Davidson College Top Questions

I love the close contact with professors. I think the curriculum is pretty solid. I wish we could take more classes per semester.

Professors are always very accessible and easy to talk to. Class participation is stressed and a huge component of almost every class. Academics are challenging, but doable.

Very rigorous academics, but professors are willing to help and very supportive.

academics are challenging an the professors usually know their students fairly well

My professors definitely know my name! My favorite classes are all of my sociology classes. Davidson studdents are prone to having intellectual conversations in and out of the classroom. Students and professors have wonderful relationships. I have often been asked to dinner, evenings at their house (a lot of professors live near the school) and i see them all the time in town.

Davidson professors do know my name (at least the one's I've had). It's not hard when classes are small. My favorite class is Humanities which is a 2 year program where we read lots of books and come discuss them in class. We write a few papers throughout the year and have a couple tests. I mostly just enjoy the class interaction. Class participation is very common, depending on the type of class. Even students who, at first glance, don't seem like they'd be particularly smart, often surprise everyone. Everyone has some idea of what they're talking about. And if they don't they're good at BSing it. Students are almost all competitive. Not necessarily with each other, but mostly with themselves. Almost every student here pushes him or herself to accomplish his or her set goals. Students most definitely have intellectual conversations outside of class. It was one of the more surprising things I came across when I got here. It's always refreshing to over hear two girls talking not of boys but rather of politics or the environment. A good way to spend time with professors outside fo class is to invite them to lunch. If they're invited to lunch by a student, they get into the cafeteria for free. Some professors are a lot of fun to hang out with and you don't necessarily have to talk about school.

Academics are challenging, however, professors are almost always available to talk with students. Professors also take the time to know your name and many even know students on a personal level. Students are very competitive, but many students also know how to joke about academics outside of class. There are many intellectual conversations outside of class, but many of these conversions take on a more comedic format. As a history major, the history department has History Happy Hour for 21 year old students at the local tavern, which allows students to get to better know their peers and professors in a more informal setting.

Since we have a small population, we have small classes. Professors are genuinely interested in their students and show that by investing in them in an academic, as well as personal level. Just two days ago I was at a professors house for dessert. The week before, I visited another professor for dinner. I have met with professors whose classes I have already finished just to talk about life and my studies. First semester, freshman year I had a class of 12 students, and since have had many similarly small classes. Academics are rigorous. People study. That said, there is no need for your life to be consumed by the library. You can easily succeed here academically while also pursuing interests outside of the classroom. No one competes with other students, but people are competitive with themselves. They hold themselves to high standards and want to do well. People are constantly talking about all kinds of academic issues, political issues, economic trends, and social topics. Academics is not at all confined to the classroom. Distribution requirements helped me to discover my major. I had never taken a Religion class before coming to Davidson and I had to to satisfy distribution requriements. I took one, then two, then three and I was completely hooked. The department is incredible and I have learned so much in two short years. Last year I took a great class called "Protestant and Catholic Ethics". Some other favorites include "Reformed Theology" and "Systematic Theology", both of which are small discussion classes. I took a class on American Musical Theatre and got to analyze musicals that I would otherwise watch for pleasure. Also, I am a Spanish minor and have found great opportunities in the Spanish department. Davidson also makes it very easy to study abroad (about 80 percent of us go abroad during our 4 years) so I will be studying Spanish in Ecuador next semester.

Davidson has a wonderful science program that will prepare me well for medical school. I know all of my professors well, due to the small size of Davidson and general sense of community emphasized by the school. Davidson students take pride in their work and are some of the hardest working individuals I have met in my life.

Yes, my professors all know my name. I have never had a professor who did not know my name. My favorite class in Western European Politics, in which we compare the British, French and German political systems. I like it because the professor has a real passion for politics and has traveled extensively in Western Europe, including work in the UK and Germany. One particularly cool part of this semester is that some major players in European politics actually studied at Davidson back in the 70s, and were in class with my professor. Students are extremely competitive, but students are more competitive with themselves than with their peers. Everyone is very driven. I am good friends with a few of my professors, but it is mostly within my major that I develop good friendship with professors. Davidson is a very traditional liberal arts school in that we learn for learnings sake and are held to a fairly strict set of requirements.