Major in poli sci and/or government with interests in philosophy and economics. No aid anywhere , money isn’t a huge issue but it would be good to save just in case of grad school.
UVA- Echols scholar, visited and was impressed by the Batten School. Sadly out-of-state so doubting if tuition is worth it. Obviously would be at least decent but not sure if it’s the best option. ~50K
Tufts- visited and was impressed with the atmosphere. Could use more info on poli sci/government (concern here) but I like Boston. ~60K
Georgetown- Also visited and hated the campus but obviously great for internships. Also have heard lots of rumors that govt. department is overrated, maybe should have gone for the Walsh school? DC is ok. ~60K
Pros/Cons or advice appreciated. Thanks. They seem to be about equal in terms of rankings. Also would be appreciated if you go to any of these places to tell me the WORST thing about the school.
I think the worst thing about UVa is size of the large first year lecture classes. However, even some exhorbitantly priced private universities have large first year lectures. Three years ago, UVa announced an intent to shift the large lectures to hybrid classes where students would watch lectures online and then attend sessions mainly to ask questions. I don’t know how much that has been implemented.
The best thing about Batten is that the classes are not large, and that it is easy to get the classes you want.
My son was very happy with his Batten education, and with the quality of his profs. He was recruited on-grounds last fall by a federal agency, where he now works, and he is being given lots of responsibility.
When comparing costs, also consider the costs of living. Housing prices in Cville have increased, but they are no where nearly as expensive as Boston and DC. Likewise, food will be more expensive in Boston and DC.
You’re referencing the public MOOCs (massive, open, online courses). They’re offered by many schools around the world. Those aren’t for credit and they aren’t part of any undergraduate program.
OP, UVA is fabulous in the area of politics and government. You’ll have many options to consider if you come here. However, all three of your choices are excellent and will provide wonderful professors and opportunities for jobs/internships/research. Think about where you will be happy and comfortable. That’s where you are most apt to be engaged in the classroom and in the college community. Good luck!
I was definitely not talking about MOOCs, which have been a failure across the US in many cases with 5% of students finishing the class. I was talking about all of the talk at UVa in 2013 about switching the large lectures to hybrid classes, with students watching the prof’s lectures outside of the classroom and then class time being used much more productively for questions and active discussions. It was intended to get away from the 400 to 600 person straight lecture classes. I don’t know how much it was implemented, but it appears it is not being as widely used as was discussed at the time.
As an example, Spanish 1010 at UVa is described a hybrid class.
“This is a technology-enhanced language course in which students will complete online activities on Connect on Tuesdays and Thursdays instead of attending class all five days of the week. Students should expect an average of 1-2 hours of online homework 5 days a week, plus an extra hour of work that substitutes for class time each on Tuesday/ Thursday. This is a flipped class, which means that students will learn grammar and vocabulary at home, and class time will be devoted to meaningful, authentic, and interactive practice.”
Ah. I don’t think discussions centered around the Teaching Resource Center was an announcement of a shift at UVA. Traditional undergraduate courses are the norm. Online homework is standard - and resources like Collab facilitate that.
There really aren’t too many really large lectures at UVA. I took an informal poll of recent graduates and student workers in our office and most could cite one large lecture from their time here. After all, the official capacity of Chem auditorium is 495. The courses we came up with: General Chem (largest section capacity set to 298), [Ken Elizinga](UVA's Ken Elzinga and the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility - YouTube)'s into Econ course, and Lou Bloomfield’s [url=<a href=“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjuInRIciB4%5D%22How”>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjuInRIciB4]“How Things Work” Physics course/url.
The online homework for Spanish 101 is required, but so is attendance. It’s a 16 person class.
When my son registered for his two intro chem classes in 2011 and 2012, the course listing showed over 500 students registered for each class. I asked my son how everyone was able to sit down before the class started, and he said not everyone showed up for every class, so there was room. He was thinking of a chemistry major at the time because he enjoyed AP chemistry so much, but that experience turned him off. It looks like those intro chem classes fortunately have shrunk since that time.
I just spent a minute at Lou’s List for Spring 2015 for examples, and it showed 3 pyschology classes with over 340 registered students, an organic chem class of 346 students, an envi science class with 495 registered students, intro bio classes with 493 and 416 students, Mr. Cappock’s macro econ class with 525 registered students, and a computer science class with 275 registered students. Of course, that is not the norm for the vast majority of classes, but it is common for first years to have more than one of those classes.
I wish the U. would move more towards the hybrid classes, which many college and universities have done. It makes much better use of class time. Instead, it seems the U. is handling the large lectures the same way they did when I was in those classes 35 years ago.
Many of the politics classes are in smaller rooms (such as 150 capacity), but it was hard for my son to register for them. If you look at student ratings of profs, the politics and history departments had some of the highest ratings. There just weren’t enough politics professors or classes when he was there.
Correction: 380 to 450 students were registered for each of his intro chem classes a few years ago, not over 500. I will add that Mr. Elzinga’s class was worth being packed into the chemistry auditorium like sardines 35 years ago, and my son said he was still an extremely great teacher when he had him.
Charlie, the point was that with all the UVA graduates and current students in our office, our list of big lectures wasn’t a long one. I don’t want OP to think that every first-year class at UVA is huge.
