Arizona State University-Tempe Top Questions

Academic wise, I didn't really struggle. It's all about choosing the right professor for your learning style; all the ones I've had were great and really know their stuff. As far as studying goes, many students like to get together and fill the libraries and study halls. You can study pretty much ANYWHERE on campus. They recently got a lot of new study aides in the libraries for us to use as well.

ASU is full of choices, choices, and more choices; at the university each major gives students the opportunity to make their own education. You can choose to sit in enormous lecture halls, where the professor is a tiny dot on the stage with a voice so overwhelmingly loud it is almost impossible to fall asleep. Or you can be in a small classroom environment, surrounded by like-minded peers and a teacher who engages in one-on-one conversation. It all depends on the class choice, and of course, your major. I am pursuing graphic design at ASU and love the program. I am one of twenty-five people in my Principles of Graphic Design class, and I love every second of it. My teacher is an intelligent, insightful, and interesting mentor who knows me by name, and speaks to each student with care. She motivates us all to move along with our studio assignments as we move through different projects. The class runs very smoothly as we speak to each other, discuss whatever we would like, and yet pay attention and finish our work. This unique class is one that I love, and my professor is someone that I speak very highly of. The entire graphic program is perfect for someone who wants to come out of the university with opportunity, as it is set up to help students receive jobs after graduation. Students go on mandatory internships their junior or senior year that the university helps promote, and most come back with their skills perfected, ready to take on the world. Networking is huge within the Herberger Institute of Art and Design, and ASU helps get each student connected with the big design corporations all across America and the world. I am going on a trip put on by the ASU graphic club to a design paradise, New York City, to visit the many important graphic, advertisement, and commercial firms. The opportunities are endless. Each major is different, and I can go on and on about all of them; I have enough friends in engineering, business, education, and other fields to tell the world about the wonderful programs at ASU. We are big on combining disciplines and collaborating on big projects across fields, something extremely unique. Teamwork is essential after college, and ASU is a great place to build those skills.

I am part of the Ira A. Fulton school of Engineering and I really enjoy it. Engineering is a very hard discipline and Fulton provides an endless amount of resources to help their students succeed. From tutoring sessions to the Engineering Tutor Center, they make sure we can all get help with any homework that we need help on. Sometimes the teachers aren't always the easiest to understand, so sometimes hearing subjects from our peers is helpful. The only downside to ASU is that since it is so big, most freshman and sophomore level classes are between 100-200 people which makes personal interaction with the teacher difficult. As long as you're willing to step forward and communicate with the professor, it works out.

While ASU is a very big school it still has many small classes. Of course your typical 100 level classes are big and even most lectures but I am just a freshmen and majority of my classes are actuall 30 or less students. I have a lot of options for classes as well which is very important and i enjoy all the classes I have taken so far. Not all but many students are very competitive so studying with them is a plus. There is also a lot of oppurtunity to study with the professor or TA. ASU does its best to get you prepared for life outside of school. they set you up with the tools you need to succeed in finding work else where. ASU is awesome and gives every student a great chance and much potential.

Since ASU has such a large student body its is hard to define its academics, since it depends from one department to another. I double majored in Global Studies and Political Science and there was a significant difference between these two departments. In the first case, students and professors knew each other rather well, as most courses were under 30 seats. In Political Science, classes were rather big and thus it was hard to get to know your professors. However, in both cases students were really involved in class discuses and would often have outsider class debates as well. My first choice was Global Studies and as such I spent more time around that department and I got to know some of the professors there rather well. In fact, I still keep in touch with some of them. I think ASU has courses tailored for everyone's needs. If one is interested in having a good time and is less focused on academic achievements, one can take lower level courses and still graduate in time. However, if is one is interested in gaining as much knowledge as possible while in college, one will find challenging courses and fascinating professors at ASU. I was definitely part of the second group and I opted for higher level courses that were more of a challenge and even for individual instruction courses mainly because I wanted to work side by side with my professors but also because it allowed me to focus on subjects that were more pertinent to my specialization.

