How big are intro class sizes at UVA vs W&M?
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Anonymous
+1 And a good professor is key no matter what the size.... |
Anonymous
? My kid is a junior Chem major and told me about 60 was the largest class size so far and that was pretty unusual. |
Anonymous
No, it doesn't. citations please |
Anonymous
It doesn't. this is the usual expected bashing by parents and students who didn't get in and bashing by rival VT (WHICH DOES HAVE HUGE INTRO CLASSES AND A VERY FLAWED MATH TUTORIAL SYSTEM - google it) |
Anonymous
So I can't answer for this specific course, but at a larger public school I know, some big classrooms have cameras that can sense the professor's movement and follow them. The feed is shown on screens in the lecture hall (like at a concert) and in satellite rooms. |
Anonymous
Related data point: 14.5% of UVA classes have more than 50 students; at W&M it's 7.8%. |
Anonymous
This is completely false. W&M doesn't even have any classrooms that will accommodate over 200 students. Their largest lecture hall only has capacity for 200. |
Anonymous
Different majors have different popularity. Even then:
https://courselist.wm.edu/courselist/courseinfo/searchresults?term_code=202310&term_subj=CHEM&attr=0&attr2=0&levl=0&status=0&ptrm=0&search=Search Note that this is for a single semester. A different semester will have a different intro/middle level class that has 100+ students.
You claim it doesn't and then ask for citations?
Higher level courses:
https://courselist.wm.edu/courselist/courseinfo/searchresults?term_code=202310&term_subj=BIOL&attr=0&attr2=0&levl=0&status=0&ptrm=0&search=Search https://courselist.wm.edu/courselist/courseinfo/searchresults?term_code=202320&term_subj=PSYC&attr=0&attr2=0&levl=0&status=0&ptrm=0&search=Search |
Anonymous
Yeah. I went to WM and had a class in one of those large rooms (Millington maybe?) and I think it was about 150. I can’t remember the class - Intro to Psych perhaps? Something I needed for a GER. |
Anonymous
Right. That was the largest auditorium on campus, and only a intro level few classes filled it. |
Anonymous
I'm the PP whose kid was a chem major--thanks for sharing this info. In your list, the Psyc classes that have 290 spots have zero enrolled so that's obviously some kind of glitch. And the classes listed as 250 have 57-72 students in them. That's what my kid has experienced. The only ones that I see over 100 are the Bio Animals and molecular genetics. Quite a few students will drop those (a ton of kids at W&M over-register and then drop before the add/drop deadline once they decide which courses they prefer). But bio is also one of the most popular majors and there's a bit of a glut in the upper level lab classes where upper class students slowed down their lab sequences due to the pandemic (not wanting to take on-line versions of critical lab courses), so they may have some classes over 100. In my kid's experience, they just added another class when the numbers got to 50-60. W&M is also a bit over-enrolled this year compared to prior years so who knows. But my kid personally has never had any classes of these size at W&M. |
Anonymous
It's not a glitch, it's a class for the Spring 2023 semester which hasn't started enrollment yet. Here's the equivalent intro class for Fall 2022 (W&M does a round-robin of classes so not all introductory classes are provided every semester).
https://courselist.wm.edu/courselist/courseinfo/searchresults?term_code=202310&term_subj=PSYC&attr=0&attr2=0&levl=0&status=0&ptrm=0&search=Search The last section has 290 seats total, 288 filled and 2 seats open. Remember that school has just started so the rest of the sections will fill up too. They wouldn't provide 3 sections of 290 seats if that wasn't the case. |
Anonymous
Completely false? Are you two saying that W&M has a class with 290 seats and 288 enrolled but they don't have classrooms that accomodate more than 150-200 students? Are these students sitting on the steps of the auditorium? That's a pretty bad look for W&M.
https://courselist.wm.edu/courselist/courseinfo/searchresults?term_code=202310&term_subj=PSYC&attr=0&attr2=0&levl=0&status=0&ptrm=0&search=Search |
Anonymous
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Let's put this debate to rest.
It's almost certainly true that UVA has some introductory classes that are larger than the largest classes at W&M. But who the hell cares. Other than crazed parents, that is. UVA is still the better school. Still the more prestigious school. Still the more selective school. And still the more fun school. |
Anonymous
UVA is certainly a more selective school recently. And has a wider name recognition which can translate to more prestige. But let's not act like being a more "fun" school is a good thing. The biggest issue with college today is that it's treated as a life experience to enjoy rather than an academic experience. No seriously respected school is respected for being "fun". |