College question

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In college do teachers give sets of mind-numbing problems or refuse to accept any answer/interpretation other than their own, like they seem to do in high school?

In my experience, they do not. In fact, on some occasions they give little or no homework and/or don't collect, check, or grade homework, and/or expect or leave it up to the students to take the initiative to choose exercises for themselves to do. I've had college courses in which the grade was 100% dependent upon test scores.

I've not much experience with the other question. Most of my classes were in math and science, so there wasn't much room for interpretation in the first place.

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. In calculus and in introductory science classes, especially chemistry, we had problem sets due once or twice per week. Grading depended on the teaching assistant. They were usually worth, in total, 5-15% of the grade.

It really does depend upon both the subject taught and the personality of the instructor. But if you are on a humanities track, there is a lot more emphasis on thinking and questioning / disputation (how well you argue your point), rather than giving the "right" response. It's good to ask advisors / guidance counselors, department heads, and other students about the teaching style of an individual professor, before you sign on to their course.

Although, I had one prof who required specific answers, AND he twisted the questions so you couldn't just reply what was on the study sheet. Maddening. But he ended up being one of my favorite profs, because of the great discussions we had when I went into his office to argue my case about why he should have given me more credit...

Depends on subject and professor.

I've had professors who do traditional college (1 midterm, 1 final and/or term paper) and don't care about homework, attendance, etc.

I've had professors who teach college as a sort of "high school plus" with homework, attendance policies, etc.

I've had professors who were committed to academia as the pursuit of truth, and enjoyed debates and different perspectives. I've had professors who believed that the modern progressive liberal perspective is the only valid way to think and dessent will not be tolerated.

There is a website called www.ratemyprofessor.com that can give you some insight. Keep in mind though, for every 1 person who says something nice about something, there are generally 3 people who will complain.