<p>I mean schools over 20,000 students. Some schools I am applying to range from 20,000 to 50,000. How hard is it to get to know your professors compared to a school with 5,000 students or less? I don't just mean them knowing your name, but also your hobbies and talents and stuff like that. I mean more of a friendship? Are those kinds of relationships rare? Even for a small school? I still have a year until college, but would it be acceptable to just go talk to the professors after the first day? Just get to know them? I mean as I watch the MIT lectures, the professor does not seem to know anyone's name. And MIT is not a big school. That worries me.</p>
<p>I’d say it’s definitely possible for professors to know your name. My school has between 40,000 and 50,000 students.
A professor for a class I just finished not only insisted on knowing everyone’s name, but insisted that everyone in the class know everyone else’s name as well. We even had a quiz on it (I got 100%, it’s not that hard). We also went to his house after the final for a potluck dinner.
Another professor I had for a physics lecture recognized me by name on campus two years later and greeted me enthusiastically. I had only talked to him a few times, always to ask questions about the material.
Other times professors don’t care about knowing their students, so I’d say it really just depends on the professor and on you.</p>
<p>You just have to put more effort into it. Although if really knowing your professors is a huge deal with you I would lean away from large schools. Also your major department will not be that huge so you’ll probably get to know some professors if you take a lot of their classes. Most professors have office hours where you can go ask questions or just talk to them and say hi, so you’re free to do that.</p>
<p>It’s about what’s important to you. I don’t give a damn about my professors so a big school works really well for me.</p>
<p>Well, personally, knowing my teachers on a more personal level help with me actually learning.</p>
<p>It sounds like you thrive off of having teachers as opposed to lecturers. I advise you to avoid larger schools; classes can reach 400 or 500 students in extreme cases. Maybe look into liberal arts colleges?</p>
<p>Eh, at large schools the degree to which you know your professor is almost always a function of the effort you put into it. There are some large classes, so you have to actually try to get to know them by going to office hours, but it can be done (and often is). It is just also easy to fade into anonymity if you really want to.</p>
<p>It’s been very easy for me. Not as many people approach the professor or go to office hours as you would think. I had a really nice professor who I always went to for help. Once I saw her walking, she recognized me and even started a conversation.</p>
<p>I’m going to a small school this fall. From what I’ve heard, it’s rather rare or difficult to know your profs well at a large school because there are just too many people. If you want to be more sure that you’ll get to know them, choose a small school. It sounds like you’d be happier there.</p>
<p>Doesn’t matter so much about how many students are in the school. The number that matters is the average students per class. </p>
<p>I go to Boston University which is a relatively large school (32,000~ students) but while we have large lectures, we also have small discussion classes where we can get to know our teachers if we want.</p>
<p>^I think even huge schools have some small discussion classes. I go to UW-Madison which is about 40,000 students and we have lots of those…I hate them personally, I’d rather be anonymous and sit in the back of a 500-person lecture hall, lol.</p>
<p>Not that hard. No one ever seems to show up to office hours.</p>
<p>Well, research is my main priority and small schools seem to lack in the research department. I mean, I understand most of the info given to me; I rarely need to ask questions. I mean, when they derive formulas and I just stare at it for a while; I just get the relationship it has with other equations and I just get it. Getting to know them would help me land research opportunities and stuff like that. I also plan on becoming a professor myself, so I want to get pointers and stuff from actual professors.</p>
<p>Then in your case I would say go for a school that is known for research, probably a larger school, but go to all the office hours. I don’t think you will have much of a problem.</p>
<p>Smaller/medium-sized schools can still have research… Like Vandy is research-oriented, and every prof I’ve ever had (STEM) has to concurrently do research at the university, which definitely opens up a lot of doors to those that want to do research since there’s only about 6,000 total students.</p>
<p>I went to umich and developed friendships with all of the professors I put the slightest effort into getting to know, and a few without effort. We have both big classes and small classes, I was able to get to know the professor just as well in both circumstances. You just have to be willing to go to office hours from time to time and make the effort to make yourself know, it’s not hard.</p>
<p>From what I have heard from a freshman who goes to an UC, during the office hours, only a handful of students show up. That seems like fun. Now, If I hang out with professors, would that put me in a bad light as a “suck up”/“kiss up” type of person?</p>
<p>Nah, you’re probably fine. Most professors I had wanted students to come in and talk to them, and if you actually went in I’m sure you could infer whether they wanted you there or not. Also, beyond the first day when you can just go in and say hi, I’d actually come with some questions or something you wanted to discuss…don’t just go to “hang out” with them. That seems awkward.</p>
<p>Very few people go to office hours at my school as well.</p>
<p>Hang out was a bad choice of words.</p>