<p>I'll do my best to answer them based on what I've seen so far at Clemson.</p>
<p>pierre - Clemson is still on DS’s list - but not at the top (Penn State was quite impressive and has everything he wants). I am trying to find a time for us to visit, but not sure when that is going to happen. Fall is quite busy.</p>
<p>How are things going? How’s the southern food and hospitality??? :)</p>
<p>Has Clemson suffered budget cuts? If so, what has been the impact?</p>
<p>How many hours a week do Clemson students spend preparing for class?</p>
<p>What support services exist for students struggling with academic, residential or emotional difficulties?</p>
<p>How is the food, really? Any options for vegetarians?</p>
<p>How big are the introductory freshman classes? Do the students you know feel engaged with most of their classes? Are there research opportunities for undergrads who want them?</p>
<p>How do the employees interact with students? Helpful or indifferent?</p>
<p>How is career services at Clemson? Do students you know feel career services has helped them get internships or jobs after graduation? Is Clemson regarded well by local and national corporations?</p>
<p>Ok, that’s all for now! Any help on any of these questions would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>I love Clemson so far, classes are starting to pick up now and getting tougher but I am getting very involved on campus. I am a member of hall council, FCA, Outdoors Club, Central Spirit (athletics support organization) and Habitat for Humanity. I am getting used to the South and the food there and it’s starting to become normal for me. The accents aren’t annoying, the people are very friendly and the food is good though I still don’t think it’s very healthy haha</p>
<p>Q:Has Clemson suffered budget cuts? If so, what has been the impact?
A: Clemson has suffered budget cuts and I believe this has meant the elimination of several positions. However, I was not here last year so I do not know the extent of the budget cuts. It certainly hasn’t had an impact on my experience whatever it is.</p>
<p>Q:How many hours a week do Clemson students spend preparing for class?
A: You don’t need to spend a lot of hours a week to prepare for class but if you want to succeed in a class you will need to put in many hours. It also depends on your major, my roommates are history and english majors and it seems like they are doing absolutely nothing. But I think that I put in a good 5-6 hours of work during the school day and a bit more on the weekends in order to get ahead. I’ll see how I do on my exams this week and see if I am spending enough time on my schoolwork. However, I feel that I have enough time for my schoolwork as well as do other activities on campus.</p>
<p>Q:What support services exist for students struggling with academic, residential or emotional difficulties?
A: Academically, there is the academic success center which offers workshops on how to deal with issues such as test taking, choosing a major etc… There is free tutoring for classes available through ASC and if there isn’t a tutor for a major, you can request one if you have 3 or more students who want one. There is also supplemental instruction, a neat option where a student who has previously passed the class with a high grade sits in your section and takes the class with you again. Then at night, they will hold review sessions going over the material that was introduced in class. SI (supplemental instruction) is offered for only the hardest classes on campus. Residentially, I am part of my dorm’s hall council and if you have any problems, you can bring them to us, the RA or the Resident Director. Also, I’m part of a program in my dorm called Peer Mediation in which I try to settle disputes between people in my dorm or try to give residents a 2nd chance if they’ve broken a law if they are sorry. Psychologically, CAPS is the program at Clemson which provides free walk-in counseling sessions that are kept confidential.</p>
<p>Q:How is the food, really? Any options for vegetarians?
A: I eat anything so I haven’t found the food to be really that bad. Unfortunately as a vegetarian, you may have some problems with the food at Clemson (or anywhere in the south, seriously? fried vegetables take away the point of eating them in the first place haha). There is a salad bar in every dining hall and in Schelitter dining hall there is a “Veg Out” station which serves a vegetarian plate every meal. Overall, I think the food is average for what you’d expect at a college campus, not really good but not terrible either.</p>
<p>Q:How big are the introductory freshman classes? Do the students you know feel engaged with most of their classes? Are there research opportunities for undergrads who want them?
A:Here are my freshman class sizes.
