Clemson University Top Questions

As far as my major goes, architecture, it is quite rigorous, requiring large amounts of my time in studio. My professors are very expectent of professional grade results in our projects. I find that I can generally connect with my professors very well, in and outside of class. Even outside of class, I find that students are very enlightening conversationlist on a number of topics that interest them the most.

I think Clemson has some of the best professors in the nation. Not only are they intelligent, but they are also very caring. I can always depend on them to respond to your emails quickly and offer you their time. The environment at Clemson makes it easy for students to have a healthy competitive nature. Everyone wants to succeed.

Classes are good sizes - besides the intro lecture halls they usually stay at around 20 people. Speaking of the engineering department, they have a general engineering program for first year kids that sucks. It's not really hard but they're extremely hard graders and have really rigorous standards. It's really just to weed people out, I'm going into my sophomore year and I hear it gets a lot better after that first year. I wouldn't say students are extremely competitive - most of the redneck kids don't really care that they're in college they just get wasted in a field somewhere whenever they can. The out of state kids are a lot more competitive - it really depends on the major you choose, for instance engineering has a lot more out of state kids than something that agriculture would. I hear Clemson has really good job hookups after you graduate but I wouldn't really know for sure. There are a lot of internship and co-op opportunities which is always a good thing.

The academics at Clemson are for the most part really great. I am a Poli Sci major and the majority of my classes are 10-15 people. Obviously the more general classes that you take, the bigger they will be, but for most classes you really can have an option of if you want a big or small class. In smaller classes there is obviously more class participation and I really enjoy the discussions in my classes. Students here are pretty driven and can be competitive but professors are usually pretty helpful and going to your prof's office outside of class will always earn you some bonus points! There are some amazing teachers here with some impressive resumes. Dr. Benjamin (I had him for econ 211 and 212) is really great. His class was prob 250 kids because everyone really wants to take him but he is a great teacher and made econ incredibly interesting. For most of your classes you are really going to have to study, but it is not going to kill you. I remember being in high school and wanting to cry when I heard about college kids studying for 6 or 7 hours at a time. But it really isn't that bad and nothing can replace the feeling of doing well on an exam that you worked really hard for.

You become closer to your professors as you get into classes in you major. Every professor has their own unique teaching style, but they each work in their own unique way. Of course you like some better than others, but that is expected. The one thing i wish is that the university would put more funding into the undergraduate program instead of expending sooooo much into the graduate program. As you go around campus you see a lot of great facilities but then, as a student, you just frown as you realize that almost all of them are fro graduate students only. Prime example, ICAR.

Professors all know my name and when I'm not in class. This may not be true the first couple years at Clemson but by junior and senior year classes range from about 15-25 students. Some students are competitive while others aren't. Most of the time if students are at the top of the class people know and will often ask those people for help on homework assignments or help with studying. Clemson academic requirements completely prepared me for moving into the work world. It was not only good in building my skills in classes but my social skills as well. I got a job right out of Clemson in Boston because I worked hard at Clemson. Classes are generally not difficult as long as you don't go out every night of the week. I decided to not go out until weekends and was able to get only one 'B' my whole career at Clemson (2 years) and the rest 'A's'. You have to make a choice because their is pressure to always go out downtown or to parties. It depends what you want out of school, a ton of friends thinking you're a partier or a job when you get out. None of my friends got jobs but they made the best in college by meeting so many people through partying.

Professors are very educated. Students study all the time, the library is always full. Class participation is above average. Intellectual conversations outside of class happen frequently. Students are pretty competitive.

Academics vary a lot at Clemson. I think every school has its good professors and its bad ones. Clemson is no different. In my first year, I have had professors that made class fun and interesting, and have taught me a lot, but I have also had some who didn't meet my expectations. Like I said, I think every school has this; not all teachers can be awesome. I was impressed with the class sizes. All of my classes were fairly small.

Clemson is big on academics. There are all kinds of programs to help students keep and maintain good grades and to ehlp students get their grades back up when they drop. There are so many free tutors and study groups availiable, it's not even funny. My sister, who attends a different college, visited Clemson, and after I showed her around campus, she told me that she could tell Clemson put much more focus on academics compared to her school just by seeing our academic buildings. Whether or not your professor knows your name all depends on you and your professor. If you have a class of 200 students, of course your professor isn't going to take time to remember your name unless you take the initiative and introduce yourself to your professor, ask questions after class, visit him/her during office hours. Most of my professors knew my name because I did these things. If you show your professors that your willing to learn and that you desire help, they're going to take the time to help you and get to know you too. I'm an Engineering major. I didn't think that the material covered in the Engr courses was that hard. It's just that the rules for the Engr courses are strict, and there are a lot of them. For instance, if your homework is stapled incorrectly or your name is in the wrong spot, your homework is thrown away. Don't let that scare you away from Engineering. They're just trying to teach us that we have to be neat and organized. Once you get the silly rules down, there's nothing to the actual homework...well, most of the time. My favorite classes at Clemson have been my math classes (MthSc 106, 108). I enjoy math and find it easy. On the other hand, I found out that I hated Chemistry. Chem 101 lecture isn't that bad...boring, but alright. The lab, however, is a killer. The lab is 25{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of your overall Chem 101 grade, and it's meant to bring the lecture grade up. However, it usually lowers it. The Chem 101 lab completely drove me away from anything Chemistry. It might have been that I had a very terrible TA (teaching assistant), but most of my friends hated the Chem 101 and 102 labs. Good luck with those!

The engineering department in Clemson is fantastic. Granted, the freshman year engineering courses are primarily bull s&{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c}!, but their purpose is to "weed out the weak" as my engineering T.A. so delicately put it. Once you actually start into your major courses it's really interesting and, for the most part, really well taught. Being an engineer is hard as hell. Don't let anyone ever tell you any differently. The engineering department at Clemson will not hesitate to push you to the limits of your academic ability. But, if you graduate with a Clemson engineering degree pretty much any employer will take you.