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.