ENGL 103 - Accelerated Composition: 19 people
MTHSC 106 - Calculus Of One Variable I : 45 people
CH 101 - General Chemistry: 121 people
CHIN 101 - Elementary Chinese: 22 people
CES 102L - Engineering Disciplines & Skills Lab: 66 people
CES 102 - Engineering Disciplines & Skills: about 120 people (two lab sections combined together)
In General Chemistry, the teacher does a very good job of engaging the students by selecting students to tell the class how they did a problem, asking students questions about the material instead of just lecturing so chemistry lectures are never boring. This can be said for all of my other classes too. Calculus class and Engineering lab are taught in Scale-Up mode which means that you sit with a group of 9 at a round table instead of sitting in rows of desks. In engineering lab, projects are worked on in these groups and in Calculus, half of the class is devoted to working on problems within these table groups and the teacher walks around the room to see if there are any problems. I am not very familiar with research opportunities and I will tell you a bit more as I spend more time here. I do get emails from time to time about professors looking for students to join their Creative Inquiry (research projects) teams.</p>
<p>Q:How do the employees interact with students? Helpful or indifferent?
A: So far, my interaction with the faculty and employees at Clemson has been excellent. I find most of them to be very helpful though you will get the occasionally person as usual who is not as helpful but on a whole I am very satisfied.</p>
<p>Q:How is career services at Clemson? Do students you know feel career services has helped them get internships or jobs after graduation? Is Clemson regarded well by local and national corporations?
A: As a freshman, I’m very unfamiliar with the career services at Clemson but from the upperclassmen that I’ve talked to, they’ve had very good internships and co-ops (or haven’t had a problem finding to). Clemson has direct connections with a lot of local companies such as Sherwin Williams, BMW and Michelin. I think the career center was ranked top 5 in the nation by Princeton Review for student satisfaction with job/career placement which is a good sign that students are happy with the Michelin Career Center.</p>
<p>Pierre,
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions. My D is very interested in Clemson. She is thinking about studying math or chemistry. Good luck with your studies this year!</p>
<p>Here’s the really critical question…How’s the Tiger Band? :)</p>
<p>My roommate plays the saxophone in Tiger Band 
For the first week we were at Clemson, he was never around because he was at band practice from 10 AM to 10 PM everyday so it was intense but once school started up, it was less intense and he only has practice 2 days a week, 2 hours in length each practice. He plays at every home game of course and as a freshman he is going to 2 away games. He went to Georgia Tech because it was a very big game so the whole band went, he is also going to the NC State game. For away games, he is exempted from classes the day of the game if the game is held during the week (like Georgia Tech was this Thursday so he didn’t have to go to classes and left for the game at 1 PM).
I’m pretty impressed with the band so far. They do a great job of pumping us up at games, and even at the Georgia Tech game, you could hear the band through the loud Georgia Tech fans. If you’re interested, definitely give it a shot!</p>
<p>pierre - Thanks for the great info! My son is a trumpet player and definitely wants to continue his band experience in college.</p>
<p>just bumping this up if anybody hasn’t seen this yet</p>
<p>Hi, I am happy to note that you are settling in well. What are the best things about Clemson so far? What are the 2 things you wish were different?</p>
<p>The best things about Clemson so far are the football games, the people that go here are on a whole friendly and amazing, I like cookie break, the first floor library is the best place in my opinion to get any studying done haha, classes are smaller than I expected (or don’t feel as big). I love camping out for football tickets too!</p>
<p>2 things I wish were different is that I was in a freshman dorm. The apartment that I’m in right now is really nice but the people that live here don’t come out a lot and I have to walk a long way to find freshman that I hang out with. Some of the fees that they charge here at Clemson are ridiculous but I guess that you can find that at any school. I also have a big problem with the “custom” textbooks that they sell but textbook costs are high everywhere.</p>
<p>Clemson 2009 Admissions Video: [YouTube</a> - Clemson Admissions Video 2009](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgZ2tIrqoBk]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgZ2tIrqoBk)</p>