How are the classes at GW?

Colleges and Universities A-Z George Washington University
1

<p>Heeeyyy This is for the current GW students</p>

<p>I wanted to know, </p>

<p>how are the classes at GW?</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>

2

<p>The classes are mostly very good. To address some of your questions:</p>

<p>Size is of course relative, so here is a typical breakdown:</p>

<p>-Most intro lectures will be either 100 or 300 students. No class has over 300 and only the common requirements will every be this large. Most courses vary in size by section, so you often can choose between a 300 person lecture or a 90 or even 50 seat one. (There are some reasons to choose the larger one). The 300 courses usually include a discussion section of 20 students.</p>

<p>-The average upper level course I would say is 40-90 students. Some are as small as 20. It also depends on the department. Also if you don’t mind taking classes on the mount vernon campus, classes there tend to be capped at 20 or 40.</p>

<p>-UW and Deans Seminars are capped at 15 I believe</p>

<p>-Before you register for classes, you can view online (once you are a registered student) how many seats are available in each class. This can help you choose.</p>

<p>-All professors are required to hold office hours 1-2 a week. I have had mostly good experiences and have yet to have a professor I couldn’t get a hold of.</p>

3

<p>Well I havnt actually decided on GW yet, but according to US news, about 55% of classes are under 20 people, 35% are 20 to 50 people, and 10% are over 50</p>

4

<p>^^^^ Not in the classes my son has taken. With very few exceptions, the smallest classes he’s taken had about 40- 50.</p>

5

<p>I can do forty to fifty…that is reasonable…but when it gets to 300…that is freaking ridiculous!</p>

6

<p>To OP</p>

<p>Most larger universities will have large introductory class sizes - get use to it. GW, like most larger universities tries to compensate for this with TA section meetings where the class is broken up into groups. This allows for specific questions and problems to be hammered out. Hopefully, you get a good TA who is usually a grad student or in some cases a Ph.D. postdoc.</p>

<p>Language courses, UW have limits of no more than 15-20.</p>

<p>If you want small class sizes - you really should be looking at LAC’s.</p>

<p>CJ</p>