<p>Heeeyyy This is for the current Columbia students</p>
<p>I wanted to know, </p>
<p>how are the classes at Columbia?</p>
<p>Are they small, big or average?</p>
<p>Are they easy to learn from, or so big that it is distracting?</p>
<p>Are the Professors accessible? Classes are overcrowded?</p>
<p>My college counselor just told me to look into these things cause it can be a BIG factor..</p>
<p>So please...enlighten me</p>
<p>Thank you so much!</p>
<p>the answer to this depends on a lot of things. for instance, classes tend to get smaller as you progress. a lot of people take introductory level classes, but when you get to more major-focused classes the size will drop to quite small, usually between 15-40 people. the intro-level classes can be big-ish; i took an economics class with 270 people in it. however, those classes usually have smaller discussion sections taught by TAs where you can ask questions, and professors are always available during office hours.
the professors i’ve had so far have all been really great. they may not be able to get to know you if you are in a big class, but they are always very friendly/helpful/interesting if you talk to them after class. also, the more you speak up during class, the more likely they are to know you. when i took introduction to japanese civilization there were about 100 students, maybe more, but i sat in the front row and i participated whenever the professor asked questions to the class. she knew me by name half way through the semester.</p>
<p>i should also note that even 270 people, which is the biggest you will ever have, is not that big compared to classes at big public universities. i’m from california, and UC berkeley’s intro level courses often have over 800 students jammed into them. </p>
<p>also, i should have said that the flip side of the story is that there are a lot of really small classes at columbia. for one thing, the core classes are all capped to make sure they stay small. the max number for Lit Hum for instance is about 22, and the max for university writing is 14. you will get plenty of attention from teachers in those classes.</p>
<p>Really depends on the class. The core classes (Literature Humanities, Contemporary Civilizations, etc.) are small seminar classes: just 15 people or so having discussions. There are also lots of other seminar classes that are similar, though these tend to be advanced. Introductory lecture courses in popular subjects like psych might have 200 people, but a lecture in Philosophy might have 40. Columbia is a major uni with all kinds of different classes in different subjects, so it’s hard to generalize. Sorry!</p>