Students shop classes, check out syllabi and critique professors' lecture styles while deciding what courses to code into their study card.

But in one area that can make or break a class, students have (officially) almost no leeway: choosing a teaching fellow.

A good TF can transform a class, involving students in discussion and making even the dullest material fascinating. A bad TF can mean extra work, a section that is a waste of time or sometimes even a bad grade.

Once students decide to enroll in a class they are usually permitted to switch sections and TF's. Students say they decide to switch for many different reasons.

Haley Steele '99 says she would want to switch out of a section if the TF assigned extra work.

"Sometimes the TF is sort of anal and they want a two page response paper every week, things like that," Steele says.

Andrew D. Gillman '96 says the TF's attitude toward the students is an important factor in his section selection.

"I would switch if the TF showed favoritism, or if I could really tell from the outset that they didn't really care much about the students that were in the section," Gillman says.

Michael W. Linse '97 switched sections after he got into a political argument with the TF.

"I switched one section just because I got in a fight with the TF the first class and I decided that wasn't a good way to spend the term," Linse says.

Linse also had other reasons for leaving that section.

"The TF was the head TF and they tend to grade harder because I think they're in charge of keeping the grade point average down," he says.

"But maybe that's not true," he adds.

Linse says all ended well, however: he switched into a better section "with a pretty TF."

While he was able to discover the personality conflict in that situation fairly quickly, Linse says sometimes he takes longer to discover whether his TF is his best choice.