<p>My son just got the below copy/pasted email (personal info removed). This is not the first prof my kids have had who has invited the class to his/her home for dinner ( or treated them to ice cream or lunch somewhere). I’ve heard that a few profs like to BBQ for their classes. </p>
<p>And, of course, there are the profs that host T’giving dinners in their homes for students who won’t be going home. </p>
<p>Dear Class,</p>
<p>On April X, we will be having a class dinner at my house. You can arrive as early as 5, dinner will be served around 6, and you can stay as late as you want playing games. Ill give you directions and more information as the date comes closer.</p>
<p>At some point during the fall semester D wrote an essay about her favorite HS teacher(not sure if that was an orientation or class assignment or what). When she dropped by her old hs during Christmas break to say hi she found that the UA Honors college folks had sent a huge tub of “smarties” candies, a copy of the essay and a thank you note to the teacher. D and the teacher both were blown away!</p>
<p>My son is considering a big university right now which has me full of trepidation. I know that these things do happen at times, but worries me is the every day. I saw those stadium classrooms and those grad student TAs. It is not the same environment as the smaller schools on a regular basis though their can be flashes of attentions and efforts like this. Having dealt with both types of schools, it’s really the general picture that one has to address most of the time, not the exceptions that do occur.</p>
<p>Hmmmm. My D has had a couple of general classes that were quite large, but she’s had many more that had under 15 and even under 10 students. D has the small honors classes as well as the enormous resources only available at a large university. I work at a small (under 2k) university myself, and frankly I think my D would have felt stifled in a smaller setting. To each his own?</p>
<p>Timeflew: That is a fantastic story about your daughter’s teacher. The teacher must have felt very touched by this special attention.</p>
<p>Cupofthehouse: I would not fear the “large” college atmosphere, I say “Embrace it!”. My son has had mostly small classes, lots of personal mentoring and opportunities that he would not have had at a small university. Asking lots of questions and investigating the college programs should put your mind at ease.</p>
<p>Bama doesn’t use TA’s to lecture except in rare instances. TA’s are mostly used to proctor exams, help with labs, grade homework, etc. Profs are the ones who lecture. </p>
<p>And…as for large classes…my kids have only had a small number of large lecture classes, but the labs were broken down to smaller classes. </p>
<p>And, even the large classes are not large like some schools. I’ve seen other schools put 500 - 1200 students in a lecture hall. When I looked at Bama’s large Bio or Chem lectures, I saw some lectures with 180 or so kids. Large, but not ridiculous. </p>
<p>Most of my kids’ classes have been 10 -30 kids per class. Some have had as few as 8 kids in them. The UHP classes have been 15 or less.</p>
<p>I have a professor who has a party at the end every semester at Wilhagen’s for his students and alumni of his classes, which basically covers everyone in the major but the first-semester freshmen.</p>
<p>D’s been to 2 faculty homes this year; one after Alabama Action and one after one of her Honors seminars. I love the fact that the Honors College faculty truly enjoys working with their students. To me it shows that all the personal contact & connections made during the recruitment period, carries over to when the students matriculate.</p>
<p>I would echo mom2collegekids post for the majority of faculty on the Alabama campus! DD is not an Honors kid (darn that ACT!) but she has had excellent professors since arriving at UA! I would encourage your kiddos to make a personal connection with each professor they come in contact with. That face to face connection is so important…the Prof knows you care enough about the class to make that connection…it’s a good thing.</p>
<p>She does and we have discussed it. She is so involved in the Greek Life and the Greek community that I am worried about her biting off more than she can chew. We found that the pre-med track she was on and her “involvement” did not mesh well first semester. She is my “stress out” child and also the one who wants to be in everything!<br>
Thanks so much for the heads up…we will continue the discussion…new problem for today is trying to find someone to sublet her room at Sterling Crimson as she now is going to live in the sorority house! Thought about starting a thread to see if anyone out there is interested.</p>