Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus Top Questions

I think it really depends on your concentration of study. In my department professors did know my name and my classes were all about class participation. However, your first two years the classes will be very large and your professors will most likely not know your name because students are most likely taking their general education requirement classes, but once you move into your concentration all of that changes. That's why you get the opportunity to see both the large college feel and the small more intimate feel too!

I don't really like the large lecture hall classes. They are fine for easier classes but when you have chemistry or physics in a room that large it's harder to learn the material. As you get into higher level classes, though, the class sizes get smaller which make it easier to ask questions and get one on one attention.

As I mentioned previously, most classes are quite large. In my experience classes as small as 10 to 15 people are either highly specialized classes (that generally you won't have until junior or senior year, or maybe not even until grad school), or classes that are bordering on being canceled or just unpopular. Professors do seem to make an effort to know your name, especially if you come to their office hours (and I've never had a professor who wasn't happen about their students caring enough to come to their office hours, even if it was only once a semester), but many classes will invariably leave you feeling distant from the instructor. I think it's fair to say that the professors in general try harder and care more than the strong majority of their students in most situations. I've found, especially after the advent of Facebook, that there are more students asking others for notes, tips, and cheat sheets through the internet than ever actually ask the teacher for help or approach the teacher at all. I'll be honest: The only time I WASN'T disappointed with students at PSU, for one reason or another, was when I was in a "high dropout" major where students had to be highly dedicated and almost obsessive just to get in. These student were on par with what I had always considered to be advanced level high school students in AP classes. Anyway, if I haven't made it clear enough, coming from my high school in State College, PSU was an academic let down. Unfortunately, there are fairly significant differences between the qualities of students, classes, and professors at PSU by department and major. That being said, I'll just be more specific about my own majors and my experiences there: I was a Music Education major for my first 3 years. The faculty of the music program are excellent, and the students very, very dedicated. The program is exceptionally difficult - I believe when I was in it it had about a {4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c}60 or so drop out rate. If you're pursuing this degree, I strongly recommend talking to a few music majors about it first, there are a lot of details that make it so tricky. Probably biggest weakness of the music department, other than tending to overload its students, is that counselors tend to be weak and not really capable of helping you much more than you can help yourself (unless your counselor is your personal instrumental/vocal instrucor, in which case they tend to be excellent). Music Education however, whose curriculum is, I think, still be revamped a little bit, has its own blips. I can't help but feel that they don't give their students enough of an idea of what life is like as a music teacher in public schools before the core of classes in junior year hits. This is why I dropped out so late - I was so dedicated (necessarily so just to survive the first 2 years of the major), that I didn't realize that I didn't want that kind of life and I didn't want to be that kind of person. And, it's rude and maybe it will come off as childish, but there is an instructor, Dr. Rukowski, who also seems to intentially single out students to fail out of her mandatory junior-year class just to make her look good. It's pretty well known, and if you talk to students that level or higher they'll know about it. I've seen and heard of her doing it to many a deserving, intelligent, hard-working student, but because she has so much tenure in the program, any student who fights her decision will lose. And the way many of these students are dismissed is ridiculous, unprofessional, and disrespectful, and I was one of them. Anyway, I then changed to an Integrative Arts major with a minor in Information Sciences and Technologies. Integrative Arts is a fairly loose major with at least one very excellent counselor who will make time for you and give you excellent advice, but the major is what you make of it. However, what the counselor in the Integrative Arts tell you about the major (especially Bill Kelley) before you transfer into it is very very accurate, so I don't feel any need to say any more. My experiences in that major were very good, although my classes for my IST minor were very frustrating. Professors were good, but I feel that the curriculum needs to be revamped significantly, as generally students either find it very confusing, or information that they already know. And, unfortunately, I learned too late that working in groups with "normal" PSU students is a bad idea (laziness + "I need my 'A'" = scape goats and last minute crapwork), and all IST classes place a significant part of your grade in just that.

Professors in your major know your name. i would try to make sure professors in my major know my name or my face. I would participate enough to get noticed. some people always participated some people never participated. favorite class is soc. 5 with frank clemente. If i saw a professor outside of class i would say hi but other than not really. The education is geared for both, learning and getting a job.

my favorite class is spanish. class participation is common. some students are competitive.

Professors in smaller classes do know your name and participation is common in these classes.

With a student body as large as Penn State's you find all different types of students. For every student who skips 90{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of their classes there is one who spends 90{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of their time in the library. In your general education, or entry to major classes you'll most likely find an extremely large class size, and your professor will probably never know you exist unless you make a concerted effort. However, once you enter your junior and senior year and begin to take classes towards your major the class sizes often shrink to about 30 and the professor will definitely know you. A good amount of students will seek out popular professors during their office hours for career advice, and many stay in touch with their favorite professor after graduation. Every student is assigned an academic advisor and I would say they are average at best. You will definitely need to be pro-active if you want their help. Penn State offers countless different courses, and scheduling is based on the amount of credits you have already earned, so taking the general electives you want the most as a freshman can be difficult; however there are plenty of interesting courses to go around. How challenging a course is definitely depends on the professor assigned. Lots of upper classmen will build their schedules so that they don't ever have classes on Friday. Penn State also holds one of the countries largest career fairs in both the fall and the spring which is nice. I would say 95{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of my friends had jobs within a month of graduation.

Only some. Most of my spanish and wmnst classes. Least favorite CHEM 01. Don't know. In smaller class participation is very common not so in bigger classes. Some students are very competitive. I'm a nutrition and wmnst major both a good majors. No. I think they have good academic requirements. I think it depends on the major if it's geared toward getting a job or learning.

no favorites: intro hdfs, intro to psych least favorites: a bunch i studied about an hour or 2 per test...the day before...is that not a lot? yeah some people do actually..some people dont drink either? stupid frat boys and drunk guys not sure major was human development and family studies...it was a good major... no..what? academic requirements are fairly high 3.5 gpa and up...but anyone can get into a branch campus and transfer in 2 years later..both circumstances receiving a dimploma from main campus mostly learning? i did an internship required for my major.

The first two years of school, there were not many classes that I could say that I was on a first name basis with my professors. This concept was hard at times, however you realize that in the classes that matter most in the end, you have a one on one relationship with the professors. A lot of the introductory classes have hundreds of students in them, and it is hard to distinguish yourself from the other hundreds, but at the same time it is a great challenge that will teach you to excel early on. Class participation varies among classes and professors. Sometimes it is very appropriate, and at other times you feel as though it doesn't matter much to the professor. PSU, in reference to job placement, is a really good attribute to your resume. Although it is a state school, it is a highly renowned place. Everybody knows Penn Sate, and knows what an achievement it is to become part of this community. You could go to a smaller school, that is highly academic and very hard to get into, and employers may not have even heard of it, and it will do you no good. To go to a place like Penn State, employers know aspects of your personality and also your academic achievement.