Denison University Top Questions

All of my experiences with the professors have been really positive. Because the classes are so small, your professors really get to know you. They are very accessible and always willing to help. I think students work pretty hard. There are always a ton of students in the library, especially during exams. Most people take their schoolwork very seriously. The General Education requirements at Denison are very reasonable and easy to fulfill.

Academics at Denison are pretty important and I've generally had pretty good professors. Some classes are definitely more interesting than others, but I guess you just have to find your niche. I am a psychology major, and I think that Denison has a great Psych department. The classes are really interesting and in my opinion the professors are pretty helpful and want you to succeed. The workload is kind of tough though, and I have yet to have taken a class that I would say was a piece of cake and hardly had to study for. If you want to succeed at Denison you have to study, but there are tons of places you can go on campus where you can have quiet. Our library is really cool and lots of people do a majority of their studying there. It can be kind of a pain come exam time though, when it seems like every seat in the library is taken up. That's when I take advantage of the other academic buildings that are always open. I just stake out a spot in a classroom in a science building somewhere and that works just as well. Class participation is a big thing at Denison, probably because professors expect it and often count it as part of your final grade. Raising your hand often is not unusual and will probably earn you some cred with the professor, especially if you aren't doing very well on the tests. Some teachers will count how much you spoke in class into your grade so you don't fail as miserably, which I think is a nice gesture. Denison, being a small liberal arts school, is more geared toward learning for the sake of learning and less about getting a job, which some people like and some people don't. Don't get me wrong, we all want to get jobs and think getting them is important but with the way the courses are set up, it's not like you find one thing you want to do freshman year and just take courses for that major so that when you get out of college that's all you really can do or know how to do. Denison students have to fulfill so many general requirements by the time they graduate that you get a whole other wealth of knowledge about subjects that you may never have considered taking. This is both good and bad. Its good because coming out of college you have a lot more opportunity at getting different kinds of jobs, not just in one specific field, and lots of Denison alums go on to grad schools. Sometimes its annoying having to fulfill so many GE's because you might have to take classes that you have no interest in, and these classes might pull down your overall GPA (for me it was the three semesters of French I was forced to take). Overall I think GE's are good, however, because a lot of students go into Denison not knowing what their interests are or what they want their major to be, and by taking these different classes, they find it. (This is how I found out I wanted to be a psych major).

Awesome. The professors are excellent. And if you extend yourself to them, they will extend themselves to you. They are down to have relationships with their students.

Denison is a place where students work hard and play hard. True, we may party, and some party a lot, but those crazy partyers on Saturday night get up early on Sunday to do homework. Academics, in general, are extremely rigorous, professors are extremely engaged, classes are participatory, and students tend to be excited about their academic choices.

I feel that I am actually getting my 40 grand's worth in this department. Though not every class is as riveting as some, that is to be expected. Overall, the professors are great, and the classes are interesting, but Denison is a really hard school. We have a gigantic work load. The fact that the library stays open until 4 am exam week tells me that the administration expects that the students should be up that late working, and then to rub it in, campus is littered with signs that say "make sure to get plenty of sleep...your body needs a full 8 hours etcetera etcetera." Denison students are very competitve and we sometimes have intellectual conversations outside of class, but mainly I have found that we just talk about other Denison people, which isn't intellectually stimulating at all.

Classes are small and there is no place to hide in the background. Professors definitely know everyone's name and are usually there to help outside of class.

profs definitely know your name the amount of studying students do depends on the person... i didn't study in high school, and even if i try to study in college, it usually doesn't work out too well. but a lot of people study in groups, or do their homework together which can make the work less boring. Denison have pretty competitive academics, but I wouldn't say that the students are constantly trying to outdo their peers. Everyone I've ran into is supportive of others when they do well, and doesn't try to one up them.

I've never been in a class with more than thirty students, and because of this, all of my professors have known my name and most have known my opinions. I've been invited (with my class) to a professor's house for dinner, and I've made quite a few friends in my classes. When you leave a classroom, you know a lot about your professors and your fellow students, and they help you get to know yourself. This is very important to me. When a professor understands where you're coming from, it's easier for them to relate to you and vice versa. For instance, I told you I grew up in a rural area. Two of the eight professors I had my freshman year did as well, so they knew how being on a campus like Denison's affected me. Professors are emotionally attached to their students as well. I know of more than one case where a classmate has played in a concert or acted in a play and they invited a professor to come see them (and the professors attend if they can). Professors at Denison are your friends, not some enigma you never get close to. Denison has a lot of GE requirements that other schools do not. (Science requirements for English majors or a Black/Women's/International studies course for everyone). That is because Denison is a liberal arts college. They teach you to learn, they don't just teach you information. Many students get jobs after college, and they get far, but Denison is made for learning, not for getting the job. The job is just a bonus after having spent time at Denison. It is a difficult school and studying is necessary; don't come to Denison with the idea that it's going to be cake and you're not going to have to try. You'll find out the hard way that this is not true at all, and you'll spend countless evening studying.

