College of Charleston Top Questions

From my experience, most professors here are phenomenal. Class sizes range from 5 students to 100, but I have never had a problem with professors not taking a personal interest in their students. We offer a wide range of degrees, and their are so many different forms of tutoring/after hours help programs, its hard not to do well if your genuinely trying (and regulate your partying)

The academics at the College are awesome. The class sizes are very small in most cases (I had 8 other students in my english 102 class). Each professor makes a great effort to get to know each student and meeting up with your professors socially is not uncommon. The academic atmosphere is highly competative. This pushes each student to do well and spend many hours in the library. I took a course in World Religion and my professor was very knowlegable about the subjects we studied due to her many first hand experiences around the world. Classes and professors like her help make things more interesting and add much depth to the course material.

The worst thing about the academics at C of C is the +/- system.

Students are not terribly competitive, professor's know everyone's name, town is small along with campus has a small feeling where everyone knows everyone despite large size, general education requirements are significant, lack of recruiters coming to campus from outside the Carolinas and Georgia

Professors at CofC are great! They all have office hours, and if you cannot make them, you can just speak to them about meeting another time. They're very flexible about this. Also, if a professor is not available, the Center for Student Learning in the Library is open. This Center offers tutors in a variety of subjects and if there is not a tutor available, they will find one for you free of cost for 2 hours a week!

Never studied, but now they have a stupid attendance policy so attendance is pretty much mandatory.

some professors will help...it can be very difficult at times

Classes are not easy, however if you are willing to work hard and put in the time you will be fine. Some classes are easier than others. We have smaller classes so the professors encourage you to speak up and come to them with questions during their office hours. The liberal arts experience gives me knowledge about other areas outside of my major and makes me a more knowledgeable and well rounded person. Their are tons of internships available in each department, and CofC is definitely geared toward the job market and the skills you will need to acquire.

All but one of my professors has called me by name. The one that didn't taught a strictly lecture class. Class sizes are small - about twenty students. I took ice-skating this past semester!!! It was a lot of fun. Sailing is also offered. The theatre department is the best in the state. I've learned so much already, and that's only from Acting 1 and Stage Craft! The school has the highest averages of GPA and SAT scores of all of the state public universities. The education is geared towards creating a well-rounded, self-thinking person. Critical and analytical thinking are incorporated in all classes. The goal is to get you to question what you believe so that you know why you believe it and are confident and passionate in your stand of believing and knowing it.

For normal prereq courses, the classes were rather large (70-100) students, so professors don't have the time to learn names of students. But, content courses are much smaller so the professors got to know me and I got to know them and other students. I never really heard any intellectual convos outside of class, and spending time with professors outside of class doesn't really exist much (not to my knowledge). As a BS major studying education, I heard that CofC is one the most accredited colleges and the professors really do work hard to help you. But, if you know anything about education, you know that "teaching" is not something that can be taught, so be prepared to be kind of bored during class and write tons of papers, because most of you learning will be during clinical practice and field experiences.