Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Gittin it on!

R' Dovi Fischer, shiur assistant of the largest shiur in MYP, has pointed out that our student body is once again suffering due to irresposibility on the part of our admninistrators: we still don't know which masechet (tractate) we'll be learning next year. Admittedly, I haven't personally been privy to the politics and machinations behind this indecision, but enough is enough. The time has come to put it to a vote of the Rashei Yeshiva and follow a simple plurality.

Why is this such a big deal? Depending on what the final choice is, students may have purchased seforim for the wrong masechet at the SOY Seforim Sale, which I am told was marketing Bava Batra as next year's selection. But the consequences of this are much farther-reaching than having a few extra Rashbas and Ritvas: many students (myself included) would have liked to choose which shiur they would register for based on which masechet the yeshiva will be learning. Not only does this have ramifications for which sections of Bible one registers for (or gets locked out of), it's also a question of overall workload and credit limits.

We want masechta, masechta now!

Monday, April 7, 2008

I'm Taking Revel Courses (and So Can You!)

Just in time for registration:

Sure, Revel offers interesting classes with excellent professors. Heck, apart from the cool content, these three-credit courses meet only once a week, for an hour and forty minutes. and are chock full of intelligent and well-dressed grad students. So, tired of gazing through that door-window thing, wondering how a lowly undergrad like you could revel in the glory that is Revel?

Look no further than yu.edu/Revel/student_options.asp, which offers two roads into Revel.

1. Bachelor's/Master's (BA/MA) students -- Undergraduate students may register for the joint BA/MA program (see pages 14-15).

This option is fairly well advertised and is limited to final year seniors. But get a load of plan number two:
2. Undergraduate students taking graduate courses for undergraduate credit -- With the permission of the college dean and the dean of Revel Graduate School, undergraduate students may take graduate courses for undergraduate credit only.
I am currently doing just that . . . and loving it! If you are an interested, committed, somewhat intelligent student (i.e. most undergrads even interested in Revel courses), then email those sentiments to your respective Deans.

Act now and get a free "Yekhi Dr. Berger" hand towel!