Intellectuality, Flexibility, Interdisciplinary, and Courses

Colleges and Universities A-Z Pitzer College
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<p>Yes, this is a huge post with a lot of questions. Feel free to respond to all or one of these questions. Anything will help! :)</p>

<p>1. From the perspectives of Pitzer parents and students, how is the intellectual vigor of the student body at Pitzer? Do the majority of students engage in "deep conversations" about topics such as philosophies, politics, and current events outside of classrooms? (There's a difference between having those discussions in classrooms where it's expected and after class where it isn't.) Do Pitzer students have fun having those conversations? Do they have fun learning, and to what extent?</p>

<p>For example, the UChicago and Swarthmore student bodies are known for having these conversations because they love learning and thinking. On the other hand, Lehigh, my current school, these talks are less prevalent. Of course, there are definitely going to be a few who like having these talks, but from what I've seen so far, most of the discussions revolve around small things, such as gossip, TV, parties, and campus events (which isn't bad, but I'd like to see more conversational variety, especially since college is one of the few opportunities in your life where you are really surrounded by a variety of people with a variety of views, and I'd like to take advantage of it).</p>

<p>A lot of the students don't seem to like learning just for the sake of learning either, which upperclassmen, faculty, and the administration have also pointed out. For example, many were unhappy about having to attend guest lectures and only attended because they had to.</p>

<p>*But since Pitzer is such a a socially- and politically-active school, I'm sure that intellectual conversations are more of the norm than of the exception, or at least they're more common there than elsewhere. Is this true?</p>

<ol>
<li>"Flexibility" is a term that is used by a lot of colleges. But in your own words, how is Pitzer "flexible" since there are different types of "flexibility"?*</li>
</ol>

<p>Penn considers itself to be "flexible" because undergraduate students can take courses in all of its undergraduate and graduate schools and create their own "individualized major." However, it isn't flexible in the fact that it's very unlikely that students can transfer to from one school to another (ex. Engineering to Business).</p>

<p>Lehigh students, on the other hand, can transfer between schools easily, but the extent to which you can form your own "plan of study" is by completing an "independent study" for course credit, not to the extent of crafting their own majors. Students can also only use one course as credit for two majors (depends on the major, though).</p>

<p>3. Like the word "flexibility," "interdisciplinary" is used a lot as well. In your experiences, how is Pitzer "interdisciplinary"?</p>

<p>Lehigh's interdisciplinary focus is on certain programs (ex. computer science and engineering, enrolling in both engineering and Arts and Sciences) and certain majors/minors.</p>

<p>For the latter, many degrees are non-traditional (ex. Health, Medicine, and Society, Sociology/Anthropology, Scientific Journalism) and require courses from different fields. Health, Medicine, and Society, for example, offers courses from journalism, philosophy, history, English, and sociology/anthropology. Double majors and minors are also encouraged.</p>

<p>*Does Pitzer approach its interdisciplinary focus a different way, or in a similar way, and how so?</p>

<ol>
<li>How large are the intro and general requirement courses? Like any other course, is it a 11:1 student-faculty ratio, or are they larger?*</li>
</ol>

<p>Lehigh says that it has a 10:1 student-faculty ratio, though its intro and general requirement courses (math, chemistry, organic chemistry) are large and thus taught in a lecture style, which I don't prefer. Its scholars program seems to be rather large as well, with 16 students for one professor.</p>

<p>However, those types of courses may just have large numbers universally and I'm just ignorant. Is it different at Pitzer, though?</p>

<p>Thank you so much! This will really help!</p>

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<p>Oh my god, I am so sorry for all of these questions.</p>

<p>But I read about the Caucasian Culture Club story and how the faculty, administration, and students meet together to host several discussions and lectures about the controversy and its underlying interests (race in America, what’s culturally ethical and what’s not, etc.). Do things like this happen on a regular basis, where the faculty, administration, and students can so easily come together to discuss issues such as these? I just think something like this is so amazing, because professors in many colleges are very accessible, yet I haven’t heard about large campus-wide events like these before.</p>

<p>Going off from that question, are there any other examples such as the one above that you can think of that highlight the cooperation among the students, faculty, and administration? From your own experience, do the higher-ups treat students like equals, and are they easy to work with?</p>

<p>In contrast, Lehigh’s administration is difficult to work with, from what upperclassmen and I’ve experienced. They don’t seem to be very much involved and its bureaucratic structure just seems to be hard to work with in general; they don’t respond to emails in a timely fashion and I don’t see them interacting with students much.</p>

<p>Also, how serious and active are the student organizations there in Pitzer and the 5Cs? From what you’ve seen, are there any in particular that have done some really impressive work, and if so, do you have any examples?</p>

<p>At Lehigh, despite having many organizations, very few are actually very active or serious (they’re in the single digits). I’m more interested in the advocacy aspect of them, yet a lot of them seem to be more for social purposes.</p>

<p>Is there anyone or anywhere else you can refer me to that can provide me with more information? Pitzer’s student organizations site is very concise. And are there any more organizations besides those on the website?</p>

<p>Once again, thank you so much, and again, I apologize for the number of questions (feel free to respond to as many or as little as you’d like)!</p>

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<p>I adressed a lot of these questions in a previous thread, but I’ll still try to give you a general overview of the answers.
Pitzer’s intellectualism has thankfully evolved from being centered around environmentalism social justice to every range of academic and political interest. While as a whole it is not as intense as Chicago, Pitzer provides a prefect avenue for you to choose how intense you want your academic and intellectual experience to be, and like minded people will be found on Pitzer’s campus and all around the 5Cs.
The flexibility is really one of Pitzer’s best attributes. While other schools have a core or several GE requirments to fulfill, I love the fact that at Pitzer you have the ability, from very early on, to pursue your own interests as deep as you want them to. Again, the Claremont Colleges are the perfect complement to a small LAC experience, and if you can’t find it at Pitzer, you can certainly find it at one of the other 4 colleges, and vice versa.</p>