University of Kansas Top Questions

half of mine know my name. Those are my small classes though. My favorite is english. Least econ. Around my building lots, but I live in the honors dorm. Class participation is common in smaller classes, but can be in large classes too. I do, and the people im with do. Oh yeah they are competative. My black history class. I am a journalism major with italian geog and psychology added to that. No I dont spend time with them out of class. I think the requirements are well thoguht out and are good. Both aspects usually.

This is the area that I believe is lacking the MOST, and also the reason that I am probably transferring next year. I have only been at KU a year, and I have never had a class that I have liked. I don't enjoy my professors, and they have been incredibly hard to work with in and out of class. I have been to six advisers, trying to come up with a 4 year plan. NONE of the have helped me. I think that the general student body is not competitive and this creates an environment that is not conducive to learning or studying. Class participation is not common at all, but professors and GTA's don't try to involve students.

The main thing to remember is that there are a lot of choices at KU. If you decide to take large, 200-300 person classes, and you don't go to see your professor, most of them won't know your name. You have to make an effort. Honors classes are smaller, allowing the profs. to get to know you better. Just like any other place, you'll find a few profs who don't care, a few TAs who don't care, but a lot of people here will do whatever they need to to help you out, you just have to ask. Students can have intellectual discussions outside of class, definitely... it depends on who you hang out with though. Recently, my roommate and a few friends went on a Jane Austen movie binge. The same group of us were having discussions on evolution, religion, politics, things like that. It all depends on what you want out of your experience. Miscellaneous academia: some students, like my impromptu library club study a lot. Some students don't care at all and never study, but most are in between. Some participate in class, some don't... you can tell how interesting a class is by how much people talk in it and about it. There's a spectrum of competitive and non-competitive students. Chemical Engineering: I've made friends in my class, of course. After the first or second semester, you realize that you'll be spend A LOT of time with these folks, especially your senior year. You won't be able to get away from them, so learn to like them. Professional schools tend to push internships and career fairs, but a lot of classes are there for learning/interest. The work load is dependent on your decisions: as a pre-med chemical engineering major, it gets pretty hairy. Friends that are music majors are constantly in rehearsal, but other choose not to participate as much. A lot of this comes down to your own decision.

Professors will get to know you if you want them to. They're really good about meeting with the students if they schedule an appointment, and will discuss the class with them and any homework issues. However, if you make no attempt to keep in touch with your professor they usually won't try to get to know you on a personal level, ESPECIALLY in the bigger classrooms. But if you want to meet with your professor they're really nice about it. My personal favorite class has been philosophy, because of my teacher but also the subject matter is interesting. If you can get out of intro to chem though go ahead and do it, because it's a 900+ class first semester and 500+ class second semester and i'm not a big fan of the professor. I'd personally say that students are competitive, but that's because I'm in the honors program and tend to hang out with intelligent people that want to do big things in life. However, there's definitely a mix of competition. Some just want to get out of here with a degree, while others are in it for the long haul. KU's specialty is their journalism school, it's really popular. We also have a REALLY good special education department. I think it's the first in the nation, but don't have a reference for that.

Several of my professors do know my name. Its harder in larger classes, but if you talk to them enough and go to their office hours, they will eventually learn your name. An organic chemistry professor, Paul Hansen, knows a lot of students names and will always ask for yours, even though it might take him a while to remember it. A lot of times, professors will at least recognize you if you run into them outside of class, so that's a plus. Being involved certainly helps as well. I haven't really had a favorite class so far, although the most interesting I have taken is the History of World War 2 (which was perhaps so interesting because after 3 semesters of science/engineering, I finally got to take an elective). My least favorite class is physics. I don't believe the physics department here is very good. They seem to have trouble teaching down to students or aren't engaging at all. The amount of time students varies depends greatly on your major. I spend the majority of my time studying, when I'm not in class or meetings. I would say, on average, engineering students study about 4-5 hours a day, including weekends. It's often more. My professors in engineering are good though, they know my name, even though there are quite a few of us, and they are very, very helpful. I've gone to professors from past classes asking for recommendation letters are they are always very enthusiastic to help. I believe KU has appropriate academic rigor/requirements. Sometimes it seems like students can skate by in classes though, and I don't think thats fair. I feel the requirements to get into KU could be a little tougher, but not to Ivy League levels. It all depends on how much you are willing to put into it.

