University of Tulsa Top Questions

Classes are very small, and the professorial faculty is exceptional. The problem with being such an insular school, however, is that some professors are able to get away with doing a very pisspoor job. In my least favorite class, Genetics & Human Diversity, the professor taught exclusively from PowerPoint. I think that there is a community of pretentious people who make it a point to seem intellectual and aloof, but in general, people are fairly down-to-earth, yet still very intelligent. The music school is fairly middle-of-the-road in terms of quality, although I am happy to be a part of its strongest suits, its piano and composition departments. Performance standards for TU musicians are very low, especially among vocalists, and one can expect to dread most of the Wednesday recital classes because of the horrible performances that tend to dominate. TU School of Music's weakest attribute is its seeming unwillingness to direct people toward other careers; some very untalented, lazy, completely incompetent students have graduated under the pretense that at some point they would actually have a chance at becoming working musicians. Leadership of the music school has been anemic for the past couple of years, but the end of this school year signals a change in leadership that should be much for the better.

Since the class sizes are so small, the professors do eventually know the students' names. I find students studying at any hour of the day on campus. It just depends on what your study habits are. The most unique class I have taken was Christian Ethics in Modern Society. Although the professor did miss a couple of classes, his lectures are very interesting and you learn a lot about Christianity and what it means to Christians what our ethics are. I am currently a nursing student and I haven't started clinicals yet, but I will spring semester of my sophomore year. But so far, the nursing program is great and the professors are all really nice and always there to help you.

TU's classes are definitely a step up (or a staircase up) from other schools. I know that some of our 1000 level classes compare to other schools' 4000 level classes. It is hard, but not unmanageable.

They are really good here. I do not think I have had a class yet taught by a TA. Pretty much all of the Professors teach their classes, and they pretty much know everyone's names.

I would say majority of my professors know me and all my classmates by name. Students at TU definatly put many hours into studying. Class participation depends on the professor and the class. Many students are competitive but mostly with themselves, they have very high standards academically.

All of my professors know my name. One semester, I got an internship and my hours conflicted with one of my Tues/Thurs courses. After telling my prof I was going to have to drop, he made another suggestion: come to class on Thurs (which were test days) and go see him on Wed. I had my own personal class on Wednesdays with him! We became really good friends. Studying is relative. I am an electrical engineering major and I'm not a genius: I study a minimum of 20 hours a week. I would say that is definitely on the high end of the scale. All of my profs have been really great helping outside the classroom, spending hours to make sure i understand things. Most intense academic memory: In my circuits course, the final was two days for 3 hours each. It was during an ice storm so not everyone did great. We all got incompletes and had to go finish in Jan. We went in individually and the two profs who taught the course together would put a problem on the white board and you had to work it out with them commenting on your methods, etc. It was the most intense thing ever! On the other hand, I really know my circuit theory now! TU (especially in engineering) is really great about helping students get internships, locally and in their home town. Also, I have spoken and had meetings with numerous TU administrators, including the president. They are eager to hear from the students and work with them.

I have found the academics at TU to be phenomenal. I was used to having all A's in high school and at TU the classes are really challenging and if you receive an A you know you have really worked for it. The class sizes are small and every professor I have had knew my name when I was in class and some of them still know me today. All of the people I hang out with make good grades and so we all study quite often. You cannot blow of classes and still do well here, so if you're hoping to just party and have school on the side TU isn't the place for you! While you must have a little bit of a competitive attitude to do well the people here are NOT completely crazy and competitive like at some schools. People in your classes always want to form study groups with you and are usually willing to swap notes. I feel like it is a group effort where everyone in the class wants to do well--no one will hope for you to do poorly. Overally I have learned SO much while being at Tulsa. I have been particularly amazed by how much I have learned about art history (my minor) and how my drawing and studio art skills have improved (fine art is my major).

Academics are what TU is all about. One of the big things is that all of the professors here (at least the ones I've had) actually care about what happens to their students. Most are eager to help out with anything you have trouble on and are usually there for advice about careers, graduate schools, or whatever. TU is also really big about research, allowing undergrads to start doing research as early as they like. This is a huge thing for people trying to get into grad school.

One's academic career at TU is really challenging and full of experiences. Professors at TU do know my name and not by my ID number. My favorite class at TU was Calculus-II but, I haven't had any least favorite classes yet. Students do study all the time but when its fun time, no one sacrifices fun over books. Class participation was highly appreciated in my classes. The Engineering and Science students keep themselves updated with all the news and other upcoming things happening in the science stream and discuss those with their colleagues and with their professors.

I know all my professors by name and they all know my face if not my name. My favorite class is Legal Environment of Business. I see students studying very frequently. My major of International Business and Language with German is geared towards learning and traveling abroad, I haven't reached the specified Internation Business courses yet.