Lewis & Clark College Top Questions

All of my professors know my name and that is not true of many of my friends who attend other colleges. The academics are fairly rigorous, and you have to do the work to be able to keep up with the pace of the classes. Any class that I have needed extra explanation in has been gladly given by the teacher. There are very few TA's within the school and no class will be taught by a TA. If there is a TA it is their job to help with one on one help in classes where the teacher cannot help every student all of the time. In computer science, or lab classes they are very common.

I feel Lewis and Clark has a relaxed academic environment, yet there are still people interested in learning. People here have a lot more intelligent opinions than I would have thought just by looking at them. Their viewpoints are mostly liberal, but they're very informed and up to date on news. International affairs is a common topic of discussion outside of class. The professors are very accommodating and supportive. I had one professor who crammed seven of us into her 5 passenger car to see a movie. It's nice having small classes, but you should be expected to participate in a lot of class discussions. Class participation is very common since the majority of classes are small. Students are not competitive at all, it's very relaxed. I'm a psych major and I've heard the psych dept is very good. A lot of people come here for the international affairs dept. The academic requirements are mostly reasonable, with the exception of Exploration and Discovery, the core class freshman are required to take. There is a focus on analyzing literature, writing essays, oral presentations, and research papers. I feel like I already had a good foundation from highschool in these areas, especially with taking AP Lit. I think a lot of people already have these skills and it is redundant to take this class. Much of the literature were books I had covered in highschool.

The classes at LC are very small for the most part. I think IA classes and Intro science classes are the biggest classes, hitting almost 100 students. Yet the rest of the classes are between 20 and 35 students. The teachers know the names of all the students and a lot of classes are discussion classes where participation is important and counts as part of your grade.

The classroom is about the only place Lewis and Clark students seem to take competition seriously. Students are always trying to out do each other, which gets frustrating, especially in small class settings. The good thing about small class sizes is that professors most often know you by name, and many times, Professors prefer to be on a first-name basis with their students. As a freshman, you're required to take an intro class, they call it "Exploration and Discovery," which is basically an English 101 class, and is for many students, unnecessary. They have good intentions, though. Also, because it is a liberal arts college, there are general educations requirements in the sciences, math, Art and humanities (2 years of a language or the equivalent). Personally, I don't like the requirements, but the major programs for many of the areas of study are not as rigorous as they could be because they factor in the general ed. classes.

All of my professors so far have asked me to call them by their first name. They are super nice, obviously care that I am learning something, and know my name too, even when I didn't think they would. People talk in class. It isn't the usual three or four people talk every class, but instead everyone participates. I wouldn't say it's the most difficult school. I consider most of my classes to be at medium difficulty, but then again, I went to a college prep high school. That being said, students here study a lot. In fact, study parties are quite popular: we gather and bring treats or make treats while we study. I wish that LC had fewer requirements, but I've gotten most of them done already. LC really aims at teaching students things they want to know, and wants students to do what THEY want to do. It's focused on right NOW.

Lots of work, but lots of fun. Its not brutally hard, but don't expect to breeze through your classes.

The Professors definitely know you by name and make an effort to learn them very quickly. I think there's a great relationship between students and professors, and many professors invite their students to their homes for end of the year parties. Lewis and Clark's general education requirements are fairly easy to reach, leaving most students a lot of freedom and flexibility in figuring out their majors. Class participation depends on the class, though most of the discussion-based classes feature a lot of participation from the students. Exploration & Discovery (the required freshman seminar) definitely teaches students how to feel comfortable speaking and discussing in class, in addition to teaching students how to write. In my experience, LC students aren't very competitive, and tend to be more laidback. Most students respect each other for getting into the school (with the academic criteria), and don't focus on individual grades in classes.

During my Exploration and Discovery class, a core course that all students are required to take, my professor told us that the express purpose of a liberal arts education is to take everything we think that we know, rip it to shreds, and force us to rebuild ourselves. She said that by the end of it we should be able to find a way to relate Aristotle to an electrical outlet. Classes are mandatory and small, attendance is a must, and professors know all of their students, always. Courses tend to be discussion-based and the worthwhile discussions tend to spill out of the classroom and take hold of your conversations for the rest of the day. So long as you are engaged in your studies, you will be well-rounded and well-educated when you graduate.

Profs are awesome. The math dept is like my family. Classes are challenging, but fun. But, like everything, it's not for everyone.

Professors here know your name, unless they think they're better than everyone else. Then they feel that they don't have to. Whether they remember your name once you aren't in their classes is another story. Best class here is New Testament and Early Christian Literature. No Joke. Don't take ethics unless you really know what you're in for. People tend to study most right before finals, otherwise, I think they don't feel the pressure. Class participation varies depending on the size of the class and the subject. If its something like history, its mostly lecture, but if its psychology or any kind of lab science, participation is in some cases the biggest part of class. I continue to be surprised by the strange things we all talk about outside of class, we're always able to bring in something we learned that day and relate it to whatever we're talking about. Students here don't seem to be very competitive. Most unique class I've taken was probably Cross Cultural Psychology (That doesn't mean it was very good). As a psych major, I think the psych department is pretty diverse and that the professors are all very good at their specific fields and generally enjoy them as well. I don't spend much time with professors outside of class, though I do run into a professor from the philosophy department at the weirdest times...The academic requirements here are pretty standard: You need to know some math, you should speak another language, you have to do some chemistry or biology, etc. Also, we have a core class known as Exploration and Discovery, which is sort of English heavy and teaches you how to write. Different sections of this class are taught by professors in different departments, so the level of interestingness depends on that. LC is all about liberal arts, so it is geared towards learning a broad range of things that you can build on later. In other words, it is not as geared towards job life after college as some schools might be.