Information as a Commodity

In my initial post I pledged to keep my blog focused on the Rotman Experience outside of the classroom. I am going to stretch that a little, and propose that tutorials are not included in the class time requirements, are optional for attendance and are run by other students (scholars) and are therefore fair game.

It is now week 3 of our program, which actually means that we are half way through our first term! If you can believe it, we have had 3 of the 5 quizzes that we are responsible for this quarter, and have another one next week. We are knee deep in project planning for stats, and completely confused in terms of paper/presentation expectations everywhere else.

In undergrad, part of earning good grades was recognizing when you needed extra help and attending the available tutorials to gain a deeper understanding of the material. In grad school, everyone got B+ or higher in undergrad, many earning A's and A+ marks, especially in fourth year. So when the work load starts piling up, we look for additional sources of information.

We take five classes a week, and can attend up to five tutorials a week. Students tend to attend a tutorial to find out what is being covered, then depart at varying intervals until the end of the session. In a program where 275 people are trying to accomplish the same thing, with very similar information sources, information becomes a bit of a commodity. If you want to make friends share your notes!

I have attended at least one tutorial for each class and my insights are as follows; you can measure peoples level of comfort/interest in any given class by the rate at which they leave the room. Several sessions start with over 60 people, and end with less than 20 as people get antsy, hungry, bored and otherwise distracted. The MOST frustrating thing is if you are trying to get help, and people are they goofing off and making noise. I admit I am sometimes that person (so I try to get up and leave) to avoid being disruptive.

Word to the wise, attend tutorials early and often so you can determine their level of helpfulness, meet your scholars and make an informed decision later. The last thing you want is to show up day before an exam and go "wow this was helpful, I should have been coming here all along!"