I have hear conflicting reports about freshman year at UF. Many people have told me that freshman take amos all of there classes online (or it may have been that they go to a classroom and there is a video of the lectures) - is this true?
Thank you!
Maybe, many freshman classes (based on major) have the lecture recorded and made available online. Several courses are also online only, while others have a normal lecture session, and then online sessions. Based on your major and class selection, many of your classes could be online. You would have to work at it, however, if you want most or all of your classes online (and for some majors, it’s not a choice).
Your choice of major will impact how many “online only” classes you’ll take. For both of my two Engineering students, the only “online only” class they took in the first two years was ENC 3246 (Professional Communications for Engineers). They did take classes like EGM2511 - Engineering Mechanics: Statics, where they could attend the live lecture, or watch it online. This summer my son is taking THE2000 - Theatre Appreciation, an elective, that’s 100% web based (other than attending live plays…).
On the other hand, other majors will have more online only (100% web based) classes/options. Several of the business classes (like Principles of Macroeconomics) are 100% online. All of these classes still offer normal professor office hours, etc.
Thank you @Gator88NE! We live in FL but D19 has never been that interested in UF because she thought it was too big. Now we are getting down to the wire and she is considering it again. As I had asked around a few people told me about the class situation. D does not do great in online classes (she procrastinates) so I was hoping to hear there were only a few like that. She is unsure of her major - probably something along the lines of psychology or english. I think we are going up to visit in September - we were supposed to go up last fall for a visit and a football game but it was the weekend of the hurricane so we had to cancel.
the english major doesn’t have any online courses. she may have a few low level general ed courses that have an online section but if the in-person section is available, then she is fine.
Even tho macro/microeconomics are 100% online, the still have a lecture 2 times a week that students go to! it just is in no way required but the lecture with a professor up front teaching is still an option. (I took the class and never went to one lecture but i had friends that went)
D18 just finished her preview and fall schedule. Zero online classes. Her roommate also have none. She is taking. Chemistry, Calc and other core classes.
My son is a freshman with an intended sports management major and he only has one online class this semester.
This is the main reason that rankings should be taken with a grain of salt. Interesting how US NEWS ranks UF as the number 42 school in the country. With all these online or web based courses as well as some kids going through or being part of the Innovation Academy, it is hard to believe that a great education or foundation can be gained here. Granted, UF is probably not unique to this form of education, but when choosing schools, this should be considered a major factor.
What in this thread would prompt you to make that statement? ALL public universities have challenges with overcrowding (especially for intro/freshman classes) and do a mixture of online/web based classes.
I see you’re attending OSU? You’ll find OSU to be very similar to UF. You’ll be hard press to make decent argument that OSU would supply a “better education”.
@Gator88NE
I agree with you. My kids attend ucf, but to diss uf over online seems a road too far. I think all large schools will have a combination of traditional, lecture capture and completely online classes. If students come in with AP/DE credits i doubt it is an issue. And after gen ed classes, I think the number of online classes is dependant on major…such as poly sci probably has more than stats.
@Gator88NE You are correct. I attend OSU and my sister attends UF. I have yet to encounter any online classes at OSU . I do have one large class with about 300 students and then a breakout group with about 30 students twice a week for the same class. My other 4 classes, I have anywhere between 25 to 40 per class. I am a business major.
My sister (loves UF) had a very different experience at UF during her first 1.5 years there. She had a combination of both. I can not say that I am attaining a better education when compared to UF, but I am certainly not taking classes online. I just can’t imagine the interaction is the same. I am also not here to tell you Ohio State is better than UF or XYC, etc. I would not know the answer to that. On paper they seem to be very similar schools. It has become a very known fact that UF is pushing this online trend at least for the first few years.
My son is a freshman pursuing a biology major. He has no online classes.
Thank you everyone! D was able to visit UF a few weeks ago. She did not do the official tour but went with a friend and stayed at an off campus apartment with a sophomore. She had a good time and thought the campus was prettier than she expected. She still does not love how big it is but I think visiting with a friend instead of me made her realize that it is a better choice than she initially thought!