Academics at Denison are no joke. Classes are diffculte no matter what your major however, professors are always willing to meet with you to go over course materials. BE PERPARED FOR CLASS, since class sizes are normally very small you need to come to class prepared to get by. Most students take this very seriously, you can tell by how packed the library is on weeknights. I have had dinner at my professor house. A couple of night this past semester most of the professors had dinner with the student body in the dinning halls.

The small size of Denison strengthens the academics more than anything else. While I haven't loved every single one of my professors, I have found something about each one that made me at least like them. What fascinated me the most on my very first day of classes was the students eagerness and need to learn something. They would participate in class, which was very different to what would go on in my high school (the teachers would have to practically beg us to answer their questions). I also love how willing professors always are to meet with you outside of class if you want to talk about a certain concept that you didn't understand or a grade/test you got back that was concerning. The only downside of Denison's academics is that they are very demanding. I work really hard to get the grades I do and sometimes those grades do not reflect how much work I am really doing.

I am a Psychology and Spanish double major. I've had some really interesting and challenging classes within and outside of my majors. The profs are for the most part wonderful. Most of them are very down to earth and personable. They're very accessible and invested in their students. I've only had a few professors I couldn't stand, but luckily there aren't many on campus. My only complaint is that some classes are hard to get into. Class sizes are kept small, so the popular classes fill up very quickly and freshman and sophomore year it is kind of difficult to get all the classes you want.

Every professor knows my name and most seem to have an interest in my success. I have never had an issue meeting with a faculty member, except for my advisor! I wouldn't suggest Denison for someone who wants to leave college and have a high paying job right away but I have learned a new thought process in my first year.

Great academic atmosphere. Small class sizes. Top-notch professors. Tons of resources.

i've had a lot of intellectual conversations outside of class with friends and students are really competitive, a little too competitive. classes can be very challenging and require a lot of work. everybody freaks out during finals week with all the work they have. the professors are pretty flexible, fair but not easy. the international studies department is just a mixture of a lot of other departments and sort of unorganized

Proffessors know your name--it's like in highschool, only class sizes are even smaller. My first semester classes ranged 10-20 ppl. Favourite class-German, cuz I like to learn languages. I also liked FYS English, cuz I learned how to write papers really well. Physics 125 was pretty damn interesting, eye opening. Economics seems handy and interesting, I M MAJORING IN IT. Class participation is very, very, very, very common. Youre graded on it. Yeah, people, do have academic/intellectual conversation outside school! You'd be surprised, people do get into it a lot. Competitive--in Swimming, YES. We're gonna beat Kenyon, at least at Conference. Most unique class---So far, probably, Cinema, fun, interesting, lots-of-work class. You have to use actual 16mm cameras and real film stock--nice, but a load of work. would have never had anything like that in High school. Don't really hang out with the professors too much. Denison's academic requirements are really subtle--in my opinion. I didn't worry about fulfilling them my freshman year, but when I checked, I alreaady had most of them. Education, so far to me, seems geared for learning for learning's sake. The internships and the good-sounding majors get you that job you wanted. But otherwise it seems to me lots of people go on to grad-school.

I have a very close relationship with my professors and I have loved my classes-both those for my major, and those required for general education, my classes have been challenging and I have grown intellectually over my four years here, class participation is common, but I would say only a handful of students have intellectual conversations outside of class, Denison however is aimed at students getting a job through their parents connections...

Professors overall are good. Classes are very rarely enormous; 25 so far has been my largest class size. Evaluations of professors and classes are strongly encouraged by all administration and professors, and it is a great way to have your voice heard. Professors do actually listen to the evaluations and attempt to change accordingly. Most classes are geared towards learning for its own sake. We don't even have a business major here; you have to arrange your majors to accommodate accordingly. Students don't tend to be very competitive. Denison also provides fairly interesting classes for the freshmen, and has a theme each year to focus the class towards one particular topic (Hum|an|imal, for my year). Hearing intellectual conversation outside of class is a little surprising to hear, though it isn't a rare occurance.

The professors are great. They know the students names. They have flexible office hours. They are quick about responding to emails and they genuinely care about their students. You have to work really hard at Denison to get good grades. Professors expect a lot of their students so you have to put a lot of time and effort into your work. It was also really helpful coming into Denison with a lot of AP credits because they took care of some general education requirements.

I really like the academic atmosphere at Denison especially in the Biology Department. I would say over 90{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} of my professors knew me by name and I found it really easy to talk to them outside of class and that sort of thing. It is clear that the majority of professors at Denison care deeply about their students and want them to succeed. I think that Denison's academic requirements were also quite good. I did not have trouble fitting in all of my classes and I felt that I had a good amount of flexibility with my choice of classes. I was not shut out of any class that I was absolutely dying to take. When I was placed onto a waitlist for a Biology Class that I really wanted to take I just went to the professor and talk to him about why I wanted to take his class and he signed me into it with no problem.

Small classes. The biggest class for me was 35 students. Professors know you by name and you know them by name. In the cinema department, I know my professors by a first name basis (I imagine it is like that in other departments too).