Denison University Top Questions

As a young professor, I'm lucky to have gone to Denison because I have an instant pantheon of role models. The professors care very much about student success, yet hold students to high standards. Now that I'm on the other side of the desk I appreciate how truly difficult that is. One thing that is fabulous about Denison academically is the financial support for undergraduate research. I've gotten a lot of perspective after teaching at a few different places and Denison really has a very robust research program for a college that size.

All the professors I've had have been great. Although all of my discussion classes have failed to have any really great conversations as most freshman are just filling out the GE's and don't really care about the subject. So it makes going to class difficult if it's not lecture based. The professors all really care about students and are willing to meet with you. It's not very competitive at least that I've discovered, people often study in groups. My only real complaint is the lack of intellectual conversation, particularly outside of class.All of my professors have known my name, and will address you by name in and outside of class. Class participation unfortunately is students just saying something to get points which really sucks.

Work hard, play hard. You better be ready to work your ass off. I don't think there are any easy classes on campus, but this is what I like about it. Everyone studies a lot, but at the end of the week everyone lets loose.

The academic life at Denison is definitely what you make of it; you can decide to do the hardest things like the Honors Program and Senior Research and get a challenging but fulfilling academic experience, or you can take a lighter load and balance academics with extracurricular and social activities. You can participate in class as much or as little as you want, but there will always be people to learn from among your classmates. The students are not very competitive and react to their academic triumphs with modesty, though they are not shy about engaging in an casual academic discussion. You can decide to make friends with your professors and go to their office hours or schedule coffee talks with them, or you can have professional relationships with them in the classroom. Either way they are concerned about your success as an individual and can work with you on your terms to create the best academic strategy for you. In the end, Denison's requirements and teaching methods educate you to be a successful person at life; the flexibility to learn any new job or have quality relationships with your family/friends/co-workers, the well-roundedness to perform any given task successfully with a little practice and enough knowledge of the world to be culturally aware and respectful.

An Denison you will know your professors and know that they are there to support you 100{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of the way through your classes. Professors at Denison care about their students because they actually know them. Countless times I met with a professor one on one, and no it wasn't a teacher's assistant, it was a real tenured professor. Students operate on a work hard/ play hard basis and so studying is frequent at any given time during the week, but not so much on the weekend. Classes are small, in fact all of mine were less than 20 students and so participation was comfortable and when students spoke they were really heard. Students are not very competitive about grades because classes are based on so much more than scores and numbers, they are based on experience and exposure to new things. Denison is geared toward making its students well-rounded and aware of many fields, not just pump them through to spit them out into the work world.

One of my favorite things about Denison is their professors. Not only do they hire people that are qualified for their position, but they also hire people who are open and want to get to know the students. I have not met one teacher in my past two years at Denison who did not want to know more about or my personality. I think this is a great quality because Professors need to understand what kind of student you are so that they are able to teach to you and the class as a whole. Academics at Denison is held very high in standards. It is the number one reason as to why many students attend Denison. I feel very lucky to have found this school. My major is Athletic Training and normally you do not find this major at liberal arts colleges but I am fortunate because not only do I take courses involved with Athletic Training but I also take course in my other areas of interest that will help with my major. For example English and Psychology.

Yes, all my professors know my name. My favorite class so far has been Introduction to Psychology and my least favorite class has been Public Speaking. I think Denison students are very hardworking and they study everyday for a good amount of hours. Yes, class participation is common and Denison students do have intellectual conversations outside of the class. I do not think that students are competitive amongst each other but Denison is a competitive institution in the sense that academics are very demanding. The most unique class that I have taken is Cultural Psychology. My major is Economics and I do not know the economics department well enough as yet to say anything about it. I do take extra help from my professors outside of the class. I think that education at Denison is geared towards overall personality development so it's more towards learning instead of simply scoring well to get a good job.

It feels like everyone knows your name - not fully sure if that's a good or bad thing, and everyone is either out partying or studying. The students seem to place the most pressure on themselves making sure that they do their best all of the time. This at time becomes extremely stressful. Though, if you are a student like me, who is only at a school because their parents are making them and there major that they desire isn't offer, times become difficult. I'm a girl who loves to shop and desire, from clothes to homes, and i'm majoring in Economics and Women Studies with a Double minor in latin and Art history. I feel the only reason for this is for myself to always keep busy and never actually care about my future.

My favorate thing about Denison is that the lecture halls have thirty chairs. LECTURE HALLS with only thirty seats. That is absolutely unheard of in bigger universities where you can have HUNDREDS of people in your classes as an underclassman. The professors are really focused on direct contact with students, and are more than willing to mingle after classes. A couple of my profs have facebooks and are facebook friends with me.

Studying is a 24 hour job at Denison...there will always be work for you to do. Participation is in every class and it is very important.