<p>How many are taught by T.A.s?</p>
<p>How responsive to you were your professors during office hours</p>
<p>I’m especially interested in knowing about lower division math and science courses.</p>
<p>I personally have never had a course taught by a TA. When Lectures are large, generally there are discussion sections with TAs so that they can clear up Professor/Lecture information.</p>
<p>Professors LOVE when students come to office hours because they rarely see anyone.</p>
<p>Lower division intro classes in most subjects are going to be large. I'd say humanities classes can run 100-200, social sciences 300+, and the intro science classes like general chem are 500+. </p>
<p>I've never had an actual class taught by a TA, either, but they do run the discussions of 15-20 students (usually once a week).</p>
<p>As far as office hours, I wouldn't say that professors necessarily "love" it if you come. From my experience, they are normally friendly and willing to help you if you come with a specific and pertinent question about the material. They'll be much less happy to see you if you go for the sole purpose of sucking up or just trying to chat them up. Professors are busy people with demanding research schedules, but the ones that I have encountered have been generally amiable and willing to help out.</p>
<p>TA's are teaching ASSISTANTS - they are not & will not be your main professor or lecturer. Generally the lowest ranking person that can be your main lecturer is a Postdoc.
TA's will supervise a lab section, teach discussion sections, hold office hours, and do the vast majority of grading.</p>
<p>The general introductory course for a subject will be the largest courses (swifty27 had good estimates). They are huge classes because everyone needs them as prerequisites.</p>
<p>Professors are typically busy but all will stop to help you during their office hours. Don't go just to chit chat & suck up, go to ask questions. If you come when it isn't the scheduled office hour, then tough luck. TA's are very willing to help during office hours as well.</p>
<p>My introductory poli sci class this quarter was about 175-200. That was the biggest class I had. I had a lower division philosophy class that was about 75, and an introductory atmospheric science class that was also around 75-80. </p>
<p>Many of the large classes have discussion sections that you go to separate from the lecture. These usually have about 25 students in them and this is where you get to interact more personally with the TA and ask lots of questions and what not. </p>
<p>Professors and TAs are great with office hours provided you have something specific to ask them.</p>
<p>The largest class I've had for Fall Q was about 500 (ANT 002). Discussions were divided into sections with 17 students each. The remainder of my classes were about 25sh.</p>
<p>I believe I will be having a TA as a lecturer next quarter for IRE 001 (60 students).</p>
<p>No classes are solely taught by TAs.</p>
<p>Quality of office hours depends on professor - generally, if you pick your professors wisely (go to ratemyprofessors) they will help you during office hours.</p>
<p>Number of students depends on class. My Psych intro had 350 students while in English 3 there were only 20 students.</p>
<p>Thanks all! Can you tell me how having large classes impacts your experience? I mean all of the smaller schools talk about how their class size and the accessability of profs is so wonderful. I'm kind of trying to see if students at UCD feel short-changed in any way or if LACs are just playing up their smallness as an advantage even when it makes little difference. My D is dead set against any school over 5,000 right now and I think UCD is otherwise a great match for her. I</p>
<p>Yeah. The really important thing to keep in mind is that yeah there are a few big classes here, but most of your time (ie after your freshman year) will be spent in more specialized classes that more closely resemble a high school class in size.</p>
<p>I definitely didn't feel like I lost anything in large lectures. Maybe the ability to raise my hand and ask a question, but there's tons of academic support and tutoring here to answer any questions you might have, and you can always (and should) go to office hours to ask it personally.</p>
<p>I completely agree with bandislife. UCD students don't get shortchanged at all as long as you utilize all of the great resources that there are on campus. Yes, it might take a little extra effort to seek these things out, but it's worth it and they are fantastic resources.</p>
<p>For me, personally, it was a little bit of an adjustment to the size of the intro classes, but it has all worked out fine. The thing about college classes (especially on the quarter system) is that they are fast and there is a lot of information to learn. Your grade is often based on a few papers, a midterm, and the final. The tests are weighted very heavily. There is pretty much none of the busy work that is so ample in high school, which for me has been wonderful. </p>
<p>I've found that the best trick to making good grades (at least for me) is as simple as going to EVERY class, no matter how boring or how much I don't like the prof, taking thorough notes, and doing all of the reading on time. As long as I do that, I've found that come time for tests, I don't need to cram, just review. (Of course, my majors are in the humanities, so I can't really speak so much for the sciences :)) Also, if the size of the lecture seems daunting, just sit close to the front and you won't even notice all the people behind you (and it's less tempting to fall asleep).</p>
<p>And really, as bandislife mentioned, once you complete the intro classes, the size of classes shrinks dramatically and there is much more interaction with professors. For example, I'm taking a creative writing course next quarter with only 16 people in it. I know that many upper division seminars are very small (~20 or so).</p>
<p>So, to sum up, I don't think that students at schools the size of UCD are at any disadvantage, they simply have to work a bit harder and put in a bit more effort for the same opportunities that those at small LACs get. And that effort can really pay off in the end because UCD offers an incredible number of internships and research opportunities, and, if you can get one of them, they are really amazing opportunities that you might not get at other places.</p>
<p>thanks so much. I will share your posts w/ my DDs. In certain ways I can see that attending UCD could provide a greater growing experience for kids like my girls who are reticent to ask for help. Being put into a position where you have to seek it because no one is going to walk up and offer it to you might be the best thing. </p>
<p>I also appreciate the study/class seating tips swiftly27! Thank You for taking the time out from studying to help! Good Luck!</p>