Most of the professors I've had still remember my name. They are great at getting to know you because they realize that there is a chance that you will be coming back to them for a letter of recommendation, and they need to know you well enough to write that. I have two favorite classes. One of them is Chemistry with Dr. Cindy Berrie. She just made it that much more exciting to be in her class. She knew the answer to 99.9{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the questions you could possibly ask her and she would start getting excited about the material she was teaching so she would make all of US that excited. It was a lot of fun being in her class; you never had a chance to fall asleep. The other one would have to be Materials and Energy Balances. As much as I hated the process of learning it, I knew that I came out of the class learning the most and that mattered more. Differential Equations with Dr. Oh was awesome too; we have great professors, but its up to you to look for them. My least favorite class would have to be physics of any kind because the physics department, here at KU, isn't that great on the teaching end of things. The students that I hang out with study practically 24/7, but that's what it takes to be an engineer. The other friends that I have study while its still light outside and have time to relax at night time. Class participation is BIG. There will always be the one or two shy people in class, but otherwise, they just jump right in. I've had intellectual conversations with people when a big group of us was out to dinner to celebrate the end of something or another, like EXPO. It's basically inevitable. Students are very competitive; it's hard not to be because that's the only way you will get anywhere. The most unique class I've taken is Chemistry with Dr. Cindy Berrie, as explained above. I'm a Chemical Engineer; in the school of engineering, it's like we build our own little community within KU. That makes it so much easier to get involved and be knowledgeable about what is going on around campus. There are so many resources to help us out; its up to you to take advantage of them. I do spend time with professors outside of class and it's great. This is where a lot of the intellectual conversations take place too and its fun. KU's academic requirements as a whole is not something I can talk about, but as far as the school of engineering is concerned, it's definitely something that is obtainable, but something that you will need to push yourself for. As for the classes I've taken, yes, the classes at KU are geared towards both. Learning all of this now will make getting a job that much easier. I mean, if I didn't enjoy chemistry that much, I wouldn't have gotten the CHEM TA job.

In the smaller classes. Editing is my favorite. It's really hands-on and I learn a lot. My least favorite is Western Civ. It's a lot of work and it seems pointless. Several hours a day. Yes. Yes. Not really. They're more cooperative. I'm taking one now about the American West. I'm a journalism major. The classes are really challenging because they're very hands-on. You get a good sense of what it's really like to be a journalist. Sometimes. The requirements are okay. The Western Civ. one should go. Both.

I feel that most of the students here at KU are intellectually aware. I can remember being at the dining hall of all places and starting a conversation with a couple of my friends about the morality of politics. We discussed the question of the morality of abortion, stem cell research, the death penalty, and how much control the government should have over these issues. We sat there talking for about two and a half hours and then continued our discussion once we got back to the dorm. I love the music department here at KU. The faculty are amazing and are willing to do as much as they can to make sure we have the skills we need to succeed. The level of competition here at KU keeps things interesting and really encourages us to pursue excellence. The best thing about the department, though, is that we all support each other. No one wants the person next to them to fail. It's a truly great, positive environment in which to learn and make music.

My professors are amazing and so have all of my classes. I have a great mix of smaller classes and bigger lectures. I like the fact that I get to have one-on-one contact with my professors through discussion classes, recitation sessions, and office hours. I have found that classes are only taught by TAs when the professor wants to evaluate the TA's teaching ability. My favorite classes so far have been Journalism 101 with Barbara Barnett and Psychology 120 (Personality) with Dr. Stephen Ilardi. They are both interesting professors that understand that their students aren't too keen on just sitting and listening to a lecture for an hour. They engage in discussions, make a serious effort to learn the names of their students, and ask for input from the students.

Most of professors in my classes know my name. My favorite classes are Applied Behavioral Science classes. My least favorite is Humanities. I spend time with one professors outside of class. It is difficult to have a study group with other classmate.