<p>I'm an incoming freshman to a college that has 50k students. How do you survive academically when there are 299 people around you?</p>
<p>The very thought of it scares me v_v</p>
<p>the same way you do when there are 15 people around you</p>
<p>Well in a class of 15, you can actually ask the teacher a question if you don't understand something. With a huge class, your just a small fish in a big pond :(</p>
<p>which college are you referring to? ut austin?</p>
<p>I tested the big college experience. It sucked so bad so I went to a smaller school. The only thing you can do is utilize the professors office hrs and email if you have trouble. But yea it sux being a number instead of a name.</p>
<p>Well in a class of 15, you can actually ask the teacher a question if you don't understand something. With a huge class, your just a small fish in a big pond </p>
<p>this statement makes no sense.</p>
<p>Classes of 300 often break up into smaller sections for recitations/TA sessions/discussion sessions/(whatever they may be called) where you get to ask questions.</p>
<p>You will find that you lose the urge to ask questions after some time. Either you get it in class, or you might read the textbook or ask a classmate for an explanation. Chances are you might also stop listening and just take notes at some point, so you don't even get to the point where you come up with questions in class.</p>
<p>People ask questions in large lectures, and from my experience, the prof tries to answer them because as one of my professors put it "If your mind is wondering about something, at least 10% of the others are probably wondering the same thing so ask anyway"</p>
<p>But to really stand out, you do have to visit office hours or find another way to make contact with the professor outside of class time.</p>
<p>What's so different? If you're confused about something, you ask them after class, go to office hours, or email them, instead of interrupting the class to do it. It's not like they're just going to ignore you.</p>
<p>You don't have to stand and shout unless you're in the very back (most people in the back are probably not the ones who will ask questions anyway). If you're sitting even near the front, you just have to speak up a little louder than normal inside voice.</p>
<p>go to office hours. people almost never go, even in a class of 300. that is where you become more than a number</p>
<p>i was in a class of 300 both semesters this year, and my school only has 9k undergrads. TA sessions of about 30 kids made it easier for personalized teaching of concepts. and my professor was amazing about it. awesome old man who taught econ like he was telling a story/having a convo half the time. awlays approachable after class and even knew a fair amount of names. always took questions for at least 20 min in the lecture before an exam.</p>
<p>its not as scary as hs teachers and you make it out to be</p>
<p>This is one of the reason why I turned down UMass-Amherst and didn't bother applying to UCLA.</p>
<p>Agreed, this is why I picked a small school over Uconn.</p>
<p>Large schools aren't for everyone. That being said, I have survived two years of VERY large classes (500+ students in biology and organic chemistry) by being attentive in class, going to office hours, and getting to know my TA's/professors. Professors rarely see students in office hours, so you should utilize that time to get to know them/ask questions.</p>
<p>One key is to trick yourself into thinking the class is smaller than it really is. Similar to what post 10 advised, sit in the front. It is amazing how sitting in one of the first three rows changes the perception of the class size. Try it out and see for yourself.</p>
<p>sitting in the front an attending office hours are both gold for dealing with enormous classes, which i can agree with confidently as a student who's leaving penn state in the fall.
however, it's just not the same as being in a small class. it's much more difficult to get a hold of the teacher outside of office hours and nearly impossible to establish a real relationship or do research with them as an undergrad. they're just too busy.</p>
<p>do you really need to establish a real relationship with a professor you will only have for a gen ed class? Even at bigger schools, most upper level classes within your major are not going to have more than 30 people in them, probably 50 at most.</p>
<p>They're not any different from classes of 60 people, and you'll find those at most schools.</p>
<p>I go to OSU (30k undergrads, I think?) and it hasn't been hard for me to avoid big classes. Unless you seek them out you shouldn't a lot of huge classes. There are a lot of students at the school, but there are also many more classes than exist at smaller schools to make up for it.</p>