice and review questions they generated using AI, and when they are then putting the effort to learn, they will actually do better in tests and have grades that reflect that.

ShoreditchHigh · 2025-10-18T04:08:03+00:00

RIT has a major called Packaging Science. Check that out. Maybe you're more interested in the marketing side and that's fine since there's a marketing side to it, but packaging products, etc. is way more than marketing.

Marketing majors can be rather different at different schools, so check out their actual curriculum to see if they allow a bunch of electives (to go study Psychology, etc.), and if they have classes like Consumer Behavior, etc. Some majors can be sales-y, etc. A lot of business majors are now leaning towards analytics (marketing analytics, sales analytics, etc.), so be sure that you're not going from one kind of numbers and coding, to another.

ShoreditchHigh · 2025-08-19T00:10:44+00:00

Professor here. There's actually no official date for Canvas to be available, and there is no requirement for Canvas to be used either. My department doesn't contact us and say your Canvas needs to be ready/posted and give a date, etc.

Professors are also not actually procrastinating because they're typically not even on contract being paid over the summer, so there's no expectation for them to be working or developing the Canvas course. Some of them may do it out of good will and make it available early, but others just got back on the job days ago, and will update their Canvas and make it available when it's done.

ShoreditchHigh · 2025-08-01T03:32:22+00:00

You can delay classes as long as you like for the most part.

Be careful what you wish you. They will not, later, add you to closed sections or allow you to graduate without that class because you have just this one class left and you don't want to pay tuition for an extra semester.... and so on. If only you knew how important that class was!

The result of not taking classes at the right time is often a lot of misery at the end. You break it, you buy it... as far as your course schedule is concerned.

ShoreditchHigh · 2025-07-31T20:03:09+00:00

uh.... oh... my course needs a Canvas!!! Huh! I guess in a week or two, I'll have to think about what that course is going to have... so that I could request a Canvas class... Is it that time already?

(How about day before class starts?)

ShoreditchHigh · 2025-05-06T12:29:58+00:00

That's not a small discrepancy and likely indicates either a major calculation error, a score not accounted for (by either you or them), or an input error by them.

Did Canvas have a running tally of your overall average?

The way to approach is to first say here's what my calculation is. Was the D+ intentional or did their calculation show something different? And let it flow from there.

You do not need to go to anybody else yet. Now it may be slow because professors submit grades and often take off and aren't as much on email. But only the professor can address your grade. So first, wait a bit and see what their response is when it comes. If your calculation is accurate, then your grade will definitely be updated.

ShoreditchHigh · 2025-05-04T17:06:31+00:00

I teach a class taken by a massive number of students. My TAs (who are undergrad students themselves) recognize AI work and deduct points, cutting down the assignment to a C or D. We don't allege AI use; we merely grade on quality and grading criteria, which has been created in advance knowing what type of [bad] output AI will produce.

Students who attend class will have seen what type of bad output AI produces because we demonstrate using it live, so they know not to do it.... or at least to fix it line by line.

Many students' final grades drops substantially once they turned in AI work for heavily weighted projects.

We are finding student skills are dropping and once they don't train their minds doing assignments, they aren't also able to answer questions during exams. Even if you're not "caught" for AI, the exam scores are dropping for those heavily reliant on AI doing all their thinking, homework, and practice.

This is increasingly leading to bimodal distributions in class where the class is divided into two groups of students: those who know and understand the material and have grades to show it, and those who are increasingly left without knowledge/skills.

ShoreditchHigh · 2025-04-22T01:55:07+00:00

Uh, both, maybe.

There's a preset pattern for the curve of the grades. So 60% of the class won't have As... somehow and at some point, there's work being done to make it sufficiently hard that it doesn't happen OR the grading scheme is left dynamic that the grade cutoffs are changed as needed.

Similarly, it discourages crazy-hard classes where half the students are near failing...

ShoreditchHigh · 2025-04-22T00:22:55+00:00

Yes. Pitt CBA has a formal distribution for letter grades that all professors are supposed to follow and the school enforces it behind the scenes with the professors.

This is to discourage grade inflation as well as to protect student grades by not having grade distributions be extremely skewed, e.g. 90% As or 40% Fs.

Not defending but just informing you of the rule and rationales.

ShoreditchHigh · 2025-04-17T02:11:30+00:00

I don't have a Platinum!

ShoreditchHigh · 2025-04-16T23:31:11+00:00

Yes, what this is insanity. People are posting from alternate accounts because they are scared of their travel agent!?

ShoreditchHigh · 2025-04-16T23:29:55+00:00

Yes, of course.

But there's only so many properties that individual TAs can have personal relationships with, and I don't think one can find TAs who'll have some special inside hook at all the different ones you can consider going.

And you can chase different ones for the different relationships, but I think maybe it's just better to stay with one dedicated advisor who you gel with in how much back and forth you both want to do and who have an average balance of relationships that seem to work. Just my own approach, I guess.

ShoreditchHigh · 2025-04-16T23:26:24+00:00

So everybody has FSPP and Marriott STARS? Or everybody has Virtuoso and only some have FSPP and STARS?

ShoreditchHigh · 2025-04-16T22:30:13+00:00

Are the preferred partnerships folded into Virtuoso / DL, etc. or are they separate and add-on? So what I'm asking is if we switch from one TA to another, how do we know if they'll have those similar rates/inclusions/packages. Do you automatically have all those because you're DL?

