<p>One of the things that concerns me about UVa is class size. I like the prospect of meeting new people every day that the size of the student body provides, but I am worried about the size of classes themselves.</p>
<p>One of the reasons I didn't apply to my state flagship was because a large proportion of its classes are large, lecture-based ones in which each student is merely a face in the crowd, a number. While I understand that UVa is not as bad as many other public schools in this regard, the fact still worries me.</p>
<p>I was just curious to get some information - from current Echols Scholars would be preferable, but anyone who has experienced UVa's classes firsthand is more than welcome - on class size at UVa. I understand that only about 15% of classes have 50+ students, so I know it's not entirely prevalent, but do the classes that have 50+ students feel like classes with a lot of students? Or is their still an air of intimacy between the professor and his students?</p>
<p>The reason I requested Echols Scholars: if I attend UVa, I will be an Echols Scholar, so I was curious to see how that status influenced this aspect. Since distribution requirements do not exist, are Echols Scholars able to choose classes that have fewer people so that they might avoid what I discussed above?</p>
<p>Basically, I'm just asking for an idea about how "bad" (I use this term only because I myself am not looking for the large lecture-style teaching, not because this style is inherently worse) the situation is at UVa regarding class size, and how capable an Echols Scholar might be in averting that.</p>
<p>Thanks for any and all advice/information, guys!</p>
<p>I am GOING to attend UVA, I have no personal experience but I do know a few things about the larger class sizes. Typically, the larger class sizes are taught by the best professors, simply because they know how to handle the class size well. They know how to manage. There are also a lot of TA’s in larger class sizes, and the classes are sort of split into small discussion groups. Although the class itself is large, you don’t necessarily work with all 50 students at once, maybe groups of 10 or 5 or something. It has a more intimate feel to it. I agree, it isn’t like colleges where all classes are maxed out at 40 or something, but UVA really makes an effort into giving individual attention. They really do it well, mainly through TA assistance and small discussion groups. I don’t know many more specifics, but I hope I helped.</p>
<p>Usually the large classes are lower-level/intro/survey courses. Unless you need to take a large-lecture style (usually intro) course for your major, or as a pre-req. to something more advanced, it is entirely possible to avoid the largest classes. The priority registration comes in handy here since it will give you a better shot of getting into the smaller courses that might otherwise fill up more quickly.</p>
<p>Also, class size varies greatly within departments. In Econ., psych and other very popular majors - or majors part of a pre-comm or pre-med track - you will generally find larger courses. In other departments, there are few large-lecture style courses.</p>
<p>Plus, if you do have to take an Intro/large class, you might opt to take it during the summer, if it is available, since classes are much smaller during summer session.</p>
<p>If are are Echols, you probably have a bunch of AP credits. That would allow you to jump over some intro level classes, and rapidly get into the smaller classes.</p>
<p>There are some subjects that may not require you to start in an intro level class, regardless of AP credits. For example, (many years ago), I took a very small intermediate level psychology class without taking the large intro to pyschology class. The worst class I had was intro to sociology - I should have skipped over that. Two of the best classes I had at UVa were large lecture intro US history classes - which were definitely not basic classes.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that larger classes generally fall into two categories: low-level, intro classes and classes taught by big name faculty members. Those famous faculty members are usually quite good with their classes. :)</p>
<p>FallenAngel…It really depends on what you’re wanting to study as to how large your classes will be. My D started UVa with 50+ hours last fall and had completed her distribution requirements through AP work done in high school. However, her goal is to go to medical school; hence, it is necessary for her to take two years of chem (gen chem/orgo), bio, physics, calculus, stat, and English. Even though she already received AP credit for all of these courses, certain med schools require you to take them at your undergraduate institution. Most of these classes are indeed large, but she has discussion classes/labs which are typically smaller. She has to take two semesters (if I’m not mistaken) of English for med school, and her English class only has 20 students.</p>
<p>I will tell you that you’re going to find these intro classes (psych, econ, poli-sci as well) to be large at ALL schools with the exception of smaller LACs. All of these classes at Northwestern, BC, Vandy, etc. are large too. If your major is humanities-based, you’ll find you won’t have as many of these courses. As far as Echols is concerned, the program will exempt you from distribution work, but again, if you plan on a specific graduate school program, you may be required to take certain classes regardless. Also, I agree with Dean J…D is in an honors chem class, and explained that Dean Harman was as good as her favorite chem teacher in high school. (He actually is one of the writers for the AP exam!) She admired both tremendously; some of the best professors often teach the larger classes.</p>
<p>UVa has classes of all sizes. One advantage of the school is that once you get past a certain point, you can pick whatever fits your personal learning style and taste. Don’t worry about big classes!</p>
<p>Many people ignore the benefits to large classes. I would usually pick a few bigger ones each semester on purpose. As long as they aren’t weeder classes, I’ve generally found them to be easier than smaller ones. A bunch of the large sociology classes are notorious for this. Another advantage is that you can space out or do work in a big class. It’s nice to not always have to be “on”. On the other hand, imagine a 12 person discussion-based class 8am Friday morning when you’re hung over. Not fun…</p>
<p>I’ve heard the largest classes are taught by the best. My aunt (former Echols scholar) told me that some or the larger classes have some of the best professors, like Gov 101 with Larry Sabato. She suggested that everyone take that class even if it’s a large class since the professor is great. I asked my AP Gov teacher about it (former UVA Alumni) and he said to definitely take some large-sized classes since the professors are usually famous around the US. He also said to take Gov 101 with Larry Sabato haha.</p>
<p>Sabato is a good example because he often is able to attract a number of influential people in Politics to visit his classes. He brought Hillary Clinton during '08 in her Primary run and Samuel Alito (Supreme Court) in '06 or '07.</p>