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Topic: How to deal with a theoretical-oriented teaching...  (Read 4567 times)

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Offline MrTeo

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How to deal with a theoretical-oriented teaching...
« on: December 27, 2010, 05:50:13 AM »
Hello everybody!

A couple of months ago I started studying chemistry in Pisa (Italy), but I've soon discovered that the scientific approach to the subject, in SNS (a higher learning institution which granted me a scholarship) and also in University, tough not so strikingly, is tailored to train computational and theoretical chemists (during the first three years we follow, in addition to the courses in university, advanced physics and maths classes, sometimes the same of the physicist, while the chemistry courses have only a few hours each year and their main purpose is to show us an overview of some cutting edge research topics in the computational area, rather than teach us something). Moreover the quality of the University is quite poor, except for some courses. Now, I had heard before enrolling in that school, that except for physical chemistry, they didn't offer much to those who wanted to pursue different study tracks, but it seems to me that even for the ones who would like to prepare for a career as an experimental chemist (also in the physical/biophysical area) SNS and the University don't offer much.

That's why I'm asking for some advice... Considering that such scholarship is quite important to me and that I wouldn't like to become a theoretical/computational chemistry, should I train myself studying on good organic/inorganic/physical chemistry books in addition to what I study at the University to cover the weaknesses in my chemistry education (weaknesses caused not only by the poor teaching in Uni, but also by the time we need to spend studying to get good grades, needed to maintain the scholarship, and naturally most of this time is spent working on the maths and physics courses of the SNS, which are much more difficult than the other ones)? Should I also think about finishing my studies in the USA (maybe starting with the Masters Degree)? Or maybe I should not worry about all that, as, being an undergraduate, I only need good basis, higher studies will give me a real grasp of the subject (as someone told me)?

Feel free to leave any sort of comment/advice... and thanks in advance to all the ones who will answer (or at least read my enormous post, sorry about that  ;D)
The way of the superior man may be compared to what takes place in traveling, when to go to a distance we must first traverse the space that is near, and in ascending a height, when we must begin from the lower ground. (Confucius)

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