Case Western Reserve University Top Questions

HUGE workload. If you like to constantly be doing work, Case is the right place for you.

It's tough here at Case. But there is help! I have never heard of a Case grad having a hard time finding a job. The only thing I would say about my specific program (nursing) is that you can go to a cheaper school and get the same experiences. In fact, Case nursing grads have a hard time getting over our reputation as "know-it-alls" in our first assignments. For engineering though, there are few schools with reputations as good as Case's. If research is your thing, we are the school for you as well. You can do research your freshman year, and are even encouraged to do so!

Case has one of the hardest work-loads of any college in the nation. However, anyone who comes here is receiving a first-rate education that is well-worth the pain and agony.

Professors on the whole are helpful and willing to work with you, however I can only say that I've had about 4 actually good professors so far in my 3 years. I am double majoring in Math and Economics and both departments have their outstanding professors (2-4 of them) and the rest of the professors you attempt to avoid like the plague.

Academics are alright, most of my classes are on the smaller size and all of them know who I am. I think this is a good thing because despite being a decently sized school, the profs still try to have good relationships with their students. One problem with Case is the "SAGES" program. Standing for "Seminar Approach to General Education and Scholarship," SAGES is touted as being a revolutionary new program. In reality, its a bunch of writing seminars designed entirely by the professor who teaches the various seminar. Most students are required to take 3 or 4 SAGES classes which is not an especially fun prospect. What is really the flaw in the program is that none of the classes have specific standards or requirements. My SAGES seminar was a complete waste of time, and, although the guaranteed A was nice, other people I knew had grueling write-a-thons with professors who made it clear that they did not want to be teaching SAGES.

Very difficult. Lots and lots of work. Grading is usually appropriately lenient for the difficulty of the work. You will be pushed. You will be given more than you think you can do. And then you'll do it, and learn about yourself and the work in the process. Academics are indeed the most important part of the campus. Everyone is here for their respective degree first and foremost, and everything else is subordinate. Anyone who is not a serious student does not remain at this university for very long.

Most professors will know your name. Although some freshman classes are very big (~200 people), once you get into more major specific classes, the student to faculty ratio is 15:1. My favorite class was my freshman Physics class, the professor who taught it was awesome and really cared about his students. My least favorite was a computer methods class I took. Students usually study and do homework 4-8 hours a day. Since classes are small students have the opportunity to ask questions if they want. Many students have nothing but intellectual conversations, quite a bit of students are not very good at small talk. One good thing about Case is that it is not as competative as some academically centered school. Students help each other out with classes and work together on homework and projects. I am an Engineering Physics major, so a majority of my time is spent in the Physics department. The professors are very approachable for the most part. Both professors in the Physics and Engineering have Office hours and are readily available. Departments have social events where students can get to know professors outside of class. The academic requirement are very heavy, and much is expected of the students. Unfortunately, the liberal arts department is not very large in Case.

There are really two major types of professors. One is here for the research opportunities and teaching is an off-hand activity. The other is here to teach, to instill their love of a subject into the students, and hopefully helping them to find what they are passionate about. The higher level class that you take, the ones past the general requirements and prerequisites, the larger the probability you have of finding one of the great professors.

There are some amazing professors that devote a great deal of time, energy, and enthusiasm for teaching and then there are researchers that "teach" for an hour at a time. In general though there are more of the former and they are continually recognized by the student body for their achievements. Professors are generally approachable but in general it is up to the students to approach them. Students study often, class participation is generally only in the smaller, higher level classes or some liberal arts intro classes. Lectures are generally a sit and listen, try not to sleep. Intellectual conversations do occur outside of class on a somewhat frequent basis. Students are generally not very competitive but cooperative, group studies and reviews are common. Classes are very diverse from Herpetology and the Psychology of Sex to Islam and the Crusades. In general Case balances career oriented learning while encouraging learning to satisfy intellectual curiosity.

Most of my professors knew my name with in the first month of class and still know me. My favorite class so far is Separations with Professor Edwards. I really like it because it is low stress and the professor focuses on making sure that you understand the concepts and doesn't focus on how well you can do the algebra to get the correct answer. My lest favorite call was CHEM 290 because the experiments were simple and tedious. Students will study as much as they need, some weeks this is only 2-3 hours a day but if you have tests coming up it could be more like 4-6 hours a day. Class participation is very common, in most classes it is also a small part of you grade. Case students usually have intellectual conversations outside of class and homework. Students aren't very competitive, a lot of the work is group work. The most unique class I've taken was a theater history class, it was interesting because there were theater students, English students, physics students, and engineering students all in the class. My major is chemical engineering the department has lot of great professors that are interested in what they teach and their students. The department also has small class sizes and the students work together on lots of projects. I don't usually spend time with professors out of class, I will visit them in their offices if I have questions. I think that the academic requirements are demanding but fair. The education here is about learning the skills you will need in a job but the way it is taught really brings out the learning aspect, we get examples of real world problems but the professors want to make sure we understand why we solve it the way we do.