The University of Alabama Top Questions

UA academics are amazing. I know all of my professors names (first and last and where many of them went to college, etc). My favorite class was actually not in my major. It was a women's studies class (WS 200). It really challenged me to think outside the box and look at things in with a different perspective. My least favorite class was organic chemistry (need I say more?). The amount of time I study depends on the class style and the subject (1-5 hours a week). Students are competitive but also collaborative. I took a freshwater interdisciplinary studies class my freshman year and really enjoyed it. It was a seminar class where we had speakers come in every week and talk about issues related to freshwater ecosystems. The speakers were from a very diverse background and gave a good picture about different reasons why some of the issues arose in the first place. It was definitely one of my most interesting classes. Class participation varies based on the topic being covered and the size of the class. I did undergraduate research so I spent a good amount of time outside of class with professors and graduate students. UA's requirements are just the minimum. Biology majors really need more upper level classes. UA's education isn't geared towards a job really.

Your relationship with your professors will be what you make it. If you decide to go up and introduct yourself and see them outside of class you will have a close relationship. If not, then you won't. Class attendance isn't that big of a deal. Most people get by without it . I learn better if I go though. Class participation is kind of intimidating in large classes. Students study according to how bad they want a good grade. I think I've taken a lot of classes I didn't need. I wish the first two years weren't spent only doing core requirements. I wish there was more time devoted to your major classes.

The size of the class and your own participation depend on whether your professor knows your name. My professor for Spanish and English both know my name, because they are smaller classes. However in my larger classes like Art History, Astronomy, and Math, the professor might know my face, but may not remember my name right off the bat. The education at UA is geared toward getting a job I think. Whatever department or major you have, your advisors work with you if you choose. There are also many internships for different majors and colleges. I think UA does a good job at trying to have a job lined up for you when you graduate.

If you get into the right programs, such as Blount or New College or Honors College then it is an Ivy Education at a Football School. Your education comes with finding the great professors on Campus.

Although football is unaminously the biggest thing here, academics is huge here too. We always rank high on practically every academic-based list. I would say that the curriculum is rather challenging, but I think so in a good way. Employers prefer students who go to colleges where you have to earn good grades as opposed to schools where you can just show up and get an 'A'. All classes aren't hard, I guess it just depends on your major. Even then, a lot of times the toughness of a course depends on the professor. Some of them are very nice and make every effort to make their students happy. Other ones just stand in front of the room and talk, and could care less whether or not you understand the material. But I guess it's like that at every school. There are many classes, especially in the business school, that allow you to go well beyond just reading a textbook and taking tests. They emphasize real world projects, which of course will help students in the long run especially as they go out into the real world.

Classes at UA are impressively small for it being such a large school. Most of my classes have about 20-30 people in them, except for my lecture classes, those have about 200. But even in those classes, it's not hard at all to pay attention. Those professors still take the time to try and have everyone in class participate. I think that the most beneficial class that I have taken so far is Computer Science 102. It doesn't really count towards anything unless you are majoring in business or computer science but it makes you a master at Office 2007, something you're going to need to be for the rest of your life.

What you put in is what you get out. If want to study, you will study. No one is here to hold your hand. If you want, you can get an education equivalent to that of any "Top" school in America. If you want to just party, you can do that too. My favorite class was Classics 222 with Kirk Summers. It was Greek and Roman Mythology. My worst class was TCF 112 and MC 101. Don't take college of communication classes. The business school is very much about giving you a great education while at the same time working with you to find a full time job.

The academics at UA are good. I sometimes feel like the classes I take are not hard enough. I sometimes feel like I am still in high school when it comes to how much studying I actually have to do. Don't get me wrong, I do have a lot of studying to do in some classes, but for the most part they aren't all that hard. I really dislike the core curriculum. Had that not been in place, I may have decided a major and stuck with it. I kept changing my major simply because I had too much time to think about it. For some, that may be good. Now that I am fixing to graduate, I wish I would have stuck with what I originally wanted to do, which was teaching. But over the years, so many people told me the negatives of it, that I decided I would do what others wanted me to do.

It depends on what your major is and what your class sizes are if your professor knows your name. As you get into upper division classes they seem to make more of an effort to want to know who you are. Its the students responisbility to introduce themselves for the most part. Favorite class is MKT300 with Dr. Reynolds. My least favorite would have to be any english class. It depends on the student to say how much they study. I have just recently started studying up to a week and a 1/2 before a test. class participation is more common in upper division classes. but always common if points and/or extra credit is given for attendance. i think the honor students and/or the students in the top 5{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} on their class are competitive, but thats about it. I am an accounting major and i strongly believe we have to best faculty, teachers and advisors. it has VERY hard classes and the teachers treat us and give tests to us like we are smarter that we really are. so the tests are very hard. but they offer their time to help you and they are very focused on being 15th in the nation for undergrad accounting schools. i do not know if UA as a whole is geared toward post graduation jobs but i know the accounting school is. i would be giving a conservative percentile when i say 85{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of accounting students have a job waiting on them before they even graduate.

I have great professors. My experience here as an undergrad student was awesome, and graduate school is good too! My professors are so helpful and go out of their way to help me.