<p>What is the largest any class at Penn will be? My friend and I were debating this, and I just want to know for closure.</p>
<p>My son had several classes with at least 150 in them. His only small class was his writing seminar, where the teacher was so terrible that 6 of the original 12 students transferred out early on.</p>
<p>the largest class at Penn is any class that can fill up all of Meyerson Hall.</p>
<p>So classes like Psych 1, especially when Shatte was teaching, Econ 1, or even Sociology 137, which has been called the easiest class at Penn.</p>
<p>I'd probably say it fluctuates every year, but if you look at the course register they give you the registration limits for each class, and theres several with over 200 students.</p>
<p>MomofWildChild, your kid may simply be bad at picking courses. My freshman fall semester I had only one large lecture course, the rest of my courses were between 8 and 20</p>
<p>I don't know about the largest class, but I'd say many intro classes are 150-ish.
In my experience, though, even in those big classes, the professors are pretty accessible if you make the effort.</p>
<p>Two of my four classes first semester had under 25 students in them (24 and 15). Next semester, I'll have three classes with under 30 students.</p>
<p>Biggest classes will have no more than 250 students in them. There's simply no room big enough for more -- Penn will just divide classes into sections when they get too big. But what's the difference between 100 and 250? Nothing. What's important to me is that I can take a lot of classes with fewer than 30 or 40 students in them.</p>
<p>The importance of recitations in humanities and social science classes should also be stressed. They're less important in the natural sciences, but they can affect your grade bigtime in humanities, and they're all small discussion-base sessions.</p>
<p>In my freshman year my first semester the smallest class I had was 14 students, which was a language class, and the rest had 40, 150 and 250 students. </p>
<p>This previous semester my classes had 150, 150, 15, 20, 30, and 14 (I took 6 classes) students. Overall I'd say it gets better as time goes on because classes get more specific and you take seminars in your majors.</p>
<p>any comments about courses in wharton and engineering?</p>
<p>Which class had 250?</p>
<p>Intro to Psychology. Class size for it doesn't really matter since the material is so easy and the lecturers rather good.</p>
<p>Shatte is gone, though. I don't take psych because I think it's BS, but is his replacement equally well-liked?</p>
<p>The CLST 025/026 pair also tend to be in the 200-250 range (026 especially now that McInerney is back from leave). Once you get past the division reqs or whatever they call them now, you'll rarely have a class with more than 20-25 and its pretty easy to find classes with 8-10. </p>
<p>Specialized classes in major might be as few as 8-10 students with world-class professors. Archaeology and Classics are especially good for that. Sometimes, though, that can backfire if a prof. is teaching something he's well known for - I had a Propertius (LATN 309) with Joe Farrell that had 36 students where the normal level is about 20 and they add an extra section if things run over. But I've also had archaeology classes with professors who are #1 on the planet in their speciality that had 6-8 kids.</p>
<p>And of course there are always the x99 classes where its one-on-one with your advisor.</p>
<p>I don't think my son is particularly bad at picking courses. He took what he had to take for transfer into Wharton. They are big classes. Econ, Calc, etc.</p>
<p>Wait a second, your son wanted to transfer INTO Wharton? I thought that his beef w/ Penn (from your other threads) was that is was "a trade school", dominated by Wharton, not idealistic enough, too job oriented, etc. and he wanted to transfer to WHARTON? And let me guess, he didn't get in so now its sour grapes about Penn?</p>
<p>Percy- give it a rest. His plan upon matriculation was to transfer into Wharton and/or double major. He most likely would have been able to do so, but he quickly figured out that many of the Wharton kids were miserable and decided it wasn't for him. That is his chioce- others are certainly free to decide differently. He believes the Penn culture is dominated by Wharton and he didn't like that. Again-I am sharing his view (which many others hold as well) and you don't have to be nasty about it. He is a solid student and was a recruited athlete to Penn. He is very social and independent.</p>
<p>I have to say that the most unhappiness I've seen is from people who are "expecting" to transfer into Wharton. </p>
<p>First of all, it rarely works out - it seems like 1/2 the people in the College and 1/2 the people on earth expect to transfer to Wharton internally or externally, but they only take a handful each year. So even dreaming that you are going to transfer to Wharton is setting yourself up for disappointment. Better to make plans that have a higher chance of success, like planning to win the Powerball lottery. </p>
<p>2nd, the fact that you are planning to transfer means that you didn't get in in the first place or didn't apply in the 1st place and there's usually a good reason why that is true and whatever that reason is makes you a less that perfect candidate for Wharton (even if you are academically qualified, the reason may be that you are ambivalent about Wharton - your head says "Wharton" and your heart says "music major").<br>
So, in the rare event that you do get in to Wharton as a transfer, chances are you won't be happy there anyway. </p>
<p>BUT, for some reason, tons of people can't see this (or maybe they are blinded by $) and they keep talking about transferring into Wharton.</p>
<p>And my point was that the reality of Wharton was so disappointing to my son that it soured him on all of Penn. Penn did not offer him once he scratched Wharton. His prep school roommate is in Wharton and hates it. However, his GPA is too low to transfer out! Go figure.</p>
<p>Yes, that's what his complaints sound like - exactly like that of someone who has been "soured" on a place. I visit a Caribbean island and it's a tropical paradise to me - the people are friendly, the weather is sunny, I find a great little local restaurant where the fishermen bring their catch, etc.. I can't wait to go back next year. Someone else visits that same island but their luggage gets stolen on the way to the hotel. Suddenly, the people are thieving, the climate is too hot, there are too many insects, there are jelly fish in the water, etc. They are NEVER going back - once you have been "soured" on a place then nothing about it seems good. It's just as well that your son transferred (where to? - I haven't followed all the threads) but that doesn't mean that other people will have an experience anything like his.</p>
<p>Percy,</p>
<p>I don't usually agree with most of your posts, but I think you're very perceptive with this one.</p>
<p>Even more ironically, once you are "sour" things that other would consider "features", you consider "bugs" - for example one one of the kid's supposed complaints (though this may be more Mom's words than his) was "the party life was intense and distracting". You got that, boys and girls - don't ever go to Penn because you'll be "distracted" by "intense partying". Wouldn't want that - no way, uh-uh.</p>