<p>U mich has a better name in academia than penn state does. But does anyone know how the teaching quality differs? There a lot of complains concerning the sheer amounts of TAs at Michigan, does PSU have the same issue? My research so far has told me that PSU cares more about its undergraduates than michigan does....any words?</p>
<p>During my first year at Penn State, I didn't have any TA teaching any of my classes. They were there for help only. It was mostly the professors that taught in class and they were easily approachable in office hours or through email. </p>
<p>I don't know about UMich. I'll find out this fall. :)</p>
<p>MightyNick, are you transferring to Umich in the fall? Why?</p>
<p>I have a few reasons.</p>
<ol>
<li>Didn't like the hardcore party atmosphere at PSU. </li>
<li>UM has a better reputation overall and is more prestigious</li>
<li>UM is more diverse</li>
<li>UM was my first choice university in high school and I always wanted to go there.</li>
<li>I think UM will help me get into a better grad school. </li>
<li>It has a better Business and Economics program. While I'll be doing Economics unless I get into their Business school, I personally think its better than majoring in Finance/Accounting at Smeal. Some people may argue that majoring in Business (especially when I have a 3.9+ gpa) at PSU might be better than majoring in Economics at Michigan, I would still go to UM due to the reasons mentioned above.</li>
</ol>
<p>What kind of GPA would one need to have a good chance of transferring to Umich from PSU?</p>
<p>I think 3.5 or over would give you a good shot, although a lot can depend on the difficulty of courses you take. If you're taking hard classes like Physics, Chem, English, Calc 141 etc then you can probably transfer in with a GPA around 3.4-3.5. If you have one or two challenging courses and the rest are general ed. classes then you probably need a higher GPA.</p>
<p>I haven't heard of nor being in a class with TA's teaching at psu yet. Generally in large lecture classes, they will have a weekly section with the TA's for recitation or help with group projects. Other than that, the ta is just there to help you with administrative matters. Oh, and most labs for intro chem,bio,etc are administered by TA's as well, who usually just give out quizzes and roughly explain the procedure before letting the students do the lab.</p>
<p>Lil, have you taken any exams so far and have you been working?</p>
<p>I took my first chemistry exam yesterday morning, and I've decided to begin working in the fall/spring. I just want to relax this summer and still enjoy college life.</p>
<p>My chemistry class has 4 TA's. They don't teach in the big lecture hall or anything. We just go to recitation in small groups (about 25-30 kids), and theres 1 TA there to collect homework, give out quizzes, grades all the materials, and answer any chemistry related problems you may have. They also hold review sessions for exams. THEY ARE SO HELPFUL!</p>
<p>By the way, how long does it usually take for them to email our score reports for exams? 1 day? 2 days? I heard it was a couple days, but that isn't specific enough. I want to know now!</p>