<p>Hi. I am waiting to hear back from UAlbany (I applied Early Action) and lately I have been hearing a lot about the size of classes.</p>
<p>At a tour of the college I was told that some of the basic intro courses can have up to 500 kids. What is a class like this like? Is it hard to pay attention? Is it hard to get to know your professors?</p>
<p>This is a major concern for me because the biggest class I have had in high school is 25 kids and it's very hard to pay attention and the teacher has a hard time getting everyone to focus.</p>
<p>If its as big as that, then class will be in a big lecture hall. Doubt attendance will be taken and teacher won’t know if you actually showed up or not.
Some might find it hard to pay attention but that’s only because with so many kids, teacher doesn’t really care much if you go online and play games on your laptop or do other stuff.
As for getting to know the teachers, you have to do that yourself and approach them, but yes, it would be a bit harder due to the fact that they have so many students.</p>
<p>A couple points, first, only a small portion of intro classes are held in lecture halls. I should know as I have taken some of those classes. Don’t get too concerned about something you won’t see much of. Large intro classes are not unusual either, just look at Ohio State, Florida etc. The vast majority of my classes were in small intimate sessions, sometimes fewer than a dozen students. We’re talking about a portion of the 101 classes.</p>