<p>you don't know what you want to major in? I think the school is great, but best for those who go in focused and with a concrete goal. With big classes and (I assume) little time with your advisor, I imagine its easy to get lost in the shuffle, leading to graduating in 5 years or worse, graduating and still not having a clue. Of course that can happen anywhere but at a small LAC at least the classes are small and you get to know your advisor/profs really well. Thoughts?</p>
<p>I can’t speak as someone who went in with an undecided track, but I can give my perception based on my experience and what my friends experienced.</p>
<p>The huge lectures are basically just the intro courses. Intro chem, Intro cs, Econ, etc… Once you hit 200+ level courses, you’re in classes of between 8 and say, 80. Or something like that. You’ll also sometimes have TAs who teach section (~25 people). Get to know your TA(s) well. Usually you can get tips/culture gossip about some departments from them, as well as extra hints on homework they might ‘accidentally’ drop at you.</p>
<p>Go to office hours. Your professor(s) are more likely to be sitting in their offices, bored out of their minds and having nothing to do since usually students are too lazy (or scared) to go to office hours. Strike up a conversation and get to know the teacher. They can give you guidance and sometimes put in a good word for you if you later apply to a competitive major if they’re on the admissions committee.</p>
<p>With the advisors, YOU have to be proactive. They won’t reach out to you, because there are way too many students. A lot of students just don’t care to go chat with their advisor(s). Get to know them early and work closely with 1-2 of them. Go visit or email in once a quarter to keep in touch. It’s easier and less scary that you might think. :)</p>
<p>Yes, it’s easy to get lost at UW. However, put in about an hour of your time (advisors) per quarter and maybe 15 minutes a week (professor) and you’ll be waaaaaaaaay ahead of 90%* of the students. </p>
<p>Do you know what you’re interested in general? Is it more of sciences? Fine arts? Plenty of people go into UW with no idea what they want to do, take a bunch of different classes (these will satisfy your graduation requirements, anyway!), then find something they fall in love with. You might have to take an extra quarter, or even a year, but that’s more common than you think.</p>
<p>I know I couldn’t give a really good answer, but I hope this helps!</p>
<p>*I just made up that statistic.</p>
<p>Speedsolver, on the contrary, your post was really helpful exactly the kind of info I’m looking for. Kind of what I would have guessed as well. Thanks!</p>
<p>Glad to hear! Also, the people I know of who went into UW with no idea what they were going to do are in different majors/fields/tracks: engineering, pre-med, English, ethnic studies, music, etc… so I’d want to extrapolate and say that in general, advisors are pretty good if you’re on top of things.</p>
<p>I think a student’s experience at the University of Washington really begins with the question of why you’re going here in the first place. Some people go because they’ve always wanted to go here (like most schools, however cliche it may sound), while others (like myself) go here because it’s a cheap, in-state option. Once you place yourself into one of those two major categories, then you can take a more in-depth analysis on how to make UW more than just any state university experience. With that said, I’ve personally had a relatively good time at UW. For now, I’ll just talk about the academic environment at UW. Overall, there are ups and downs to the system. Obviously, introductory courses serve larger class sizes; in fact, my microeconomics lecture had over 500 people. Everyone wants to do well in a lucrative major, so you’ll have to duke it out if you want to get somewhere at this university. Outside of your typical general chemistry/calculus/economics/psychology/computer science courses, the UW curriculum has some very interesting, smaller-sized courses. I don’t know all the fun, little courses at UW, but there was a course covering the implementation of “memes” in pop culture, and its effects on blah blah. Anyway, the atmosphere around midterms and finals is very stressful and tense. You’ve been forewarned; be ready to put in many hours at the undergraduate library. UW runs on the basis of curving almost all of its courses, especially with the introductory ones. This is perhaps the first thing that makes or breaks your experience at UW because you’ll either see how good it feels to not have to work as hard to get a higher grade OR see how hard it is to do well and still fail. A friend of mine just finished the second of three gen. chem classes this winter; he had to deal with a class average of almost 90%, which made his 96% in the class nothing better than a 3.5 in the end. On the other hand, I know someone who has the typical “Pre-Med” mindset (not skill-set), who ended up getting a 1.5 in the first gen. chem class due to the curve. Since he didn’t meet the minimum of 1.7 to pass on to the next course in the series, he’s now taking it again in hopes of doing better. The thing is, most science majors require nothing lower than a 2.0 to APPLY, so even if he “passes on” with a 1.7, his chances of getting where he wants are slim to none. Then again, he’s a moron. Still, that’s some scary stuff right there. After that, applying to your major is the next step, which also will be difficult, and for many, a sad process. I know a fair amount of students that don’t end up getting into their major, and settling for majors that don’t really do crap for them at all. That’s when transferring comes into the picture. I myself have also considered this, and I’m still a freshman (by age). In summary, UW’s academic environment is good for students that want to stay focused and plan to work hard, but bad for those who do poor (and I mean really bad). For the entire university experience, it would take me a little longer to complete the picture. Just know that it’s always very cloudy, windy and generally rainy, so if you’re okay with such conditions, then attend this university and make it your own. If anyone wants to know more about UW (academics, student life, events, etc), just message me and I can try to be more specific about whatever you may want to know.</p>
<p>This year has been pretty dry and mild in terms of weather compared to other years, so I hope you’re ready for more rain in the next few years. :)</p>
<p>Thanks Mochiman24, really helpful, but scary! We are in-state so the weather isn’t a concern, and we fall into the “UW because it is affordable” camp. Sounds like you have to hit the ground running, work really hard and take the extra steps necessary to do well in the STEM courses. All while balancing the fun temptations of Freshman year. It’s easy to see how some students get derailed, especially if HS wasn’t that hard and/or had the usual grade inflation with no curve. Good to know these things ahead of time, so thanks.</p>