Overcrowding/Overenrollment Issues at top tier schools
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Anonymous
+1000 |
Anonymous
Well, they are still cheaper than UVA or UMichigan. But the larger point applies to all: go private if oos. |
Anonymous
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Umich poster again. I don’t disagree UC schools don’t have issues (eg housing and class seat buying, and wow seat buying seems like a new extreme). I was trying to clarify that all top tier schools may have or may not have similar issues. Look at the previous post about VTs housing issues in 2019.
Private schools have these issues as much as public. Someone upthread mentioned Middlebury and FEMA trailers. When I toured Cornell on an admitted students day I was told some large intro classes have over 1K in the class. A comparison in one the presentations I sat through had this information on class sizes: Berkeley - Data Structures Course had 1500 students (and lucky if you could get in) Wisconsin Op Systems course - 400 students Cornell Op Systems course - 500 students Stanford- average CS class size - 125 students UT Austin - largest CS class size - 125 students (source: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=--upJd-y_gQ) It also references a Columbia student who had 200 students in an upper division class after waiting years for smaller class sizes. This data shows large class size is not just a public vs private issue. Is it a top tier university issue? Maybe. Do your research and figure out what your family is interested in terms of a university education. There are small, personalized campuses if that is what you want. For me, it’s harder to pay private school tuition rates and have the exact same issues as the typically cheaper public schools. |
Anonymous
DP Who’s going to break the bad news to the 240 - 250K applicants each year? |
Anonymous
DP The cross-admit data that I’ve seen doesn’t seem to align at all with any of the anecdotal noise here … UCLA 63% vs. Cornell 37% UCLA 56% vs. USC 44% UCLA 83% vs. NYU 17% UCLA 93% vs. BU 7% |
Anonymous
My DC is double majoring (Math and CS) with a minor at a top UC and has had no issues so far and is graduating on time. I am glad I was not aware of this site when older DC applied because I woulf not have sent him but his experience has been very good. He is a resourceful kid who could navigate the school despite coming from a very small HS. |
Anonymous
Due to instate price |
Anonymous
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I feel like people are ignoring the fact that past a certain point, it doesn't really matter how many kids are in a class. Most of the large classes are fact-heavy and most of the hard work and gaining of understanding happens outside of the classroom. The lecture is just an initial overview. Like at a job where you have some up-front meetings but spend a lot of time working independently on your own tasks.
I understand that a lot of people like high-school-sized classes, and those are good for active discussion classes. But I never minded moving to a bigger environment afterwards. I can remember really enjoying a number of classes that were 50-100 students. The large lecture classes I took were mainly 101s that I had to take for distribution requirements (Bio 101/102, Econ 101/102, Calculus). The ones with problem sets had TA-led sections where you could go over all the homework, review the week's topics, etc. It really worked fine. To make an analogy to a local example...is the State of the Union address rendered boring because it's delivered in a large room? |
Anonymous
Exactly! |
Anonymous
Every school has complaints. No school is exempt from it. |
Anonymous
*Sniff* Poor babies can't deal with the thought of having less closet space, a shared bathroom with running water and a toilet. Life will be soooo hard. *Sniff* |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
Nobody should EVER take threads like this seriously nor let it influence their choice of schools. As a PP said above, visit and ask a ton of questions. Talk to current students as much as possible. Most of those blathering on about the hellscapes of the UCs have never stepped foot in CA let alone on one of the campuses. True - the UCs have their blemishes and I agree with those who complain about lack of student advising. That's my biggest complaint and I complained about it strongly on the end of the year parent survey I just submitted. My DC is a senior at UCLA and didn't sit down in person with an actual (not student) advisor until getting admitted into her major Junior year. But her undergraduate experience has been NOTHING like what everyone is posting here. Seriously. Nothing. Largest class was around 200 but those were online her freshman year because of Covid. Double major and is graduating on-time, as are all of her friends/roommates, etc. It's not a school for students who need hand-holding and can't hustle. I've met a ton of DD's friends and classmates and they are incredibly smart, ambitious go-getters. Oh - and the selling of seats in classes gave my DD a hearty laugh! |
Anonymous
The data isn’t confined to CA applicants. Cross-admitted applicants simply choose UCLA by a significant margin. |
Anonymous
80 percent of ucla students are Californians. One wouldn’t expect them to be picking the more expensive cross country option. |