University of Richmond Top Questions

Classes at Richmond are fantastic. I have never had a professor who didn't know my name. Small class sizes are the norm here (my personal largest class was 30 people in Microeconomics). Classes are very intense. Students are required to do significant amounts of reading and participate in intense discussion. Luckily, this allows conversation to move outside of the classroom. In the midst of high personal academic standards, students remain cooperative. This is one of the things I love most about Richmond. It is very easy for students with high standards to become competitive and ignore the needs of classmates. Instead, Richmond students are very willing to help each other so that all students can have the best academic experience possible.

Academics at Richmond are really a major strength of the school. All my professors know my name within days, and remember me after I've taken a class with them. Classes are difficult, and you have to study a lot. Class participation is one of the largest portions of your grade in any non-math/science class. The professors are amazing, I've been to my advisor's house for dinner. They are always willing to help with anything and everything, and willing to take time out of their own busy schedules. We also get great visiting professors in the Political Science Dept-I've had two professors who teach at SAIS at JHU. Core is a major requirement that most students hate, but it's really not that bad. The only issue is that the workload can vary a lot depending on the professor you have.

I am a Leadership Studies Major at Richmond and that alone is unique, I mean it wasn't even a choice on this survey! I absolutely love my major because it is unique and because I have learned so many different things. I always tell people that a Leadership Major doesn't teach you how to do one specific job, it teaches you how to live your life. My favorite class here has been Justice and Civil Society. The course examined social justice issues in our culture and what our responsibility as democratic citizens was in solving those issues. I spend a lot of time with professors outside of class. Two of my favorite professors I see almost every week even though I dont have classes with them anymore. Over the years these genious professors have become my friends and I go to them for advice or help on othe academic subjects.

Professors definitely know students' names. They will make conversation with you outside of class, and if you want to do research or work with professors they are easily accessible. Students study a lot. However, most students are great at time management and so while they may be in the library til midnight on Thursday night, they do it so they can have fun with friends over the weekend. Professors look for class participation. It makes students stand out, they can tell who has prepared the material. I've even been told that I couldn't participate anymore in a class so that she could challenge some of the other students to complete the reading and answer questions.

Students take class work very seriously. They need to slow down and actually focus on learning rather than getting the grade and killing themselves in the process. I have great intelectual conversations, but I seek them or start them. And I love that my professors know who I am. I like getting to know my professors and learning from their experiences. My favorite classes have been, Marine Biology which was very hands on service learning. AMAZING and Women Gender Sexuality Studies with Dorthy Holland-she is amazing, and body sex world religion, and Human Strength and Positive function is great! I am doing a meditation project in there currently and its changing my outlook on life.

Note number 1: Richmond is much harder than I thought it would be. Note number 2: I'm still alive and still here. Even though I thought I wasn't going to make it last semester, I did. My professors were extremely helpful and I figured out that I can handle a lot more than I thought. Obviously I have had professors I do not like and taken classes you couldn't pay me take again. Yet I have discovered my passion here and the Journalism department is full of people who are just made of awesome. Seriously, the Department of Journalism (as they're officially called) is amazing. The professors are smart and experienced. They have amazing connections and internship opportunities. They are just fun people who know what the heck they're talking about. Getting a Liberal Arts education is also very nice and helpful. I am glad there is an eclectic class selection because I like a lot of different things and enjoy taking a variety of classes instead of being in the same thing all the time. Sometimes I need a break from writing and want to do a little music or art, etc. But that also means I have to take things like math, which I hate with a fiery passion. Thank God for Elementary Programming! I am irked by the URAware Wellness class requirement, which is an alcohol awareness class. Basically, someone talked to us for two hours about how many drinks we could have a day and how drinking is better for you than not. I walked out thinking, "why did I pay for this?" Overall the academics at UofR are tough but worth it. If you're ready for some serious library hours and intellectual and political conversations with friends, head on over!

Professors always know your name. It might take them some time to learn it but classes are generally so small that they are forced to learn your name quickly. Also, Professors want to know their students and so they do really try to not only learn the names of all their students but to keep up with their students in various other aspects of their lives here on campus. Students study a lot here. It isn't uncommon to find students working or in the library on a Friday or Saturday night and most students stay up late doing work. Additionally, around finals it’s practically impossible to find a computer in the library. Class participation is common but more so in the upper level classes. In a lot of the 101 or intro level classes students take, generally as freshman, a lot of the people are there to fulfill certain general requirements and, thus, aren't interested in the subject matter so, as a result, they don't participate in class. However, most classes are discussion based so student participation is vital to keeping the class moving and a lot of students do contribute their opinions and ideas.

Since class sizes here are generally pretty small, professors tend to know students' names. That doesn't prevent them from calling you consistently by completely random name that's not yours, however... (as happened to me in a chemistry class last semester). Students spend about the same amount of time studying during the week that they do drinking on the weekends. The amount of in class participation really depends on how much students are getting graded on it: if class participation is part of the final grade, students are much more likely to do it regularly than if it is completely optional. Even then, some students never open their mouths (either because of shyness or apathy about the class). Sometimes conversations are spawned by what we discussed in class, but only occasionally are they academic. However, that again depends on the class. There might be more intellectual conversation matter provided by a leadership or literature class than by an economics course. Academic requirements here really range from being lax to being extremely vigorous, and that difference is made mostly by the professors. An easy professor means an easy A, while some A students cannot achieve more than a B- if the professor is challenging or unusually difficult to please.

All my professors know my name since my largest class has about 25 students in it. Generally, the professors here really care about students learning and they make it challenging enough to keep it interesting. Theres a decent amount of classes offered so you can dabble in different areas. The students here are very smart and pretty competitive. They know how hard they have to work to do well so the library will be packed during the week but we use the weekend to relax and release from all the stress. It is definitely a work hard, party hard kind of school.

I've had some great professors, and I've had some really boring ones. Your academic experience really does depend on the professor. The one thing I really like about Richmond is the small class sizes. Lots of individual attention is available.