<p>Many large, state universities trade undergraduate attention for large enrollment numbers and research opportunities. Is UMich any different? In the LSA the class sizes are manageble*, but is this a sign of undergraduate commitment? Are most of the teachers assistant profs. or TA's?</p>
<p>*according to the 2006</a> LSA Profile, p. 4, the avg. class size was between 35(science) and 18(english).</p>
<p>People exaggerate the consequences of having large classes. Even if your class has 200+ students you can still get individual attention from your teacher. You just need to be willing and motivated to seek help on your own.</p>
<p>I think it's really upto you to create your own niche at college. Even at the highly-selective Ivy League colleges, where student-teacher ratios are minuscle, introductory class sizes are huge. Moreover, if you're a reclusive person who is generally afraid of approaching people, you will have a hard time ANYWHERE not just at a large,state university. That's why it is really up to you to approach the professors/TA's, I'm sure they'll help you out.</p>
<p>Is finding time to talk to profs like winning the lottery or do they have generous office hours? If yes, is there a mad rush for attention during these hours or do most students fail to take advantage of this time?</p>
<p>I kind of worried about that too...but I think there are ways to get around larger, more impersonal lectures. I think there are seminars available for specific department. And, of course, there are the freshman seminars too.</p>
<p>Take advantage of the individual attention they offer. I didn't first semester and my GPA suffered. For a big intro class like Econ 101, the professor has office hours, the GSI has office hours, the Michigan Economics Society tutors, there are exam review sessions, etc. take advantage of these kind of things.</p>
<p>I'm guessing that a lot of you will be taking Chem 130 in the fall. I pretty much knew all of this stuff from high school so I didn't spend much time outside of class on it, but I realize the material can be difficult. There are study groups at the Science Learning Center, GSI/prof office hours, exam reviews, etc. If you need the help it's there.</p>
<p>Physics 140 is the same way. SLC study groups, office hours, exam reviews...take advantage of these kinds of things.</p>
<p>For math classes there is the math help room in East Hall. They have grad students or whatever there to help you out with your homework.</p>
<p>Are GSI's usually unfair graders and incompetent? Of course there will be exceptions, but I'm more curious about the rule.</p>
<p>Is finding time to talk to profs like winning the lottery or do they have generous office hours? If yes, is there a mad rush for attention during these hours or do most students fail to take advantage of this time?</p>
<p>With the exception of the day or two before exams there is ALWAYS time to talk to profs. Most people do not utilize office hours until right before the exam when it is too late to get adequate help. In my experience, even if you cannot make a profs office hours, they are very willing to take time outside of their schedules to meet with you and help you with the material (provided you are polite when asking...)</p>
<p>Are GSI's usually unfair graders and incompetent? Of course there will be exceptions, but I'm more curious about the rule.</p>
<p>Generally, with the exception of one of my upper level courses (which I thought was maybe questionable), GSIs usually grade fairly, and if you approach them respectfully with grading concerns, they are more than happy to re-look anything they may have missed the first time around (although I can't speak for the humanities, which I have only taken 2 classes in)</p>
<p>Speaking from my personal experience, I would highly reccomend office hours for at least your first term when you are confused about the material in anyway...</p>
<p>And I've never had trouble getting in touch with profs.</p>
<p>90% of my classes dont have more than 30 students</p>
<p>Can anyone speak for the GSI's in the humanities? I think the course work is a little more subjective in those departments.</p>
<p>Tennesse, some classes at Michigan can be huge, particularly at the intro level. But contrary to popular belief, the focus of the University is not on graduate students...or undergraduate students for that matter. It is on research and education. Those interested in such pursuits are welcome and will find opportunities hard to match...or beat for that matter. The same can be said of any elite research university, private or public. That includes Cal, Chicago, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, MIT, Northwestern, Penn, Stanford, UCLA and severa other top institutions.</p>
<p>Alexandre: When do the classes get smaller? And are there any obscure, but great the departments for a student looking for personal attention? I've heard positive things about majors like Middle Eastern Studies(not quite sure if that's what it's called) and even Film Studies.</p>
<p>I've also heard of hundred person lectures at the 400 level in popular departments like psychology.</p>
<p>At any university, popular majors like Econ, Political Science and Psych are going to attract many majors and as such, are going to have larger classes. Less popular majors, like Middle Easter Studies or an obscure Foreign Language will probably attract far fewer students and therefore, have smaller classes. </p>
<p>As far as getting personal attention from professors, one must just make the effort. From my experience, professors are always willing to make thime for their students and can be very helpful.</p>
<p>So Econ, PoliSci and Pysch have larger classes even at the higher levels? Is this ALL the classes? There is some amount of diversity in class offerings so a student would be able to opt for smaller classes if they want em',right?</p>
<p>You will be able to take classes with 20 students in any of those majors. Most Econ classes (save 101, 102, 401 and 402) will have 20-40 students. I don't understand why you are so obsessed about class size. You do realize that class size and effective learning are unrelated. Whether a professor has 15 students or 50 students, he/she still has greater obligations, such as funding for their research, the 5 or so PhD candidates thei advise, their actual research and publications etc... Don't buy the BS that smaller classes equals more attention or better education. In the case of LACs, it does, but defnitely not in the case of research universities. And LACs may offer more individualized attention, but then you are settling on an inferior curriculum and range of classes. There is not perfect scenario.</p>
<p>A 400 person class seems awesome. And upper level? Which classes are these? Seriously?</p>
<p>i loved big class lol</p>
<p>A larger curriculum for more class variety is a fair trade-off. I was just worried that most of the upper level courses in popular majors were that large. That wouldn't be too awesome.</p>
<p>I did not experience many "large" 300+ level classes at Michigan. Of course, it depends on your definition of large. To me, large means over 50 students. 20-40 students is manageable and fewer than 20 is small.</p>