Syracuse University Top Questions

It depends on the class. I'm in Whitman, the professor's get to know your name. There are a few professors who think that they are the best person ever to live, so they don't care. Generally though if you are in whitman they know or at least try to get to know your name. A large lecture, no way will they know your name. My least favorite class is MAT 284. It's always taught by a non-english speaking professor. All math classes at SU are very tough and seem to be poorly taught simply because they are just entry level courses. The math professors who teach them are all specialized on such a higher level that they don't understand why they have to put the curve up so high in order for the majority to pass. There are a lot of smart people who go to SU as students. On the other hand, there are a lot of bratty, dumb girls who complain that's it's cold... As if that's what we need to hear... Everything at SU depends on the school you're in. I am a business student so I am in SOM. The professors are generally top grade and will try to get to know you. They all have some sort of experience or teach on the side. The requirements for SOM aren't ridiculous, but I really don't think I'll need to know calculus for the business world. I think that it really won't matter what I learn, but how I apply myself to the real world.

people study here. people do work. we take things seriously and then come the weekend we let go. the classes arent thatttt hard, if you do the work youll be fine. sometimes the tests are really hard because you dont know eactly what to expect but hte teachers are always there to answer questions. all my teachers have been really nice and outgoing. theyre there to help, not just to get paid. NEVER take bio 121 or any other class with Marvin Drueger. hes aweful. thats the only bad experience iv had with classes.

Although I am not a theatre major, this semester I'm taking stage makeup which is a really cool class. Although at times it can be difficult (precision is key) it is fun learning all of the techniques. Our last project we had to make ourselves look old and our next one we are making ourselves look like a celebrity. I get along very well with my teachers and I think that partly has to do with coming from a small prestigous high school where teacher-student relationships are highly encouraged. At Syracuse it's really up to you. If you want to persue after class discussions, the teachers are more than happy to speak with you and if you want nothing to do with them you can do that as well.

I think academics at Syracuse are top notch. Most of my professors are great. A couple are hard to understand because they don't speak english well. I definitely notice a lot of students on facebook/AIM during class a lot, or texting. But I feel like this happens anywhere. Some of my classes are big lectures. Others are smaller. Class participation doesn't seem that common in ig lectures. I'm in the business school. Maybe I'm biased, but I think it's the best school on campus. Not only is it the best building (beautiful $40 million dollar building with state of the art technology) but my professors have been amazing and truly wanted me to excell. It's called Whitman, and when I came to visit Syracuse, it definitely surpassed my expectations and blew away all the other business schools I'd visited.

Professors here definitely want their students to succeed, and will make time for them any day to fully grasp the information.

All the hype you've ever heard about Newhouse, it's true. People in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications are better then everybody else and that's a fact. I'm lucky enough to have a Public Communications Studies Minor; it's really given me a lot of direction and helped me to set real career goals. My favorite class within the minor is COM 300, The News According to Hollywood. It's pretty intense: once a week we show up for three hours and watch movies, and then we have a take home midterm and a take home final. Gosh I really hope I pass.

Ehh not that great. most of the classes i have taken have been big lectures and maybe half of those professors are any good, for example my physics teacher was horrible and i got a D in the class. Students are competitive but mostly because they want a good job.

most of them know my name, because im in a small major. drawing for illustration was my fav class because it was taught by this crazy comic book illustrator. least fav is art history because the teacher talks about pointless off topic crap then tests us straight out of the text book. my classes are studios, so yeah we participate. some intellectual conversations out of class. they are competitive in my major (illustration) but we pretend we arent. most unique class...drawing for illustration i guess, or maybe comparative eastern empires. i see my professors at drawing marathons outside of class. academic requirements are fine. i dont know, my major is learning so we can get jobs as artists

