<p>I was going over some college ranking sites and I came across one that said columbia was one of the universities with the most accessible professors. Is that true? It kinda seems unreal to me, seeing it's population to be about 25000 plus.... Do the professors really have that much time for the undergrads especially the freshmen.... Also, the student to faculty ratio.... I haven't really check but can someone tell me the actual figure because I have heard too many other figures, (some even smaller than Caltech's.... Lol!!) Thanks!</p>
<p>@ Chuksy </p>
<p>My D found her Profs. quite accomodating, especially via email. She did say most seemed a tad busy/overwhelmed but never did that affect the quality of their correspondence. Overall, she said that she enjoyed all her Profs(except Chemistry, Robert Beer) and that most were available whenever she needed them, except the week after Sandy hit for obvious reasons.</p>
<p>As for the student/Prof. ratios, it depends on the class . . . certain core classes are tiny and personal while others are not(my D’s Chem class had 135+ in it).</p>
<p>Ratios are all over the place. As a first semester freshman my smallest ratio was something like 10:1 (Japanese) to 70:1 (middle level polisci class). (I am ignoring the lecture section of Frontiers of Science for obvious reasons.) I know people who were in 200:1 (intro econs) and people who were in closer to 7:1. Your Core classes are guaranteed to be pretty small. For example, my LitHum class was about 22 students and my Frontiers of Science discussion was 19.</p>
<p>All of my professors (and even those who weren’t teaching me) were fairly prompt via email and attempted to have at least one office hour session every week consistently. TAs were similar. </p>
<p>Not sure where you’re getting the 25,000 number. Are you including graduate students, GS, or Barnard? Each undergraduate class is about 3,000 students (CC+SEAS). Comparatively, it’s medium-to-small, imo.</p>
<p>There aren’t 25,000 undergrads at Columbia. There are roughly 8,000 students across all four years at CC, SEAS, and Barnard. Classes tend to be small. The largest classes—intro science classes—might have 200 or 300 people—but most lectures will have 50–150 students and seminars will have under 20.</p>
<p>For hard numbers, Columbia says the student:faculty ratio is 6:1 overall and 3:1 in the physical sciences: [Columbia</a> by the Numbers | Columbia Undergraduate Admissions](<a href=“http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/admissions/learn/numbers]Columbia”>http://www.studentaffairs.columbia.edu/admissions/learn/numbers)</p>
<p>My experience: it depends a lot on your major. If you’re an English major, you’ll mostly be taking small seminar classes; that’s not the case if you’re in Engineering. But regardless, professors are definitely accessible. They all have scheduled office hours when you can go in and talk to them, or you can email them and set up appointments. </p>
<p>(The one exception I’ve found is the President of the University, who despite teaching an undergrad course, is too busy to meet with students outside of class. But I think that’s understandable)</p>
<p>Thanks guys!!!
Btw @neiro6 WOW!!! 200!!! that’s a lot tho!
Also @pwoods I’m guessing since lots of ppl go to Columbia cuz it has good undergrad engineering… That’s why the ratio wouldn’t be so low… Oh well… Everyone wants the best right?
Btw, can anyone tell me about the…how do I put it… Okay,…sense of togetherness between students, domestic and int’l, at Columbia?</p>
<p>There’s almost no difference between international and domestic students. We all live together, take the same classes, hang out together, and so on. Unless I ask my friends where they’re going for break (and they say something like “going home to Pakistan” or “visiting my family in Colombia” or “going back to California”), then I don’t even think about whether or not they’re international students. Columbia has a lot of international students, and the domestic and international students get along very well.</p>
<p>Is attendance to frosci lectures compulsory? Or are the lectures available online and the students can get to see it later?
How does it normally happen?</p>