We then discuss the role of and reason for math as the substantive content in the math prefresher. Based on our 25-year experience and interviews with instructors from nearly 20 different graduate programs, we clarify the advantages of the prefresher in helping students transition to collective learning styles. Perhaps most important, the program eases the transition from undergraduates studying mostly on their own to graduate students who learn to work collaboratively.ĭespite its prevalence as the de facto introduction to a graduate program, the prefresher has not been widely discussed in the discipline, perhaps because faculty advisers design prefreshers primarily for their own department. As a result, versions of the math prefresher program have been adopted by political science departments across many universities and other social science disciplines. Experience with the math prefresher also highlights a valuable example of how faculty from all parts of a highly diverse discipline have worked together to design an introduction to graduate training. Perhaps most important, the program eases the transition from undergraduates studying mostly on their own to graduate students who learn to work collaboratively. It has value for pedagogy, showcasing different pathways to learning various methodologies, building camaraderie in the entering class, and forging connections with senior graduate students. The program turns out to have substantial benefits well beyond the specific technical material learned.
A faculty adviser organizes and guides the program, and senior graduate students or faculty serve as instructors.
Most programs are entirely voluntary however, almost all students choose to attend the entire program, regardless of their background or interests. Typically, no grades are assigned and individual attendance records are not kept. Although differences exist among universities, the usual pattern has students attending lectures in the morning, working on problem sets together in the afternoon, and having informal lunches with faculty who have differing perspectives across the department. Math prefresher (or “math camp”) programs in political science invite newly admitted PhD students to graduate school a week or two before their official start date to attend classes in math, statistics, computer science, and related technical material designed especially for them.
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