<p>Any current students willing to answer some questions. How are the professors? Are all classes taught by professors or do TA's teach intro classes? How large are your classes for the most part? Any information would be helpful as my son tries to make a final decision. Thanks</p>
<p>Hey, I'm a current freshman at RPI.</p>
<p>The professors here can be GREAT or blah..... It's pretty much that way at every school, though. I've had more good than bad professors, and it's relatively easy to change professors if you get one of the few mediocre ones. Believe it or not, classes are taught by real professors! The TA's are present to grade homework and answer minor questions for the most part. Classes for me so far have ranged from the size of 20 students to over 270 students in my intro chemistry lecture (but you go over the material in smaller 30 student recitations). On average I'd say there are about 40-50 students in most INTRODUCTION classes. Every semester the number of students per class drops significantly as classes become more specialized. This semester I have an average of about 30 students per class. The class structure system works pretty well. A lot of classes are taught "studio style." This means that you go to large lectures on some days of the week and small recitation classes on other days, where the material is practiced in small class sections.</p>
<p>I hope this information helps him with his decision. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me. RPI is an amazing school.</p>
<p>This is my second year at rpi, and I've seen some more of the teaching formats here so far...
I agree, professor can be good or bad. Some research on your part is important if you want a good professor, and I've definitely had my share of both. TA's are usually around, and they don't typically teach the class except for a few (CAD, freshman math recitations). Unfortunately, in my experience the TA's aren't as helpful as I hope they would be, many are grad students who have trouble speaking english. I can definitely name a few professors to get and to avoid, just IM me at seg9585 if you want some insight.
Anyway, average class sizes <em>so far</em> have been a couple hundred in the intro frehmen courses, and about 40-50 in most other courses. Many of the smaller classes are "studio" classes which involve a lecture and then in-class problems, which have more involvement in-class, while others are purely lecture. As you get up to the higher level courses, they become more specific and class sizes become much smaller</p>
<p>Thanks to both of you for your perspective. Are you both engineering majors and does that have an impact. My son was accepted into the School of Science and is considering biology, chemistry or math. Seg9585, my son may IM you with some questions.</p>