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how many oral presentations did/do you have to do for your degree?

S

skim milk

Diamond Member
Science majors really have almost zero oral presentations... not sure about the upper level science courses.. but I'm sure there's a way to graduate with a science degree without presenting anything in front of the classroom
Now that I switched toward a different degree, I'm looking at my senior level courses and almost all involve teamwork and presentations. I dislike them a lot and have been avoiding them ever since I graduated from high school in 2002, but I guess I gotta do what i gotta do... :frown:

 
One huge senior project/presentation, and little project/presentations in almost every CS class at my university.
 
Originally posted by: fritolays
Science majors really have almost zero oral presentations...
Click to expand...

WTF are you talking about, i have a BS in physics, starting my soph year i had a Major presentation each semester, where i had to speak in front of most of the department and whoever else wanted to come

my senior pres was given in an auditorium with like 200+ peopel in it

also had many 5-10 min presentations in other classes as well

i hate presentations, wich i went to your school
 
as a mechanical engineering student I had 2 big presentations, one to Black & Decker execs for a class where we had to redesign a cordless screwdriver. the other was pretty cool, it was for a manufacturing lab where we had a team of about 20 people design and manufacture a product. we did a cork puller/bottle opener thing. the presentation was awesome, the faculty invited lots of industry peeps and several of us got job offers just on the basis of the presentation. we had robotic assembly, metal stamping, injection molding, CNC machining, lots of interesting stuff.
 
Originally posted by: Anubis
Originally posted by: fritolays
Science majors really have almost zero oral presentations...
Click to expand...

WTF are you talking about, i have a BS in physics, starting my soph year i had a Major presentation each semester, where i had to speak in front of most of the department and whoever else wanted to come

my senior pres was given in an auditorium with like 200+ peopel in it

also had many 5-10 min presentations in other classes as well

i hate presentations, wich i went to your school
Click to expand...


My school is different, I was a science major for two years and ALL the courses I took involved no presentations
but these were the lower division courses with 100 people in each class, that's why in my original post, I put not sure about upper level
 
Originally posted by: fritolays
Originally posted by: Anubis
Originally posted by: fritolays
Science majors really have almost zero oral presentations...
Click to expand...

WTF are you talking about, i have a BS in physics, starting my soph year i had a Major presentation each semester, where i had to speak in front of most of the department and whoever else wanted to come

my senior pres was given in an auditorium with like 200+ peopel in it

also had many 5-10 min presentations in other classes as well

i hate presentations, wich i went to your school
Click to expand...


My school is different, I was a science major for two years and ALL the courses I took involved no presentations
but these were the lower division courses with 100 people in each class, that's why in my original post, I put not sure about upper level
Click to expand...

see thats the issue, you go to a big school

there wasent a class at my school in any department that had more then 40 peopel in it, regradless of level

most classes were around 20-25 people, upper level major classes were 10-15

i think there were 7 people in my Quantum Mechanics class
 
Verbal presentations... oral sounds wrong.

I can't do public speaking at all. I think of myself as Will Ferrel in Old School... I get unbelievably nervous beforehand (basically the entire day before I have to do it) and then when the time comes.. I just kind of black out and say what I was supposed to say calmy. No witty comments, not much emotion, just kind of get through it.
 
Originally posted by: fritolays
Science majors really have almost zero oral presentations... not sure about the upper level science courses.. but I'm sure there's a way to graduate with a science degree without presenting anything in front of the classroom
Now that I switched toward a different degree, I'm looking at my senior level courses and almost all involve teamwork and presentations. I dislike them a lot and have been avoiding them ever since I graduated from high school in 2002, but I guess I gotta do what i gotta do... :frown:
Click to expand...
Group presentations aren't too bad. Presentations where you have to be in front of the class BY YOURSELF is the worst! I once had to do an oral presentation in front of PhD's and PhD candidates for my senior project class. That was the worst feeling I've ever had in front of any crowd .. and yes, I hate doing oral presentations but you have to get used to get if you want to get ahead in the real world.
 
Originally posted by: fritolays
Science majors really have almost zero oral presentations... not sure about the upper level science courses.. but I'm sure there's a way to graduate with a science degree without presenting anything in front of the classroom
Now that I switched toward a different degree, I'm looking at my senior level courses and almost all involve teamwork and presentations. I dislike them a lot and have been avoiding them ever since I graduated from high school in 2002, but I guess I gotta do what i gotta do... :frown:
Click to expand...

I took a public speaking class and did one hour long talk for my research, but those were both optional. i think you should really take the opportunities instead of avoiding them... you're going to get feedback that is hard to come by when you're out in the real world.
 
well it's comforting to know that almost every one of us have/had to endure through this pain

I wasn't aware that CS majors had to do them as often
How about engineering majors? It seems like they really don't have to do any oral presentations
 
Originally posted by: Ranger X
Originally posted by: chrisms
Verbal presentations... oral sounds wrong.
Click to expand...
Get your head out of the gutters. 😛

Verbal presentations? 😕
Click to expand...


Verbal makes more sense to me.. I'm not being judged on how my mouth is presenting.
 
rose.gif
 
Multiple presentations every semester in my Computer Science program. Though never very nervous about it to begin with, I became really comfortable behind a podium or (my preference) walking around in front of a large group of people.

What's to fear, really? That you'll look dumb or screw up? Think about these points for a moment:

1) If you don't look normally dumb, you won't look dumb presenting. Nothing changes within the three seconds you take to walk from your chair to the front of the class.
2) It's your major - you should know the material inside-out. You should be enjoying the opportunity to show off your knowledge.
3) Who are you afraid of looking bad in front of? I encourage you to adopt my elitist attitude to presentations: "I have nothing to prove to these losers, so why be nervous?" The popular advice given about presentations to imagine everyone in the audience as being in their underpants is another version of this. They're just people, you're just a person. So maybe you'll say "umm" here and there, or miss a slide. Big deal. If you don't make a big deal out of it, they won't either.
 
Being a business major, MIS and Finance, I had at least one presentation every other week. Best thing possible. Now, presenting to people is no problem.

And I agree with what is said above, in that your presentation skills are more important than your science skills in the workforce. Especially in an interview, or for job promotions.
 
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