Good Advice For Incoming Students

This year, September 8th is the most important date on the YU academic calendar. For incoming students, Sept. 8th serves as a day of reflection, a day of atonement, and most importantly, a day of restoration. Sept. 8th, after all, is the last day to enter a class in Yeshiva College without special permission from a teacher.

Most incoming students have registered for classes by now. I would like to think that the crucial decision of choosing a course-load was an informed one, arrived at after rigorous academic inquiry. In a way, for most students it was.

When I first matriculated at Yeshiva University, over two years ago, I didn't have much guidance (I still harbor a pronounced feeling that there is very poor academic guidance in this school). I had met a few of the professors when I first arrived at YU and I immediately knew that they were of the highest intellectual caliber, but for the most part I had very little in the way of academic direction. So I simply registered for the courses that interested me.

I got lucky. I quickly found myself enjoying my courses, doing a lot of work and getting decent grades. I discovered that the University was brimming with scholars of breathtaking dimensions. To be sure, friends of mine were languishing in terrible required courses taught by diabolically insipid teachers, and many of them were also getting good grades. But somehow, I felt more secure than my friends in the courses I was taking.

After my first semester at Yeshiva University, like most of this year's incoming class, I found myself researching what further classes to take. Naturally, I approached older students for advice. The question that I asked those older students--one that I'm sure is familiar to most--was as ambiguous as it was revealing. I simply asked what classes were "good". Furthermore, I asked which professors were "good". As you can well imagine, the question elicited a variety of responses.

Some answered: "yea, take Dr.-------, he's great. He's given the same test since 300 BCE". Other students urged me to "take Dr.-------, he's boring as death, but you never--and I mean never-- have to show up to class." Some students, however, were kind enough to direct me to the professors who educated with great skill and passion, the teachers who were informative creative and edifying. Nevertheless, most students assumed I was searching for the quick fix, the easy A, and the blow-off par excellence.

I can't tell you I was astounded. In fact, I actually valued the advice. Now I knew which classes were inane and which professors were uninspiring boobs. Now I knew where to locate the dumbed-out denizens of this University and the insidious garbage that is taught in this promising, but seemingly decaying institution. In short, now I knew which courses not to take.

This information, more than anything else, has guided me in this university. Knowing who were the "good" professors, and who were the good professors, has allowed me to shape my schedule to fit my academic needs. So take this advice: find out who the best professors are, and if you can fit them into your requirement-ridden schedule, take their courses. Your knowledge gained will be immeasurable and your college experience will be significantly enhanced.

This advice, of coarse, will sound naive and irresponsible to some upper classman.

It seems that too many students in this school lose their original academic enthusiasm. After a few semesters, many students become hopelessly jaded and forget the value of college education. As a result, they dish out "good" advice. While it is tempting to follow such advice, it's ultimately ruinous.

Look around our various Jewish communities. Many students don't realize this, but once out of school, most people have precious little time for anything besides work. As a result, they are intellectually frozen in their college education; and that usually begins to atrophy after time anyway.

I was initiated into this tiresome lifestyle this summer. Every night, after my nine-to-five job, I was beleaguered and completely drained. In this condition I could only muster up the strength to eat, watch TV and hang out in the city. In fact, I discovered that Washington DC after work is a vast expanse of people trying mindlessly to relax and salvage some enjoyment in their labor-filled day. Well, I was one of those people; and although my experience this summer was anything but academic, it certainly made me appreciate the hallowed walls of this Yeshiva and this University.

In other words, this is it. You presently find ourselves in a profoundly unique institution. It could very well be your last scholastic incubation before you enter the mundane and regimental work-force. Don't take it for granted. This is a time of unbounded academic inquiry and limitless intellectual growth. You must therefore approach your education with a sense of dire urgency. You won't regret it.

Thus, some more advice is in order: Don't waste time taking those childish high-school-level Jewish History courses where all you have to do is memorize last year's notes for last year's test. Yea, that Stern girl has great handwriting, but it's not yours. After all, what's at stake is your appreciation and understanding of the very heritage you embody and seek to maintain. Why would you treat that lightly? There are great JH courses, taught by world-class professors that are challenging, innovative--even iconoclastic. The value of a good JH course is both boundless and enduring.

Ultimately you want to able to write. You want to express yourself clearly and effectively, not like blundering philistine. Writing is a skill that will help you in countless ways. Take a quality English Comp. course. It will hold you in great stead.

Literature courses seem to me to be difficult to harness. Some of them, before you can say "Shakespeare," become intellectually flighty and quickly morph into reckless displays of pseudo-philosophical banter. There is nothing worse that a course with unrestrained discussion and groundless discourse. Not to worry, though. There are great Literature professors in this University that offer engaging and worthy courses. Take advantage of them.

If you enjoy poli-sci, take the best poli-sci professors. If you are interested in finance, take the best finance professors. It is not difficult to find out who they are. Simply ask your upper classman who they think is "good". And when you find out who the most qualified professors are register for their courses. If you realize that you've registered for a slew of ill-advised courses, you can drop them. But you have until Sept. 8th.