Comments on: Half-MSI http://joechip.net/brian/2006/08/27/half-msi/ in Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:24:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Alex Schröder http://joechip.net/brian/2006/08/27/half-msi/#comment-3581 Alex Schröder Tue, 05 Sep 2006 20:45:14 +0000 http://joechip.net/brian/2006/08/27/half-msi/#comment-3581 <p>I agree with previous posters: Most of what I learnt and the reason I suggest people should go to university is because they get to spend time on stuff besides work. Everything interesting is extra-curricular and doesn't get you grades. But it's the only thing that makes you a better human being. :)</p> I agree with previous posters: Most of what I learnt and the reason I suggest people should go to university is because they get to spend time on stuff besides work. Everything interesting is extra-curricular and doesn’t get you grades. But it’s the only thing that makes you a better human being. :)

]]> By: Andrea http://joechip.net/brian/2006/08/27/half-msi/#comment-3285 Andrea Mon, 28 Aug 2006 22:49:21 +0000 http://joechip.net/brian/2006/08/27/half-msi/#comment-3285 <p>Aw, sorry to hear it's a bust for you so far... At least now we get to pick <em>all</em> of our classes!</p> <p>But now that I think on it, most of what I've learned has been a result of my own initiative. Maybe originating from classes in places (such as a pair of articles in press for Boxes & Arrows, and the conference paper I'm presenting in October) but generally, it's been a lot of extra work on my part outside of coursework to make most of these things happen.</p> <p>I use classes as an excuse to work on projects that interest me, too...</p> Aw, sorry to hear it’s a bust for you so far… At least now we get to pick all of our classes!

But now that I think on it, most of what I’ve learned has been a result of my own initiative. Maybe originating from classes in places (such as a pair of articles in press for Boxes & Arrows, and the conference paper I’m presenting in October) but generally, it’s been a lot of extra work on my part outside of coursework to make most of these things happen.

I use classes as an excuse to work on projects that interest me, too…

]]> By: Murph http://joechip.net/brian/2006/08/27/half-msi/#comment-3269 Murph Mon, 28 Aug 2006 11:48:45 +0000 http://joechip.net/brian/2006/08/27/half-msi/#comment-3269 <p><i>But the real surprise for me is how little of the above came out of the curriculum, rather than whatever else I happened to be doing at the time.</i></p> <p>Honestly, that's always been my advice for new urban planning students. "Yeah, sure, some of the classes are pretty good, but, really, grad school is a time for sliding by in your classes, doing as little as you have to there so that you can spend more time doing really interesting stuff." Just because the degree is based on your in-class projects doesn't mean that's where the learning comes from.</p> <p>(I think I developed this attitude from spending too much of my undergrad and between-school years around PhD students, for whom class is just hurdles they have to jump through to work on what they want to. If that way for them, why not for me?)</p> But the real surprise for me is how little of the above came out of the curriculum, rather than whatever else I happened to be doing at the time.

Honestly, that’s always been my advice for new urban planning students. “Yeah, sure, some of the classes are pretty good, but, really, grad school is a time for sliding by in your classes, doing as little as you have to there so that you can spend more time doing really interesting stuff.” Just because the degree is based on your in-class projects doesn’t mean that’s where the learning comes from.

(I think I developed this attitude from spending too much of my undergrad and between-school years around PhD students, for whom class is just hurdles they have to jump through to work on what they want to. If that way for them, why not for me?)

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