Transfer out of University of MN-Twin Cities to attend St. Thomas-Env Science Major

Transfer Students
1

<p>I'm an environmental science major, and I am getting a terrible university experience at the U of M. I expected terrible student/teacher ratios for my general classes, but even in my Hydrology and Ecology courses within my college (CFANS) I am still at a professor/student ratio of about 80+/1. </p>

<p>I attended Normandale Community College and had 40/1 student/teacher ratios usually 30/1 after people dropped at the deadline. I also attended a private grade school 22/1, and a decently funded public school (armstrong-in Plymouth, MN) 28/1 student to teacher ratios. My chemistry lecture at the U is 180+, and my calculus lecture is 150+</p>

<p>I am also a non-standard student since I am a veteran, and have 100% Gi Bill benefits with unlimited yellow ribbon funds, and Navy College Fund. (School is free at either college for me).</p>

<p>I work for our state's pollution control agency, so I have work expereince within my major. </p>

<p>Will I be missing out on anything by transferring? I will probably be adding another semester since I will have a language requirement, and catholic ed requirements tacked onto my degree program.
I will have around 70 credits at the end of this semester, and both schools I will have around 84 credits remaining on my degree programs. </p>

<p>I honestly feel like I am drowning at this University(U of M-Twin Cities) since the class sizes are too large. </p>

<p>(Background, I obtained around 42 credits at Normandale CC, prior to transferring to the U of MN) I transferred to the U of M as an Econ major and switched to environmental science since the full calculus sequence isn't realistic for myself.(Weak at math)
Either way, I will run over 120 credits regardless of U of M or St. Thomas. </p>

<p>Advice/Opinions?
I feel like I will perform better at St. Thomas possibly going to U of M grad school. Whereas, at the U of M I feel like I will keep running down my GPA making grad school unattainable. (Transferred into the U with a 3.71, and I'm now at a 3.03)</p>

2

<p>Oh that sounds terrible. I’ve heard kinda the familiar issue from my aunt too. She then trannsfered to a different university. I’m also a student from NCC and plan to transfer to the U of M next fall. I hope I won’t face the same problem since Im pretty much done with engineering foundation at Normandale.</p>

3

<p>If you feel you will do better, and you will have the same professional opportunities, I say go. The only reason to stay in a place that you don’t like, is if the benefits outweigh the costs. It doesn’t look like there are any particular benefits for you at U MN.</p>

4

<p>As you move into upper-division courses, the class sizes do tend to get smaller. You can search for the courses you have remaining in your degree and look at the class sizes to find out how many big lectures you have left.</p>

<p>Are you visiting office hours to ask your professors questions?</p>

<p>I think the UofM is a better program for your subject, with more varied courses and more accomplished faculty. On the other hand, since you work for the PCA perhaps you already have the professional connections you need to find employment.</p>

5

<p>I have been visiting office hours when I can. Unfortunately, between work and other coursework I can only obtain assistance for Hydrology and Chemistry. I have a good handle on my Ecology class and get assitance prior to class if I have a question on anything since the instructor is usually there 10 mins before class, and my Hydrology class is in the same classroom afterwords so I get a bit of time to talk with the Professor for that class. (Another pain is that to get assistance with Hydro or Ecology I have to make a return bus trip to class 20mins each way. Whereas, if I attended St. Thomas I could get assistance right after class since I don’t have to commute from Minneapolis back to St. Paul. As far as upper-division. My Hydrology course is 3XXX level, and my Ecology of Managed systems is also a 3XXX, which is what surprised me since neither of these classes are required for the other Environmental Science, Policy, and Management tracks at the U. (I’m in the Environmental Science track)</p>

6

<p>There are 4-5000 level courses in hydrology that are smaller. I don’t know enough about that subject to compare them, but you can check out the relevant ESPM and SOIL courses vs. the FR course and make your own comparison.</p>

<p>If your primary concern is class size, my advice is to map out the rest of your degree at the UofM and spend some time checking out the individual classes involved. That’s the only way to know.</p>

<p>It sounds like you may have some other needs that might make St. Thomas a better fit. That’s fine. You have work experience and connections, which will count for a lot more than the program.</p>

7

<p>I actually lost any desire to continue with hydrology after taking this current Hydrology course. I’m hanging on by a thread in my class due to no statistics background, and difficulty using microsoft excel to perform the calculations for the assignments-neither of which were in the course pre-requisites. </p>

<p>This isn’t basic excel userability issues either. I can do sums, product, equations, if-then statements in excel, but we have to apply these in addition to formulas using $ values to isolate certain values and it’s been a complete bear. I mean I am learning a lot in this class, but who cares when I will be lucky to have a C+ or B- in the class.</p>