University of Connecticut Top Questions

Classes can be huge. If you make the effort though, you can definitely get to know the professors. Basically, the academics are what you make of it. If you want to just sit and take your notes and learn on your own you can; if you want to ask questions, give opinions, get to know your professors, you can do that as well. Classes can vary in difficulty but it's safe to say that everyone on campus has those weeks where they can be swamped with work.

My professors don't really know me because I'm not the kind of person to approach them unless I'm really struggling. My favorite class would probably be my child development class, while my least favorite would have to be physics of music. I would say students study rather regularly. Class participation is usually common, unless the class is held in a huge, stuffy lecture hall with a professor that posts everything online. I would say that students are fairly competitive. The most unique class that I have taken would have to be a one credit cooking class. My major is Communication Sciences, for pre-communication disorders, with a goal career of speech pathology. I am hoping to double major in psychology as well. I feel like UConn is challenging, and education is geared both towards getting a job and for learning.

Classes are pretty large during the first one or two years here, before you get into classes in your major. Despite the large class sizes, professors usually make themselves available. If not, they will hopefully have TAs. This being my second year here, I have some smaller classes and many professors know my name. You have to participate in classes to get recognized and identified though. There is a good amount of class participation and there are some people that study all of the time as well as those who never study. Professors usually make themselves available via e-mail or office hours and even hold study sessions before exams.

Some of my professors I really like and am very close with, others I really don't like and because of that I do not like the class. This is a mix I think you would get at most schools.

At UConn not a lot of the professors know your name. However, this depends on your major. UConn is divided up into several colleges: School of Engineering, Nursing, Pharmacy,Education and Liberal Arts and Sciences. Once you get into one of those colleges it is your job to develop a relationship with your Adviser and your professors. At the beginning classes will be up to 200 - 400 students. As you get deeper into your major the classes will be smaller. I am personally a Computer Science and Engineering Major. All my classes regarding my major have been relatively small. This give me time to actually go to the professors office hours and ask questions. At UConn, there is a lot of possibility to do research because we are a research based school.In the long run you wanna chose what you want and like to learn instead of learning something just because of the income.it will bring.

As a freshman I'm taking a lot of advanced courses (organic chemistry, 3000-level French, Advanced Calculus) and I'm bored to tears. I find myself so under-challenged here that I've had difficulty remaining engaged with the material to the point that my parents are concerned that I won't finish the semester. I was doing more difficult work my freshman year of high school.

Overall professors are very easy going. My favorite class is sociology because I have a well educated professor who definitely knows what he is talking about, but he is not boring at all. Since most classes are big, most professors will not know your name and participation is not always required, so those of you who are shy don't have to participate if you don't want to. I definitely see students having intellectual conversations outsid of class, it is very common. Currently I am majoring in Sociology, which has different advisors which can guide you if you want to concentrate in something specific in sociology. If you need help in a class, professors can meet with you during office hours or you can meet with the teacher's aid, or you can go to the academic center where they can help you in a particular subject. I think the education at UCONN is geared towards both learning and getting a job. The first three years in general, students concentrate on learning and the fourth year on getting an internship.

I have had many more positive experiences with my classes here at UConn than negative ones. Oftentimes, you will be placed in a large class in a lecture hall. These classes can be very overwhelming for some students, but they are a common type of class a student here has. To make it much less overwhelming, and have a positive outcome with the class itself, students here are encouraged to go to the professor's office hours. When meeting with your professor from a large lecture class individually, you make a great connection and can grasp concepts much easier. You can meet with professors to get help on certain topics covered in lecture, go over your exams, or even just to discuss a topic that interested you in lecture further. It may be tough in lectures to take sufficient notes, so students here are strongly encouraged to go to our Academic Achievement Center on campus to learn better note-taking skills. I make an effort to speak to each of my professors one-on-one, so that they know who I am even in large classroom settings. Making a connection with my professors is a major component in my time here, because I feel that I benefit much more from classes where I feel comfortable with my professor. Studying habits truly depend on the student. You will see countless amounts of students working in the library each night, whether they're catching up on work, studying for an exam, or working with a study group. But, there are students who lack academic ambition sometimes. This is often seen when students just don't attend classes (which is most often seen in the big lecture halls). College is a time to become responsible for yourself as a student, and I have personally learned to truly motivate myself to put in the effort needed to succeed here. My favorite class so far has been Human Development and Family Studies 1060: Relationships across the Lifespan. This class was incredible, interesting, and fun. Although it was a 350-person lecture, it was very rare to see more than 3 seats empty pet class. Students LOVE this course! The professor is amazing, and you learn so much from the class. My least favorite class was a first-level Biology course. This was really just because I'm terrible at biology, but it was a prerequisite for the general education requirements in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. The professor was fantastic, and incredibly enthusiastic. I just struggled a lot. I see a bit of competition among students here at UConn. This is mainly due to the fact that I am in the Honors Program, and lived in the Honors Freshman Community last year. Many honors students in a small place can be a bit overwhelming, but the competition definitely helped some students stay motivated. But, for me, the competitive aspect didn't phase me - I'm here to learn at my own pace, and am okay with not getting the top score! It's all about how YOU want your time to be spent here, not anyone else! Because there is so much academic support here, students are very motivated to really go after what they want, in both their majors and their future careers. I have seen many of my friends go off into the "real world" with incredible futures ahead of them. A lot of this is due to the supportive environment this school gives us as students. I started off here as an undecided major in the ACES department. My ACES advisor really helped me figure out what I was truly interested here at UConn. After two semesters of exploring my options, I realized that my interest fell in the social sciences - Psychology and HDFS (Human Development and Family Studies). My ACES advisor was a huge component in my decision, and I still keep in contact with her to this day because she was such an influential part of my freshman year. My advisors now are also incredibly supportive, and take the time to help me with my classes and future plans. Academic advisors are here to help students, but students are responsible to reach out to the advisors and seek help themselves. I am apart of the College of Arts and Liberal Sciences (commonly known as CLAS), and have both my majors' requirements and the CLAS general education requirements. This general education requirements, at times, can be a pain because they get in the way of my majors' courses. But, I've enjoyed all of my "gen-eds" so far. They're all outside my realm of study, and are very interesting. It's a great way to learn something new and out of the ordinary from your usual classes.

professors often are graduate students, PhD candidates. There are also professors of course and alot of them are really into helping students out. I just go through law school applications and several profesors and faculty gave alot of help and advise.

many classes are large, but if you introduce yourself to the professor and ask questions, even after class, or thank them for anything- they will remember you it is up to you to get to know your professors, but if you try they will be receptive