<p>Not all GE's are large either. ARLT100 (Category V GE) is capped at 30 students. WRIT140 (1st semester writing requirement) is capped at 15.</p>
<p>writ140 is small? awesome:) how about general ed's for a language like spanish?</p>
<p>foreign langs are around 20 students I think...</p>
<p>you can see at the schedule for the current semester <a href="http://www.usc.edu/academics/classes/term_20061/%5B/url%5D">http://www.usc.edu/academics/classes/term_20061/</a></p>
<p>click on your department - what you are looking for is "seats" under "lec" and "lab" for each class. Ignore "Qz" slots as they are when you take your exams, so it doesn't matter how large they are.</p>
<p>thank you.</p>
<p>For GEs, there are a few other classes that are capped at about 50, which is certainly quite small. Some that come to mind are SOCI-142 and SOCI-169 in Cat. VI.</p>
<p>"There really is no need to be rude ... itdoesn'tmatter did not appear to be attcking anyone in his/her original post and it seems he/she is entitled to his/her opinion..."</p>
<p>I wasn't attacking itdoesn'tmatter. Perhaps my language was a little pointed, which I apologize for, but we shouldn't limit ourselves to only the softest of euphemisms for the sake of ensuring no one's delicate feelings gets hurt.</p>
<p>Berkeley has a widespread and (from what I know) well-earned reputation for being a "sink-or-swim" type of atmosphere. Grade inflation is virtually nonexistent and there are even rumors (likely exaggerated but there's also probably some truth in them) that grade deflation is more often the rule than the exception. Itdoesn'tmatter complained about the sizes of classes at USC, yet they are substantially larger at Berkeley. Further, they'll likely have a much harder time gaining access to advisement and whatnot considering Berkeley, being the massive public school that it is, is known for its bureaucracy and red tape -- oddly enough what itdoesn'tmatter was complaing about USC for having. </p>
<p>So apologies for coming off as rude but it seemed amusing to me (and apparently to many others) that someone would complain about big classes and red tape and then follow it up with "I'm going to Cal."</p>
<p>In terms of not hacking it at USC, I wouldn't have gotten into Berkeley if I had failed out...I kept a 3.8 and was Dean's Honors, 4.0 my freshman year. I don't want this to turn into a dirty fight, I am just presenting my opinions. You don't(and probably won't) agree with me.</p>
<p>I had many classes at USC that were small. Writing 140 had like 15 people and was taught by a graduate PHD candidate who was real good. And for many of the upper division classes I am currently enrolling in at Berkeley are less than 40, though you are right, there are many courses, particularly the GE courses that have 300-400+ people in them. </p>
<p>I have spent a year at a community college, this past year, in which I have finished my remaining GE's with no more than 20-30 in each class. And I can honestly say that the classes I am taking at the community college are comparable to the courses I took at USC. What it lacks is the ra-ra shishkumba and the prestige factor. However, most of the professors at my community college have PHD's and very knowledgeable of their subject. I understand that USC is a very large institution, and so is Berkeley, however, I just could not justify paying the kind of money that USC charges when I could get the same general education, if not better, at a community college for 1/40 the price. And I could not justify going to a very expensive school like USC, when I could pay less than half the price at a place like Berkeley.</p>
<p>My biggest criticism is that USC, as a private instition, boasts a very low teacher/ student ratio. But I found that to be very deceiving. All of the undergraduate business school classes, even at the upper division level for your specialization had 200-300 people enrolled in them. Accounting, Finance, Organizational Behavior, Marketing, and even the upper division courses in your concentration were large. All of the GE courses(minus Writ 140 which was taught by a grad student) had 200-300 students in them. Most of the large GE classes break into small discussions of 20-30 people, which I thought were very good, and some majors have very small classes, with 40 or less at the upper division level. But this is only for select majors. Perhaps USC administration should change their marketing campaign to "Low Student/Teacher Ratio if you are in a non impacted major, but if you are in Marshall, you are screwed."</p>
<p>interesting point. now my question is, do you think annenberg lives up to its potential? i'm sure you have friends enrolled in the school who can give you perspective on that.</p>
<p>"All of the undergraduate business school classes, even at the upper division level for your specialization had 200-300 people enrolled in them. Accounting, Finance, Organizational Behavior, Marketing, and even the upper division courses in your concentration were large."</p>
<p>That's simply not true. Not only can I refute this from experience as a senior, but I used to work in the classroom scheduling office for Marshall. We scheduled every concentration course in classrooms whose capacities were 40 or less because that's Marshall policy. This past spring I took the most popular concentration course, FBE-421 (the gateway course for all finance concentrators) and there were 20 people in class. </p>
<p>However, I do agree with your assessment that one can obtain a similar quality education (at least in terms of classes offered, other opportunities not factored in) at a CC as you would at USC or even Harvard. But what is lacking is indeed (as you mention) the prestige factor. You weren't paying whatever USC was charging you for classes - you were paying for a degree with SC's name on it. Quite simply, a degree with USC on it means you not only had the academic chops to get into a selective university, but also the intelligence and work ethic to graduate from one that is competitive too.</p>
<p>Obviously, the same will hold true for Berkeley and if you can get a Cal degree at half the price then more power to you.</p>
<p>kkgirl - if you're talking about Annenberg Comm, I'm not sure. If you're talking about Anneberg j-school, I know they cap every class at 12-15 or something like that.</p>
<p>thank you for asking me to clarify. the school relevant to me is the annenberg school of journalism. i assume the class sizes are small, but is the quality of education at annenberg's journalism school as top-notch as people say it is?</p>
<p>I don't know firsthand, but people I know in the journalism profession (and not just those affiliated with USC) rank it with Northwestern-Mdeill and Syracuse. On the downside, journalism students I know complain that it's pretty intense. I suppose that backs up the reputation though.</p>
<p>ya. i know of medill ( i went to a summer program there in junior year). when i went to visit annenberg it was strikingly similar to medill, which reassured me.
i know i'll have an intense four years as a journalism student at annenberg. ..</p>
<p>did anyone hear today?</p>
<p>huh? do you mean for spring admits?</p>
<p>sorry, I'm referring to transfers, which obviously aren't posting in this particular forum...my bad!</p>
<p>it's okay:)</p>