University of Michigan-Ann Arbor Top Questions

Some professors know my name if I have attended office hours. I think it is crucial to meet with professors every other week just to check up on yourself and make sure you're understanding the material. Also getting to know them on a name-basis will help with applications and recommendations for internships, grad school, etc.

Professors don't know my name My favorite class is Creative Writing or Developmental Psychology Students study everyday I have observed that a few students from each class always participate Students are pretty competitive but it's mostly students challenging themselves to do better My major is psychology The education at Michigan is a mix between getting a job and making students more well rounded.

Most professors do learn my name before the end of the term. My favorite class is my Econ game theory class. It's really tough, and the professor is a genius, but I enjoy the challenge. My least favorite class is my operations management class. I don't like learning about wait times, manufacturing, etc., it just doesn't interest me. Students study all the time, there's too much work not to. Most of the work can be done during the week though, leaving plenty of time for fun on the weekends. Class participation is pretty common, though it varies a great deal from class to class and major to major. Definitely the smaller the class the greater the participation. Some students discuss intellectual topics outside of class, but this seems to be more prevalent amongst liberal arts students than business school students. We just want a break when we're not working or in class. Students at U of M are very competitive. These are all smart students, and pretty much everything is graded on a curve. The most unique class I've taken is probably the game theory class I mentioned. The business school is probably the most prestigious individual school in the University. It attracts very intelligent students, and becomes extremely competitive. Despite the competitiveness, we are a small community, and it's not uncommon to make a lot of friends inside the business school. I do not spend time with professors outside of class. The academic requirements are challenging, but that's a good thing; it keeps us on the map in terms of academic rankings and job placement after graduation. Business school education is definitely geared toward getting a job. I believe other departments are much more geared toward pure education/learning.

As an English and Political Science double major, I get to experience small and intimate classes as well as large lectures. In English classes, participation is both encouraged and expected. Because of this i have developed strong relationships with both professors and students in my class. Large lectures are a great way to hear an acclaimed faculty member lecture on what they're an expert in. Discussion sections allow students to gain further clarification and practice with the themes lectured. Both professors and Grad Student Instructors (GSIs) make themselves available for individual help. The academics are rigorous here, and students do have to invest a lot of time and effort to earn good grades. During Midterms and Finals students really buckle down, but in-between much of the work assigned is manageable.

I have to say, the differences between Residential College courses and LS&A lectures are extreme. In the RC there will only be 12-17 other students, you WILL be called on regularly by name, and you're expected to know what you're talking about. With LS&A classes I've experienced a wide range of teaching styles and requirements. If its a 100 or 200 level class, you might not be expected to participate, depending on the number of students. This is foolish. You'll only do well if you keep up with the reading, try to be engaged, and actually go to the prof's office hours. Its not so hard to fail, trust me. Other students WILL do what you aren't doing, and you'll suffer for it. Some classes take attendance, almost all 300-400 level courses will do so. I do not feel that my public high school gave me adequate preparation for the amount of discipline this school requires. All of that said, I am not doing poorly. I care about school, I do the work, so I'm doing pretty well. That's what the English major is about: doing it yourself. Very rarely did I ever have group projects; I'd say 85{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of my homework has been writing analytical essays. That's not the most exciting assignment for a creative writer, but it definitely works to sharpen your communication skills as well as your ability to think critically. Planners saved my life, because I'd never be able to remember everything I needed to get done otherwise. If you learn this early I think you'll be in good shape. Do students have intellectual conversations outside of class? Well let me put it this way: for Psych 111- heck no. They high-tailed it out of discussion section the moment the clock hit the hour. For a Film/Video course on Stanley Kubrick? Yes, we certainly discussed a lot outside of class hours. I think the level of student interest completely determines the level of thinking, and the desire to know more. As a disclaimer I should probably add that there will always be 1-2 students in the least who are very interested in any given subject. I've never been in a class completely full of bored students. Any intellectual matter I've ever wanted to pursue I've been able to find others to bounce my ideas off. That is one of the best parts about going to school here, I think. I never got to do that sort of stuff in high school.

