University of Washington-Seattle Campus Top Questions

The professors make the effort to know your name. They put in extra time to ensure our success. These are qualities that you usually get at a small institution, but you get it here at UW.

It certainly depends on what your major is, what year you are, and what style of teaching you like, but if you raise your hand a lot and go to office hours, there's no reason why your professor wouldn't know your name. My favorite class was probably Psychology 101. The professor was funny and he made learning so interesting - and I'm normally not interested in that kind of thing. I also recommend taking classes that aren't surveys. That way you go in depth and learn more specifics about a subject. My least favorites were ESRM 100 and ART H 201, a combination of dull subject matter combined with monotone voices and professors that would rather be traveling the world or doing anything but helping out their students. I'd reccommend ratemyprofessors.com - they're usually pretty accurate. People study anywhere from a couple hours a day to forty hours a week. It depends on your classes and your personality. I definitely hear people having intellectual conversations in cafes - the coffee here sort of inspires us, I think. Students are competitive depending on their major - more science than liberal arts. I love my major - history - it makes me want to learn more. It also makes me more interested and knowledgable about things that are happening today. I generally don't go to office hours unless I have a specific question that can't be answered in or after class. The academic requirements here are pretty reasonable, although as a History major, I'd prefer a little less of the science/math requirement.

All the professors know and cared to learn my name within a few weeks. Favorite classes are defined by instructors, not topic: that would be Dr. Belinda Louie! Her funny and relevant stories helped us to relax and take things in stride. Most students like to participate and find that most professors are affirming and encouraging in their responses. I think the education at UWT is quite balanced between the getting a job priority and the learning for the sake of learning. Generally speaking, students I was with were not competitive; grades were not announced.

For the most part, if I participate in class, the professor will know my name, and besides that, professor's do a wonderful job, for the most part, at memorizing names during the first few weeks. Student's should study daily. I, for the most part have loved all of my classes, except for one which had a lousy professor. Depending on your major, students can be very competitive; in the Political Science department, for example, there is high competition. I would definitely say that the education I am getting at UW is geared toward getting me a job.

There are big lectures, as well as small classes. We get the best of both worlds. Academics are competitive, the UW is not an easy school to get into. Professors and T.A.'s are always easily accessable, and for large classes, there are weekly review sessions to help. Students have to fulfill certain requirements, but there is such a wide variety of classes that it's easy and usually interesting, because you get to decide your schedule.

Sciences are extremely competitive because of the prestige of the nursing, medical and dental schools.

I wish their were more test... having only a midterm and final can be a pain sometimes.

Since I am an English major, my classes tend to be very small (my thesis class this quarter, although not typical at the university) has nine people in it. In my experience, English majors tend to be the most likely to love their major and therefore bring it home with them, so to speak. Not too many engineers or biochem majors read that stuff in their spare, whereas if you are an English major and not reading for pleasure, you are in the wrong department.

Class size varies from around 3 students to around 700 students. The more you get into your major and your particular area of study, the smaller and more intimate the classes are (the largest classes are almost always survey-type classes). One of the most interesting classes is Biology 100 (a.k.a. Drugs for Thugs). It's amazing even for those people that aren't very good at science, and the teacher makes it interesting. Also, another popular class is Geology 101 (a.k.a. Rocks for Jocks). It's almost impossible to fail that class, and if you put in a good effort, you'll have fun and earn an excellent grade.

I'm extremely close with my professors, in fact, I'm eating dinner with one tonight! For most 100 & 200-level classes, it's a realistic expectation that you'll be in larger classes. Once you get into the upper-division classes, however, the class size shrinks to about 20-30. The Foster School of Business does a great job creating an intimate community within a large university. Classes are extremely small, and professors are genuinely interested in furthering your education and helping you find good jobs.