The academics at ASU are fantastic. Many professors will learn your name before the class even starts (for the smaller classes). Even in the large classes your professors wil learn your name if you take time to talk to them after class or during after hours. Many professors were happy to talk outside of class and I took advantage of this with many of them. The professors enjoy having intelligent conversations with students. Other students also enjoy having conversations like this and some professors set up discussion groups with groups of students outside of class to encourage learning for learning's sake in addition to the usual career-oriented education. In terms of students, they are competitive, but most students are willing to help others and enjoy working together with other students. I was a Bioengineering major, so most of my experience was within the School of Engineering, but I was also a pre-medical student so I have a good amount of experience with the Pre-Professional advising office as well. Everyone in the Bioengineering department is fantastic. The advisors are probably to most helpful and knowledgeable advisors at ASU and go above and beyond. The faculty loves to help students as much as possible, including providing a number of research opportunities. The pre-professional advising office will be able to answer every question you could possibly have about your future profession. In addition, ASU offers an incredible variety of classes. One of the most interesting classes that I had the opportunity to take was the Sociology of Health and Illness. We studied the history of diseases, advancements in healthcare, and discrepancies of the two among different groups of people. There are a number of other interesting classes offered regularly, including the Serial Killers course. All in all, the academics at ASU are great and you can take a class on almost anything you find interesting.

Once again ASU offers a variety of academic opportunities. The class sizes vary from huge lectures to ten person classes. I found that i have more small classes then 300 person lectures so that fear was quickly diminished. Yes the required labs ect. will be more crowded but the more major centered classes are individualized and small. No matter what class size the professors are all extremely experienced and can become contacts in the future. The smaller classes do provide an easier approach to contact but i have gotten to known some professors in 150 person lecture and continued to take their later, smaller classes. My favorite class is with an old professor covering history of World War One and Two. The benefits of the large university is that it provides classes which can be extremely specialized. The resources of ASU provide classes that are specialized to any of your hearts desires. The school sets you up for success with constant job fairs, resume builders, and more.

With a 3.56 GPA, I am pretty content with the academics at Arizona State University. I love all my nursing classes and participation is always encouraged. I just hope that I can be closer to my professors and establish a relationship because they can help with you career the most.

Don't let the party school rep fool you, ASU has some intense and demanding classes. If you want to get a worthwhile education while still having the luxury of a beautiful city and weather (well except for summer..) then ASU is undoubtable the palce for you. A good majority of the professors, especially in upper devision classes really want their students to succeed and even in a class of 100 or 150 students learn to know most of their names. Being a psychology major I have had the pleasure of working with a number of brilliant staff both in research labs and in the classroom setting and have grown to respect and admire these professors. If you make effort to get to know your professor they will really go out of their way to help you succeed. With faculty like Dr. Doane, Dr. Lueken, Dr. Hansen, and Dr. Amazeen I don't know how you could not love going to class. The professors push you to do well in their classes and expect your best efforts from you each day, but with such competetive courses and programs it is very necessary. As of now my favorite class I have taken has been Physiological Psychology with Dr. Whitney Hansen. She really makes the material comprehensible even though it is very dense and detail oriented. Without her I don't think I would have done nearly as well.

In the small classes, especially my studios I take for art, all the instructors know who I am, my name, as well as a small background. Because the art community is a tight knit one, and you frequently run in to people you've had classes with before, it seems every one knows every one. The grad students are also extremely helpful and nice. I haven't had one grad student who was teaching one of my classes act like they were better than us or treat us bad. Professors in big lectures, and I've only had a few due to my major, are usually helpful if you email and talk with them frequently. In large classes, (350+ students), it's difficult to get to know other students, the T.A.'s and the instructor. Because of the sheer volume of students, some professors are very short with their students. You usually have to email frequently to get something resolved. Thankfully, I've only had one of those types of instructors. Generally, professors encourage students to get to know them, as it's the only way to form rapport with students in a class that big. Art majors vary, but every major map I've looked at (a list of pre-reqs and classes needed to take to graduate in a major) haven't had obnoxious amounts of mindless classes. General studies are still required, no matter what, so you just need to take care of those early on so they don't hold you down from the classes you need to take for your major.