Going from a average class size of 40 to 200.

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

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Any advice lol. I've been looking at the other university i'll be going to next semester and I was kinda surprised to know that i'll have around 100-300 people in every class with me. What should I know of how to succeed in such a environment.

 

[Kickback]

To stand out to the professor, you have to go to office hours. Unless you want to be "that guy" that asks questions EVERY lecture

 

[Morsetlis]

This happened to me about 5 years ago when I started college...

 

[Slowpoke]

transferred from a community college with ~20-30 students (no curves)

to university with 300+ students.

curve makes the classes so ezpk.

 

[Electronegative]

I know what you mean. I just transfered and the biggest class at my last college was like 35, now I have like 350 students in my chem class.

 

[metallica81788]

That's what happens at big universities - big classes.

They get smaller as you take more of them. Most junior or senior classes in my major average around 75 people, but some are as low as 30.

You don't have to go to office hours if you don't need them - only go if you're having trouble, want a rec letter at the end of the class, or want to work in the prof's lab.

 

[j4premed]

I made that transition a few months ago. It's not much different, but like the post above says, if you want to get a letter of rec/eval you are going to have to go to office hours in order for the prof to get to know you. Personally I like the larger classes.

 

[metallica81788]

I made that transition a few months ago. It's not much different, but like the post above says, if you want to get a letter of rec/eval you are going to have to go to office hours in order for the prof to get to know you. Personally I like the larger classes.

Me, too. I haven't really had very many small classes, but enough to get to know 2 or 3 professors pretty well. My favorite class size is about 75 or so people.

I received a rec letter in a class of 150 when I didn't go to office hours. I just went to see her towards the final to look at my tests and told her how much I liked her class and that I wanted a letter. Over the next semester, I visited her office and we talked about stuff so she got to know me better and then wrote me a good letter.

 

[orthomyxo]

To stand out to the professor, you have to go to office hours. Unless you want to be "that guy" that asks questions EVERY lecture

Nothing wrong with that. Personally, I don't ask questions, but when people do, it really helps out the other students who might not understand but don't want to ask.

 

[theWUbear]

Nothing wrong with that. Personally, I don't ask questions, but when people do, it really helps out the other students who might not understand but don't want to ask.

👍

Regarding the original post, I think the answer to this question depends on whether you're transferring to a top 20 school with giant premed classes, or average state school with giant premed classes. This is a broad generalization, but in top 20 school with fierce competition I had to eat sleep and breathe a class to compete with the curve. At average state school I'm more relaxed, ask questions in 400 ppl lectures when something is confusing, do the homework, and collect A's like it's cashmoney and I'm the tax man. Commence flame war between private and public schoolers? I apologize if that happens.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

transferred from a community college with ~20-30 students (no curves)

to university with 300+ students.

curve makes the classes so ezpk.

Lol so in your opinion a bigger class is easier due to curving?

 

[MilkmanAl]

There's something wrong with it if you ask obvious or stupid, tangential questions, and there are plenty of people who feel the need to do exactly that.

Chances are you won't be getting LOR's from professors of the huge classes anyway, so they don't matter. The profs you'll want to focus on teach classes that will be small regardless of how many people attend your school.

 

[kami333]

👍

Regarding the original post, I think the answer to this question depends on whether you're transferring to a top 20 school with giant premed classes, or average state school with giant premed classes. This is a broad generalization, but in top 20 school with fierce competition I had to eat sleep and breathe a class to compete with the curve. At average state school I'm more relaxed, ask questions in 400 ppl lectures when something is confusing, do the homework, and collect A's like it's cashmoney and I'm the tax man. Commence flame war between private and public schoolers? I apologize if that happens.

lol

I noticed this too, I went to a SLAC for undergrad, took some classes at a private university and did my postbacc at my state university.