<p>After doing some reading, it seems Michigan is the ideal university for me (still have to visit it though), but it seems one of the biggest draw backs of Michigan is the large class sizes. I'd prefer to get the opinions of those who have recently been to or are still studying there. Michigan has the 'big university - big campus' feel I want, but I'm worried that the class sizes will be detrimental to my education (yes, yes, I know, I can't have the best of both worlds). How true is this? Apparently most professors will not know your name? Also, I've read that a lot of the professors are more interested with their research than in teaching students? Does the size of the university make it hard to get into classes?</p>
<p>I've visited several 'smaller' universities where students have stressed how important they've found the the close relationships with professors. </p>
<p>I just wanted to know how detrimental it would be, not having a relationship with your professor? Are these sort of large classes designed to allow the cream of the crop shine? I mean, I suppose the reverse argument is that the real world isn't small and intimate... </p>
<p>Also, some criticism has been made about the weather. I don't want to go to Florida or California. I've grown up in a desert and whilst I don't particularly like the cold (I find 60 - 70 cold), I do want to experience the other extreme in terms of weather. I'm sure I'll adapt but I just wanted to know, how does the cold affect every day life? As in, does it limit social activities? Sports?</p>
<p>Is it true that it's harder to make friends if you're from out of state as everyone will have their little cliques?</p>
<p>frankly, if you’re a freshman in LSA…you’d have to spend tons of time doing researches on ratemyprofessors…it’s very very likely that you would a course not as enjoyable as you think (class-size-wise). If you are in a smaller school/college (e.g.engineering, music, etc.); it’s like a small community within a big university setting, so there’s very little chance classes can go wrong (e.g. some “courses” only have one sections…) However, for something like psychology 1xx, there are about 90 sections…you’ll barely have chance to meet your professor. AND there are a considerable number of GSIs that are HORRIBLE. some people might have had a different experience, but if you saw many threads/posts stating the class size problem…it’s likely that you’ll meet the problem once or twice during your 8 semesters of your michigan academic career. I love michigan, but class size is the only downside (I’m not in LSA though…so it’s perfectly fine for me to handle only 1 “huge-sized” messed-up course).</p>
<p>Sorry I forgot to mention the weather and the “social opportunities.” I’m from OOS. I found the environment extremely friendly. Because the school is HUGE and very diverse, you can, as they say, always find a place where you belong. The weather’s been great so far…(im a first-year student…) we’ll have to see what the weather’s like when january comes…</p>
<p>just like the two sides of the same sword,
huge size, huge opportunity
the only thing is that generally, the best major or department often gets the most emphasis and also lowest stu/fac ratio.</p>
<p>I’m a recent graduate (May 2011)
My thoughts on this are:
Michigan students are friendly in general (as long as you initiate conversation)
For info on getting to know profs see #1. They won’t go out of their way to start conversations with students, but all of the are more than willing to help students who want it. You may have to plan around their schedule though, that just means you can’t wait for the last minute to get help.
The class sizes vary from 1-~400 (i think ENGR 101 is the largest lecture taught on campus; computer programming). However, almost all classes that are larger than say 40-60 have discussion components or lab components where a lot of the real learning happens anyways.
Having a relationship with a professor is the student’s responsibility. Many of them are parents though which makes them more approachable.
The class size problem is really only an issue in the first-year for all students and for the first 2-3 years for LS&A students. Once you start taking specialized courses the class size dramatically reduces.</p>