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Course presentations for freshmen who haven't decided their major are in full swing. As one of these freshmen, I attended several such presentations. Unfortunately, they merely confused my major decision even further.
I'm not the only one who got confused. Lots of other freshmen are experiencing the same thing.
A short time ago, I was explaining the presentation to a friend who had not attended the presentations yet. In the middle of my long explanation, he asked simply, "So what do they teach?" I was stunned. He was quite right, of course. The message was simply missing.
Presenters get attention from students by showing vision and saying, "My course leads to change," but rarely follow up with practical talk about what kinds of things students will learn, how many credit students have to get and other essential matters. It happens nearly always that the presenter talks about "The Vision and Infinite Possibility of This Course", and then doesn't get around to mentioning any details about what the student will have to deal with for 3 years.
Only one presentation I attended explained the main studies simply.
People advertise their courses as being relevant to society in order to appeal to student dreams. But this isn't enough. More detailed and practical presentation is needed because, it is needless to say, science and engineering content are important too.
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