I absolutely know my professors' names. If you come to Professor's office hours and make the effort to get to know them, class becomes that much better. I try to study every day but the least I do it is about 3-4 nights a week. Class participation is very common - both in lecture and in section. I have had some of my best intellectual conversations outside the classroom and have learned a lot. Students are extremely competitive and will always give you a run for your money, no matter the subject or class. There is even a program here that allows you take your professor out to lunch at the expense of the University, precisely so that a big place like this becomes that much smaller, not only socially, but also academically. Intergroup Relations is the most unique class that I have taken. It is a social justice class in dialogue, topic-specific format - where each dialogue is on a given issue - e.g. race & ethnicity, socioeconomic status, etc. Dialogues are student facilitated and in order to be a facilitator, a student has to train for a semester. I am now facilitating with a partner a dialgoue on religion. My other favorite class was Econ 101 because I love the logic behind economics and this is why I decided to be an econ major. The education at Michigan is actually pretty versatile and so I would really be narrowing the focus if I said that it is either toward a job or for learning's sake. There are classes for both.

Classes at Michigan are definitely a change from high school. I'm a freshman, so I'm taking a lot of intro courses, so I had to get used to the idea of having 300 people in class pretty quickly. But the quality of instruction is still very good. Many professors are willing to answer questions in huge lectures (as long as you're not intimidated to ask one!), which is definitely not something I would have expected at a school as big as Michigan.

Academics at the University of Michigan is rigorous and it forces you to develop your time management skills efficiently. Although professor's might not know your name, the GSI's certainly do. The opportunities are there for both personalized and group learning if you choose to take advantage of them.

There is definitely a lack of professor-student relationships, mainly because the classes are huge. However, even in my smaller classes, I did not find (most) of the professors to be that engaging. But I have heard of students eating dinner at their professors houses, etc. It is definitely a very competitive school - in my organic chemistry class they had to bring a fire marshall into the class because it was so overcrowded that kids were sitting on the stairs.

My chemistry, biology, European history, African history, and classic literature professors definitely don't know my name, because they had dozens or sometimes hundreds of students, but almost every other professor or graduate student instructor I've had has learned my name, and some of them would still know it if I went to their office hours to say hello. Favorite classes ever: a Russian Witchcraft seminar (History 197), a Slavic Folklore course (Slavic 240), a Central European film course (Slavic 312), a literature course on different incarnations of the Faust legend (German 243), a course on Victorian literature (English 431), and an introductory poetry course (English 240), although the introductory biology class was also pretty amazing. Mostly, the instructors made these courses: the course subject matter itself just sweetened the experience. (Sometimes, the instructors were the only things that made the course material bearable.) Class participation completely varies from class to class: in my first Spanish class, there was dead silence every time our poor GSI asked questions, and in my Victorian lit class, people actively competed for speaking time. Michigan students definitely have intellectual conversations outside of class, although whenever I find myself in one, it feels a little forced, maybe because I don't think enough outside of class requirements. I do spend time with professors out of class, both to catch up on missed material and discuss papers or to do things like take a field trip to a Russian Orthodox church and have an end-of-the-year tea party in their house. I don't know a lot about my chosen department (English), because I have only just entered it, but I hear that it is one of the largest departments on campus. The Undergraduate English Association, which is a student group of English concentrators, sends out spontaneous emails all the time inviting people to things like Scrabble tournaments, film screenings, and midnight sledding in the Arb. I go starry-eyed whenever I think about the English department. Michigan's academic requirements are kind of tedious, but all of them will get you to take courses you might not otherwise have considered taking, and some of these courses might prove to be fascinating experiences. Some of my Social Sciences and Natural Sciences classes were amazing; some were not. Calculus Two was a walking nightmare, but then there are a lot of other courses offered to cover your Quantitative Reasoning requirement, so unless you plan to major in math or science, or apply to medical school, or you just really like math, I would recommend that you take something else: it turns out that everyone I've spoken to says they've heard that Calculus Two is one of the most painful courses the university offers. I think education at Michigan is geared toward getting a job, but I don't know.