I went to Syracuse for film. I applied to and was rejected from the Newhouse School of Communications. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because I walked across the quad to Visual and Performing Arts and was accepted into their film program, where I was able to study the art side of things and learn to become a real director, rather than strictly the business end, which was emphasized over at Newhouse. I did end up taking classes at Newhouse as a senior though, after cutting through a lot of red tape. And it was at Newhouse where I took the most important classes for me and my subsequent career... My first three years at Syracuse (1998-2001) were spent primarily within the walls of the VPA Film program, studying the aesthetics and intricacies of film language and film making. Sure, I had interned at one of the most successful music video production companies in NYC, but at school, I had no formal guidance in how to go after a job in the film business. Going into my senior year, I knew I needed to get into Professor Richard Dubin's Film Business class, and after talking to a ton of people in administration and cutting through a lot of tape, I did. I distinctly remember a project where, split into groups, the class was to pick a movie and dissect its makings. My group chose "The Fast and the Furious" and my job was to dig up numbers from pre-production. Being in college, I did what every other kid in that class did, and went to the internet, printed out figures from IMDB.com and showed up the next time in class, only to have Dubin shoot everyone's work down. He told us all that people in the film business are just like anyone else, and it's not hard to get in touch with them; go ask them for numbers. I - knowing I had to take this seriously, not to mention having something to prove, being one of only two non-Newhousers in the room - did as I was told. I went home, looked up the exec. producer's name, then his phone number in the phone book, left a message on his home's answering machine. He called me the next day and gave me the phone numbers of all of his associate producers and assistants and they gave me all the numbers I needed. The next class, you better believe that my hand was the first one raised. Going into the next semester, my last at Syracuse, I was scrambling to schedule the 5 credits needed for graduation that my advisor didn't notice I was missing. I decided to create an independent study that would not only provide 5 credits, but would also help me in getting a job. Dubin was kind enough to be the faculty advisor to this class, where I led three friends in documenting the process of pitching an original screenplay to producers, production companies and agents. We met weekly with Prof. Dubin to discuss strategy and create the best product we could. With minimal-to-no help from the others in my group, I secured meetings with Barry Diller, the Godfather producers, large production houses, agents, cinematographers, writers and others. Prof. Dubin's tutelage during my senior year has proven to be invaluable. Lessons learned from both of those classes have guided me since college, and have turned up fantastic results

Professors make an effort to know each of their students’ names, and classes are usually small enough so that students can feel comfortable coming to professors with questions about class material. Class participation accounts for a significant portion of every SU class, so it is necessary for professors to know their students in order to accurately access their performance. Class attendance is mandatory, and more than 2 or 3 missed classes will result in at least a letter grade drop. Since classes are mandatory, students get to know and feel comfortable with their peers, and are able to have better class discussions. As far as my classes have gone, about half of my classes have been lecture-based, while the other half have been discussion based. A recent ethics class was almost completely led by intellectual discussions based on readings, and the professor only chimed in to pose a question or to quide the students back on track. I’m in the Renee Crown Honors Program at SU and would suggest applying to anyone who has the GPA and stamina to do so. Though it adds on a few additional class requirements, the courses offered are incredible. They are challenging, thought provoking and fun. I am taking an honors physics course right now called “Seeing Light,” and I get to learn about vision, colors and the philosophies of sight where the honors program provides strobe lights, prisms, and other fun optical illusion objects to make learning what I consider a droll subject interactive and fun. I mean, who doesn’t like to play with rainbows? The honors courses are taught by incredibly enthusiastic and compassionate professors and are composed of about 15 to 20 curious, but not overtly nerdy, students. As a magazine journalism and European history major, I am able to have both a vocational training experience and a general education. The Newhouse school is most certainly a school that is purely for students interested in snagging a career in communications. And if you are not interested in pursuing a career in at least one of the majors offered, stay away. From the get-go, the summer internship becomes the focal point. But a continuous stream of e-mail blasts from the Career Development Center will keep students on their toes and on the lookout for top-notch internship experiences. Newhouse continues to push the bar higher for students each year, and due to competitive acceptance rates, Newhouse students consider themselves campus elite. Students looking towards journalism will also be expected to create multi-media projects, stream video coverage and use the Web. Professors are experts in their fields, have great business contacts and applicable learning methods. Newhouse has been using the same formula for years, so that today’s professors are providing the same syllabi for present students. Whatever works! As far as European history goes, the professors are engaging and helpful. The work load is not unbearable, and the library database provides great primary sources. Each professor specializes in a particular time period, and sticks to it. Thus, I have had a couple professors several times already. Some professors are incredibly bias, however, and do not understand why a student does not possess the same passion for a particular time period. The TA’s are absolutely incredible within the history department. The TA’s are all graduate students, most of them working towards a PhD. They are well versed in the respective subjects and bend over backwards to make sure the students understand the class material.