Independent Study offer by Professor

[cookderosa]

I have a professor in grad school that I initially thought was very difficult this semester. Actually, everyone thinks he's difficult. He's a hard grader and our "final" is not on the computer. It has to be hand-written and he said that the last A's he gave in his class on the final were hand written and 5 sheets of paper with the use of a proctor at a local test site which we must arrange. The first thing he sent out before class started was an email that said if we value our GPA, we shouldn't take his course. milelol: That was intimidating but I figured I'm up for the challenge. Once when I asked him how I could improve on a score that was near 100%, his response was "improve on your score? I don't know what to tell you." On another occasion I asked him to clarify a point and included an apology if he had already addressed it. His response was "you are forgiven." hahaha

So anyway, I was totally stunned when he asked to talk to me on Skype which we use frequently in this course for group assignments, etc. Anyway, he asked me if I was interested in doing an independent study. He said this would be a lot of work but it would possibly be in lieu of one of my other courses (depending upon my department head's agreement) and would be worth 3 credits. He said his intention is to have the study published. He hasn't gone into a lot of detail about the topic but says it will be law-related. He's a former attorney turned professor and knows about my legal background.

So anyway, can you think of any reason why I shouldn't consider this?

I'm a little intimidated but I will say that his high expectations has really made me want to prove myself. My classmates complains frequently about how unfair he is and I'm silent because I have actually been getting 100% on my last several assignments (which I've been putting a ton of effort into). Anyway...just blabbing now. Thoughts?

I did my thesis under an advisor whose only goal was for my research to get published.
First- has HE published? A lot? It matters, because journals require format changes that will make you want to stab yourself in the eye. The work has to be modified for each of them (word count, etc.) and this is more about the finished product rather than the content. It freaked me out, and -as it turns out- my advisor was clueless.
Second- will the people in your field recognize this as something? Are you sure? I have one foot in nutrition and one in culinary arts, and believe it or not- there's not much common ground. What about in your industry?
Third- is this a path to an internship somewhere? Might be.
Lastly, will this guy's expectations take over your time to the point that this could slow down or impede your regular degree process?

I'd be inclined to do it, good luck!!

EDIT: I see you decided, congratulations!