hangtogether
New member
Posts: 30
|
 |
« on: October 17, 2009, 11:08:50 PM » |
|
Does anyone have any impressions/knowledge about this place? They've got a posting that looks really solid for me, and I'm interested, but I don't know much about the school itself nor Mount Vernon, IA.
Any thoughts, no matter how small, will be appreciated!
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
glowdart
|
|
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2009, 11:50:07 PM » |
|
There was a thread last year or the year before on Cedar Rapids that might give you some good info about that part of Iowa, keeping in mind that Mt. Vernon is a small farm town and thus will have smells other than the cereal plants wafting your way.
Good public schools in Iowa. My friends from Iowa love it and want to go back. Close to Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, which is much better than being close to Des Moines. I know nothing whatsoever about the college, except a passing (and useless) familiarity with it, sorry.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
scampster
|
|
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2009, 11:54:52 PM » |
|
I think the most striking thing about the school (which you probably know already) is that they do the "one class at a time for three weeks" model. I have never met anyone who has been educated or taught in this system, but I imagine it is a challenging transition...
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
When you are a scientist your opinions and prejudices become facts. Science is like magic that way!
|
|
|
|
mountainguy
|
|
« Reply #3 on: October 18, 2009, 11:01:50 AM » |
|
A friend of mine went to undergrad there and really liked the school. It's fairly rural, but close enough to Cedar Rapids and Iowa City that you wouldn't be completely isolated. I'm told the "one course at a time plan" tends to work better in the humanities and social sciences than it does in mathematics or the hard sciences.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
august_leo
|
|
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2009, 11:28:33 AM » |
|
I have a friend who was an instructor there for a while. She liked it (humanities subject), and the 3-week model. She commuted from Iowa City (can't remember who long the drive was). Iowa City is a nice town.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Your environment sounds vaguely toxic. Or maybe just characteristically British.
I heart august_leo.
|
|
|
profxfiles
I Am Not, Nor Have I Ever Been A Card-Carrying
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 1,287
I am the grading Jedi
|
|
« Reply #5 on: October 18, 2009, 01:06:33 PM » |
|
My best friend in grad school adjuncted for them on occasion when we were at U of I. He really liked it a lot--the drive was about 20 minutes from Iowa City, if I remember correctly.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
"Personally, I liked the university. They gave us money and facilities, we didn't have to produce anything... You've never been out of the university. You don't know what it's like out there! I've worked in the private sector...they expect results."
--Dan Aykroyd in Ghostbusters
|
|
|
anthroid
Proud yod dropper
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 15,781
No happy socks because nobody gets Manitoba.
|
|
« Reply #6 on: October 18, 2009, 09:48:59 PM » |
|
It has a solid reputation and is part of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, most of which are very, very nice SLACs. I'd go for it. Certainly I would teach there in a heartbeat!
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Do you hail from Planet Hello Kitty? It's like an action movie, but boring.
|
|
|
aandsdean
I feel affirmed that I'm truly a 6,000+ post
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 6,407
Positively impactful on stakeholder synergies
|
|
« Reply #7 on: October 18, 2009, 10:45:03 PM » |
|
It's a pretty good place. Mt. Vernon was just on Money's or somebody like that's list of the 10 coolest small towns in America.
They have a terrible football team.
OCAAT is a pretty interesting system.
Iowa is nice.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Wearing a black armband for Lucy
|
|
|
|
barred_owl
|
|
« Reply #8 on: October 18, 2009, 10:50:59 PM » |
|
It's a pretty good place. Mt. Vernon was just on Money's or somebody like that's list of the 10 coolest small towns in America.
They have a terrible football team.
OCAAT is a pretty interesting system.
Iowa is nice.
Which reminds me of the dialogue at the end of Field of Dreams: "Is this heaven?" "It's Iowa." |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
...I can't help rooting for the underdog underbird. |
|
|
|
punchnpie
|
|
« Reply #9 on: October 19, 2009, 12:46:48 AM » |
|
"Is this heaven?" "It's Iowa." Amen! I had that on my screensaver for months after I got my offer. We get a number of Cornell applicants every year for my grad program. They all seem to be nice, intelligent kids who don't plagiarize. Actually, I haven't been disappointed by grads from any of our good Iowa LACs. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
What about all them other professors – ain’t they your kin? Good God, no. I loathe them and they loathe me. – Sunset Limited
|
|
|
anthroid
Proud yod dropper
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 15,781
No happy socks because nobody gets Manitoba.
|
|
« Reply #10 on: October 19, 2009, 08:15:00 AM » |
|
"Is this heaven?" "It's Iowa." Amen! I had that on my screensaver for months after I got my offer. We get a number of Cornell applicants every year for my grad program. They all seem to be nice, intelligent kids who don't plagiarize. Actually, I haven't been disappointed by grads from any of our good Iowa LACs. And Iowa has quite a few! |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Do you hail from Planet Hello Kitty? It's like an action movie, but boring.
|
|
|
|
airball
|
|
« Reply #11 on: October 19, 2009, 08:43:44 AM » |
|
There are two jobs I really wish I'd gotten. This one and Grinnell.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
History would kick your ass around the Bodleian Library, and then it would smile and laugh.
-scheherazade
|
|
|
|
sibyl
|
|
« Reply #12 on: October 19, 2009, 04:03:30 PM » |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
"I do not pretend to set people right, but I do see that they are often wrong." -- Jane Austen, Mansfield Park
|
|
|
aandsdean
I feel affirmed that I'm truly a 6,000+ post
Distinguished Senior Member
Posts: 6,407
Positively impactful on stakeholder synergies
|
|
« Reply #13 on: October 19, 2009, 07:03:46 PM » |
|
I'm frightened by the fact that I have comments in three of these four threads. I wonder why? (Deliberately ambiguous antecedent there.) |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Wearing a black armband for Lucy
|
|
|
hangtogether
New member
Posts: 30
|
|
« Reply #14 on: October 20, 2009, 10:13:15 AM » |
|
Thanks so much for all the insights, everyone. It does seem like a really nice place, and I didn't realize how close it was to Iowa City. I have to say that I'm interested in the one-course-at-a-time thing. I imagine my biggest issue with that would be maintaining productivity during the months when I didn't actually have a course because I tend to overly-depend upon external structure. But I did have a summer course that was essentially a block like this and I really loved it, and I think the students probably got more from it than they would have on a more traditional schedule.
One of the threads that Sibyl was kind enough to link for me said that the teaching works out to about 2 hours a day--that doesn't seem quite right to me, it seems too short somehow. Does anyone have any experience teaching on a schedule like that?
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
