My D started out looking at small schools, but now UCF-Burnett Honors seem to be a strong contender. When we toured, classes weren’t in session, so we will make a return trip, but I’d like to know more about the ‘crowds’ at UCF.
Does it feel crowded or is there enough space and difference in schedules, etc that it isn’t crowded, except at events that draw a crowd? (D figures if there is a ‘crowd event’ she can just choose not to be part of the crowd.)
I was imagining large schools feeling like the mall at Christmas, but we did get to visit USF during school, and it didn’t feel that way at all…It was only crowded at meal time, in the dining halls/union.
I have seen the percentages of classes under 20 students (about 25%), 20-50 students (about 50%), and over 50 students (about 25%). How does this actually play out? How many huge, large or smaller classes will a student likely have each semester? (Anthropology major-will include some sciences)
In the mid sized classes, is there discussion and participation? It would seem difficult to do that with 40ish students…or are they all lecture based?
I’ve read that near Towers it becomes tail-gate central during home football games. Does that mean if you are in Tower 3-for the honors LLC, there will be swarms of people around your dorm on these days? How long does this tailgating last…just the day of the game, or does it start a day or 2 ahead of the game? Does this happen for other sports too?
Thank you!
I’m in the honors college so I’ll try to answer your questions.
- UCF has the second most students out of all colleges in the U.S. It's going to have crowds sort of but I don't really consider them crowds. Usually the only times I feel crowded are when people are waiting for their classroom to open up and in he student union during lunch time but even then it's a good atmosphere. It's never a problem though. Events obviously draw crowds but I don't understand why she would choose to not go because it was crowded. If you're trying to get around the crowd you can usually easily redirect around it. It's actually deserted on most holidays and weekends like today.
- In terms of class size I will direct you to the course catalog: http://catalog.ucf.edu/content/documents/programs/Anthropology_BA.pdf
It looks a little daunting but you can skip to the bottom to see what courses your daughter would be taking. I think it is crucial that she knows this by heart, but what you will be happy to know is that there are actually no true science courses on here in the sense of bio, chem, and physics. I assume since your daughter is in the honor's college she will be coming in with a handful of credits from AP which will allow her to get out of large classes like freshman english which is on the order of 300+ students. She will also have the ability to take honor's courses which will limit to the class size to at most 20 students but when your daughter goes to orientation she needs to make sure that she has these classes already registered (you might even want to try enrolling before they officially open registration but I am not sure if you will be able to do that), because these classes fill up super quickly.
- In the honor's courses there are plenty of opportunities to participate and discuss but this needs to be from the student. All classes are lecture based except for the very special cases. Honor's classes are just more similar to high school where every body gets to know each other and it's more personal. Another thing is that the honor's courses are mostly only for lower division courses because they attract all majors. Also, it would do well for your daughter to have a diverse selection of courses and to not avoid lecture hall courses because it will give her the opportunity to learn in different ways. The honor's symposium is actually half large lecture then the second half is small discussion groups.
- Yeah there are alot of crowds because tower 3 is right across the street from memory mall which is the stretch of grass where most tailgating occurs. Not too bad to where you can't walk through it though. I consider it a good thing because I enjoy it and the atmosphere it brings. If your daughter doesn't enjoy crowds then she might want to get off campus early that morning or something. Also, if she doesn't drink there are alot of mostly christian organization that tailgate without alcohol. The tailgating dos start the day of the game and at different times depending on the game usually three if it's a night game, noon if it's in the afternoon, and I don't believe they allow tailgating if it's a noon game. Just to make it clear, most of the tailgating will occur across the street. The only time they come out to tower 3 is when they are walking to the game which lasts for about fifteen minutes. Usually it only happens for football but sometimes they have small tailgates for other special games like UCF-USF basketball.
- If you do decide to go to UCF (which I hope you do because it is a great school), Towers 3 is the way to go. Since your daughter has been accepted to burnett and you are active in the college selection I assume she will get or has been offered a premiere level scholarship. The cost of towers is high but it really is the best place to live on campus especially for someone dedicated to their studies. My analogy is that you want to go to all the parties not be living with all the parties.
If you don’t want to read that big block of text:
- Crowds are present but not suffocating
- Honor’s classes are limited to 20 max and upper division courses which usually aren’t available as honors are around 50
- Lots of discussion and participation in honor’s classes but they’re usually still lecture format
- Tailgating is right beside towers but it’s fun to be a part of
- Tower’s is best place on campus even though it is more expensive
Thank you @jimmyboy23! I appreciate the detailed response! We plan to go to UCF to visit again next month, so we will be able to get a better idea of the ‘crowds’. Hopefully she will get to sit in on a class while we are there.
In the large lecture hall classes, are they generally full…all the seats filled, or do they typically have lots of empty seats…making it easy to sit where you want?
The main thing to realize is that most introductory classes and gen eds even on the first week will have room for everyone and there are definitely seats available but not a whole lot, but it doesn’t stay this way. Usually after about the first three weeks attendance drops off to about only half the students showing up on any given day which obviously means half the seats in the auditorium will be available.
My advice about sitting in on a lecture is that you can do it but it is usually not allowed by the professor (although most don’t really care they just don’t want people talking to their friends during the lecture). If you go into a lecture of around 200 students then the professor probably wouldn’t notice. My second piece of advice is to find out where your daughter might be having a lot of her large lectures because there is a difference between the lecture hall for physics biology and communication. She might find the physics one very depressing or the speech one very claustrophobic but it won’t matter if she’s only taking one class in her entire college career in that specific lecture hall. For an anthropology major you’d probably want to check out the college of sciences and the nicholson school of communication lecture halls
Another thing to be aware of is that lecture hall classes are very informal. You will have people who come in half-dressed and people who spend half the time on their laptop doing facebook and youtube. This is a result of the impersonal nature of lecture hall classes. This type of behavior rarely if ever happens in honors or upper division classes because the professor can notice it and call you out on it right away.
Honor’s classes and incoming AP/IB credits will definitely help with someone like our daughter who would prefer the less crowded environment. She should be able to get into honor’s classes for most of her gen eds that she still has to do and then she will be in her major classes which very rarely go over one hundred at the sophomore level and 50 at the junior-senior level.
Thank you again @jimmyboy23, I hadn’t thought about different lecture halls feeling very different. I honestly can’t even imagine what it would be like to be in a class of 50 students, much less 100+! I do think it will be important for her to try it out first.
I appreciate the information!