<p>Hey guys, so how are the classes at UVa?</p>
<p>I can afford a private college in the US but I love UVa as well.. The question is, how big are the class sizes normally? And is it possible to explore all different classes even if you're not majoring in the subject?</p>
<p>Can someone please help me out! :)</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Oh wait also, if someone could tell me about the professors as well? Like as compared to a private school how are they? And compared to a private college, how are the classes/what are the differences in classes?</p>
<p>Thanks so much to anyone who answers :D</p>
<p>UVA is a research university. You will find that professors are sometimes more interested in their research than being good teachers. However, it means that you could take graduate level courses as an undergrad whereas at a private LAC with no graduate program, you could not do that.
UVA is also public so with the current economy class sizes are larger than usual. Lower level classes can be 100-500 people, upper level classes can be 40 people or even just 3 or 5. It just depends.
You only need 30/120 credits in your major so you have lots of room for electives. Although sometimes it is hard to get into classes (Spanish, Italian, etc) if you are not a major.</p>
<p>If you are a student in the College of Arts and Sciences, you are not just encouraged but required to take courses in a variety of different areas to satisfy the “distribution requirements.” Check on the UVA website for a description of how this works. Students declare a major by the end of their second year, but even after that only half your classes are typically in your major, so you have plenty of time to take interesting electives. The Engineering, Architecture, and Nursing programs are more structured but do have some room for elective courses.</p>
<p>The faculty hiring pool for elite schools, whether they are private or public, is basically all one bunch of ambitious, research-oriented people–it’s not as if, when they’re in their PhD programs, they specialize in, say, a “LAC track.” They make their decisions about where to teach on factors that might not matter when you’re choosing a school as an undergraduate–the details of the hiring offer, the desirability/affordability of the location, the prospects for employment of spouses and partners, the prospects for tenure, the availability of collaborators and special lab facilities, and so on. My department last made new hires in 2007, and at that time we hired young faculty away from Princeton, Harvard, and USC. Many, many people in my department started out as faculty at HYP but left after a few years because those schools grant tenure to almost none of their young people–at Harvard, a junior appointment is jokingly called a “Harvard folding chair.” UVA, like other large public research universities, on the other hand typically “promotes from within”. This is a cheaper strategy for the school and gives young faculty better longterm prospects.</p>
<p>The last person who left our department went to a school/ department that is not as highly ranked in the US News and World Report, but that was willing to employ his wife.</p>
<p>I mean, I’m sure you’re qualified to argue that, but the difference in professors between me and my friends who ended up at purely undergrad degree granting LACs was like night and day. All of those LAC profs are there “to teach” and at UVA the saying is “if you want to teach go to a community college” – I did not make that up, it is on the blackboard of a professor I was a TA under. The teaching track faulty, when they even exist here, are treated subpar as well. Professors think nothing of putting their class second when a huge grant is due here. Again these are just my personal experiences and I’m sure it’s true sometimes what you have said but also from my experiences people (the many grad students I have worked with personally) know by the time they get their PhD whether they want to work at a research university or a more teaching-oriented job… (or even in the industry away from teaching completely)… Also that is a big difference, there are many TAs here and they’re not always happy to be interacting with students instead of researching…</p>
<p>I am in 5 classes this semester.
A 30-person English class
A 15-person French class
A 200-person Ethics class (but in a 15-person discussion section)
A 200-person Biology class
A 7-person Drama class.</p>
<p>It varies.</p>
<p>hazelorb, in my department, and in much (maybe all) of the College of Arts and Sciences, there is no distinction between teaching and research faculty. I think this two-track system may be a feature of the Engineering School. I can also imagine that Engineering PhD students, with their wider range of employment options, can be more specific about where they want to end up. In the humanities, social sciences, and some of the “pure” sciences the effect of the longstanding job shortage in academia has been to spread talent in surprising places and to blur the differences between different kinds of faculty and institutions.</p>
<p>People who teach in LACs generally teach more classes than people who teach in research universities (although they may have fewer students total). At the top LACs, though, the faculty job description is pretty much the same as ours. Their teaching load is light, relatively speaking, but they are expected to do research. Places like Amherst or Macalester raid young faculty away from HYP just as UVA does.</p>
<p>For undergraduates, I do think there is a real difference in atmosphere between research universities and LACs, but not necessarily between public and private, as the OP seemed to assume. In other words William and Mary resembles Williams or Bucknell, while UVA resembles Cornell or Penn.</p>
<p>I would agree w/ public vs private not being the same as research vs LAC. That is a great point.</p>
<p>The faculty I work the most closely with are Eschool so I can’t say anything about humanities there (so I’ll refrain from complaining about the non teaching loads on the teaching track faculty…), but I also am a math major and am in Curry. Because Curry is starting to become more research oriented there has been a large outflux of professors who orginially took the job just to teach. My friend lost her PhD advisor due to this (she also wants to just teach not research). Her new advisor basically taught 3 class sessions the entire semester last semester by having my friend teach, bringing in outside people, and showing videos, and this was because she wanted to spend her time researching, and my friend is always complaining about this so I know that is the reason behind it. It is sad when the Education school is no longer a place where professors are invested in teaching… To be fair, the older faculty who did stay do spend a great deal of time teaching us. But I had another young edschool professor last fall who also taught maybe 3 class sessions and had his TAs teach the rest of the time so he could do grant proposals. The math professors at UVA are all very oriented towards research, and the class preparation is minimal if existant at all. The worst, well one always looked like he had just rolled out of bed, the other also looked like that but would also spend 20 minutes or so each class period doing a proof, messing it up or forgetting what came next, staring at it, etc etc. He was a smart guy but these are giant theorems you need to prepare to go through them not just wing it. The one exception I can think of has been pulled to work as Dean of the Social Sciences for the next few years, and even she looooves her research (though she does prepare for her classes!!). In contrast, when I visit friends at LACs, their classes are nothing like mine, it is clear their professors spend time preparing for class and do little if any research. So I also agree with what you said, that there is a real difference in atmosphere between LACs and research universities.</p>
<p>Going to a research school undergrad is great though if you want to research and be exposed to grad curriculum. You’re also not babied as much, ie you basically study on your own time and are just expected to learn the material and come to office hours if you have problems, whereas at friends’ schools their professors seem to focus more on engaging them, giving quizzes (I never had quizzes at UVA, I was lucky if I had 2 midterms instead of just 1), etc to check on their progress. Much more like high school. Not at all what I wanted. Are they learning the material better? Likely. Are they learning to fend for themselves better? Obviously not… So it is up to you which you think will help you learn the skills you want to learn better. I love UVA, and I guess I am glad I learned those skills, and I think I would have felt held back a lot of the time at a LAC (not to mention I wanted to go to a huge school and there is no such thing as a huge LAC) but sometimes the lack of interest by professors was frustrating and upsetting. It would be nice if there were a middle, especially if you consider UVA is a mid-sized school…</p>
<p>I also don’t have any friends at those “higher tier” LACs so I can’t really say anything about that and will just take your word! ;)</p>