University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus Top Questions

I am in mostly gen. ed. classes which means they are huge so mostly my professors don't know my name but in the smaller classes they definitely do. My biggest complaint is about some of the professors from outside the country. They can have terrible accents which makes it extremely difficult to understand the material.

There are 2 classes at OU that every one should take before they leave: Freedom in Greece and Freedom in Rome these classes are taught by J. Rufus Fears and all he does is tell stories about the history of Greece and Rome respectively its the kind of class that you are truly disappointed to miss.

Some professors do know my name. All of my film professors know my name, and some of the general course professors make an effort to know my name, and in the past, several other professors have known my name. My favorite class was either English Comp II, taught by Tommy White, or Storytelling, taught by Jeff Van Hanken. My least favorite classes were all of the gen. eds, and some others. Some students study quite a lot. It varies. Personally, I never study and I never read the textbooks assigned. I rarely pay attention in class. Class participation is not common. Just like everyone hates the 'ice-breakers' that are done in groups when you first go to a conference or some other event. Nobody wants to talk in class anymore than people want to sit on each others laps in a circle of self-supporting human chairs. Intellectual conversations are much more likely to happen outside of class, because outside of class, there are no professors to 'guide' the conversation to the outcome they want it to reach. Students are competitive, but oftentimes it isn't against each other, but against the class or the professor. I do not spend time with professors outside of class. OU's academic requirements are similar to other university's requirements. There is too much emphasis placed on gen. ed. courses, which do not help the student, and only take more time away from what they want to be pursuing. The education at OU is generally geared towards whatever goals the professor wants to achieve. Very little is done towards getting a job or learning. Most of the courses are all the same, and the most the student has to learn is how to tailor his or her writing to that professor's liking, and how to take the exams. None of this is cheating, but all done by 'learning' the professor and what kind of answers are likely to get you a good grade, as opposed to learning the material. This is the biggest problem at the collegiate level.

Some professors know my name---those professors that I've had. But they don't know me very well. That's one thing I miss from high school---interaction with my instructors and great intellectual discussions with them. I've had many favorite classes---my honors colloquium (Race and U.S. Cinema), Indian Epics, Mythology/Folklore, Politics and Literature, the Bible as Literature, some of my German classes, British Women Writers, and Arthurian Legend/Lit. I've also had some terrible ones, mostly because the teacher was bad---Calc II, Contemporary/Modern Native American Literature, Native Peoples of North America. The amount that students study is highly variable. Some study a lot, some study very little. In my experience, class participation is not very common. Usually the same five people or so are the only ones participating. I don't think most people have intellectual conversations outside of class---I wish I had someone to do that with, though. I'm competitive, and other students are, too, but not all of them or even most of them. The most unique classes I've taken have been Indian Epics, Bible as Literature, and Race and U.S. Cinema. My major is English. The department is okay---some good professors, some bad ones. I don't spend time with professors outside of class. I would if I could, but I'm too timid to go to their office hours. The academic requirements are just fine. I think the education is more geared toward getting a job, which I sadly regret. Learning for its own sake should be emphasized, too.

Probably not in the 200 person 1000 level classes most departments have. If the class is 50 or less, and you talk occasionally in class, the prof probably knows your name.

I feel like the professors know who you are as long as you try not to hide from them. The norman campus professors are very great in helping you out in thier classes. they are always wanting students to come in and talk with them. It is nice to have people who want you to succeed. My favorite class at OU was Human anatomy. I learned more in that class than any other. I also liked the discussion based classes such as The New Hollywood, a film class. They really push you as a student. You get to discuss things with your peers and it feels like you lead your own class. Class participation is common, but most of the time in large classes it is done by the same students everyday. that is why I recommend small classes. I feel like a lot of the students at OU are very intelligent. But there are the few you will run across that you will not be sure why they are here. There really is a good mixture of students here. Of course in every class there are student that will get on your nerves. There are competitive students in every class, just like high school. My major is nursing. I took 3 years to do my prerecs. The classes I took were not impossible. At times they were challenging, but also rewarding. At this moment I am very down on the nursing school at OU. I feel once you get into nursing school it is a different ballgame. You will no longer be the smartest person in class. It is very challenging. i live for the time I can be in clinical class. the first semester of nursing school is not too bad. I did not change my lifestyle much. the second semester is way worse. I spend most of my week nights in the library and little time with friends. I have made friends in nursing school, which is nice because we spend most of our time together.

Letters is one particular major at OU which sometimes gets a bad wrap. It can be a catch all for smart, but indecisive students. It is not a course for the faint hearted - you must take two languages and then upper division coursework in History, Philosophy, and Literature. This course boasts the all around classics education you wish mattered, but can be hard to market to employers - make sure you have extracirrular activities and internships to strengthen your resume. For this reason, many Letters graduates head to graduate school (law school in particular is popular) To the average student, OU is moderately academically demanding. Although there are labor intensive majors and classes, many students get by with just studying for Midterms and finals. If you are an above average student interested in learning, this plays to your advantage. Professors are delighted with students that ask a few questions in class, show interest in their subject, and visit during office hours. This can certainly reflect positively on your GPA. With that being said, there is certainly an opportunity for a challenging environment! By joining the honors college and/or majoring in something other than communications, you can find that academic stimulus.

The art school was small, so all of the professors knew your name as well as what classes you were taking and generally how you were doing. I loved 'Apartheid in South Africa' - it was a really interesting combination of learning materials and so interesting! Most students (that I knew) studied a few nights a week, but it varied by major. In the art school class participation was both common and required. Some majors tend to emphasize competition, so some students are competitive. The art program was competitive, but also very cooperative. There was a real emphasis on helping each other and learning from each other. I was a Graphic Design/Visual Communication major. It was very competitive to join the program and we essentially competed against each other for our grades, but we were very into making sure each person had their own voice. We were encouraged to cooperate as a means of understanding the strengths and weaknesses of our own work. We were all very close and most of us still communicate with each other and some still talk to our professors. As an art major it was very important to meet with professors outside of class. I found that most professors at OU enjoyed students who would meet with them outside of class. I wish that OU's academic requirements were a little bit higher, but their National Merit scholarships do ensure that most classes are filled with very bright students. Different schools within OU are geared differently, but my experience was that it was learning for learning's sake, that was very helpful to me after I got a job.

Most of my professors know my name, except for in the classes with 500 people of course. My favorite class is my Communications class. I just think it is intresting and we do group activities and my teacher just makes it intresting yet at the same time he is chill and down to earth. Right now my classes are geard just toward learning but I think once I get into the business school I will be recieving a more focused business learning style.

Yes, a few professors know my name. All of my classes are art related classes so I pretty much enjoy all of them. I wouldn't know too much about studying...I am more used to working on projects. Yes, class participation is a pretty huge thing around here. Of course OU students have intellectual conversations outside of class... what a sad world we would live in if our young people didn't have intellectual conversations around college age. Students in my major are very competitive. The most unique class...I would say would be an art history class I took on a study abroad trip to Austria and Germany. My major is visual communications, which is really just another word for graphic design. We spend time talking to our professors outside of class a lot of times because none of us understand what's going on, so we nag our professors to try to get some kind of answers out of them.