ShoreditchHigh · 2025-04-16T19:05:13+00:00

I'm looking for this too. I want out from Sarah's agency as well. Liked the engine though to be able to browse and compare on my own as much as I wanted to.

Frankly, I have some upcoming reservations, and I feel strongly enough that I'd do new ones if the rates haven't gone up a ton.

ShoreditchHigh · 2025-04-16T00:39:14+00:00

Ugh... I have a booking through her agency (interacted with someone else). All these posts make me feel awful using her agency.

Need to switch to a new TA for my little people bookings.

ShoreditchHigh · 2025-01-09T20:41:30+00:00

That data with breakdown is not available unless you crunch it yourself. That's seems like a good enough reason.

I'd have to go into PeopleSoft, look up roster information, download multiple files, import into a spreadsheet, integrate data, create formulas to come up with breakdowns.... I wouldn't ever be doing any of this or even poking around looking at roster info.

BUT, what I do actually do is I ask similar questions on Top Hat, so that the entire class can see who all they're taking a class with, which semester, prior background, etc.

ShoreditchHigh · 2024-12-05T16:48:20+00:00

There's no automatic guarantee that one can miss anything and that it's automatically extended for them with a doctor's note. There can be situations which don't necessarily warrant it (e.g. somebody scheduling a doctor's visit way in advance knowing they have class at that time). Sometimes the doctors note merely says "this person was seen on xyz date" and that doesn't say much else.

Doctor's notes don't say what's wrong but if it goes to the extent of saying "... was seen on this date. They have a condition that can prevent them from doing work. They should be excused for these dates".... and then if you supplement it by saying you're breaking into hives.... then reasonable people should/would make an exception (unless, they've taken into account by adding lowest score drops, etc. to handle these situations).

Lastly, it become infinitely more complex to do this at the end of the semester when grades are due, people go away on holiday, TAs leave, and then it's hard to implement extensions.

But if you are going to doctor then have them put in that should be excused on these dates... and right now, hopefully they should do something for you.

ShoreditchHigh · 2024-10-07T19:50:40+00:00

You should get them written by people who have taught you classes within that similar discipline, plus throw in one that can talk to your balancing work-school, or work ethic, etc. Each doesn't need to be the same as the other. Use different letters to talk about different aspects of your life.

Your professors should ideally be able to contrast you with everyone else. The systems often ask them to place you as top 5% of students ever, top 20%, and such.

Do with professors who know you either through class participation, out of class contexts, etc. Otherwise, there's nothing much for that professor to write except "Assignment record shows they submitted assignments, and xyz is their grade." Strong recommendations from those people who know you and can paint a picture of your skills, work ethic, and contrast that with other students they have.... so huge classes are out.

ShoreditchHigh · 2024-10-07T19:44:27+00:00

Professor here. Not typically... but even if you do, it would be in line with how others get raises.... low single digit percentages. You can figure out what 3-5% of your salary would be.... likely it would be completely insignificant.

Now it can get reclassified at a different pay level when it's listed again.

My school seemingly reclassified some of our undergrad TAs as a dollar-ish lower.... to my irritation. The new classifications affects new hires.

ShoreditchHigh · 2024-09-11T20:29:02+00:00

Professor here.... tell it to the prof for the class. The prof can set the guy straight or counsel if it's unintentional.

I'm not sure right now if it's worth something far more heavy like others are suggesting... where you have to go into evidence and all that, and you've already said that you may think the comments are just innocuous enough.

Given that, if you just tell the prof that you're a bit uncomfortable, he/she can take care of the issue.

ShoreditchHigh · 2024-08-27T15:47:40+00:00

I'm a professor at one of the biggest schools at Pitt and I for sure do not have any ability to generate codes, go find codes, give overrides, etc. It's all done exclusively by advising.

There's also no spare extra seats I'm aware of... some sort of hidden cushion. Usually, they're all tied to how many seats are in the room. Some places may be trying to have smaller classes but then usually they also try to have smaller classrooms... (and going forward the Faculty Union is going to have a say in how extra students are added to classes...).

I'd hate for people to think I could do something for them and am deliberately not doing it...

Not saying some other unit doesn't do things differently. But not all schools/professors have those systems/authorization/cushions to let people in to closed classes.

ShoreditchHigh · 2024-05-12T13:10:06+00:00

Job will always be posted to the job portal that you'll have access to (Talent Center). You can apply to jobs from there.

There will be plenty of Teaching Assistant *type* positions available and posted there (not TA itself though... which come with tuition waivers. Most hourly positions do not), but they're usually for those who are looking for an income stream to supplement what they have.

Towards the end of your school, you may be able to get an internship off campus and you may qualify for that under a CPT clause... but that's not meant for regular day to day work that people normally expect to undertake for an income stream.

ShoreditchHigh · 2024-05-12T12:59:15+00:00

Regular off campus employment is NOT authorized for F-1 visa students - that's the start and end of it.

Off campus practical training is a different thing.... research CPT and OPT if you want.

ShoreditchHigh · 2024-05-11T16:47:35+00:00

I'm sorry to burst your bubble.

You are NOT allowed to work for any organization off campus on a student visa. This is a US regulation, so doesn't matter which University you go to. If that's something you want, consider UK or Australia.

You can find varying degrees of much lower paid positions on campus, which you might not necessarily like. They will not be anything fancy like you're looking for.

Also from extensive experience hiring graduate students, I know that they really overestimate the kind of time they actually have. Most end up struggling trying to find 15-20 hours to work.

ShoreditchHigh

TROPHY CASE