Arizona State University Student Reviews

Academic Life

Academics at ASU might be a little unnerving to those who don't go in expecting large class sizes. That, I think is the scariest thing, walking into a lecture hall and seeing over 400 other students, some sitting together, some not. You starting thinking, "Am I going to sit next to anyone in this class more than once?" "Will the professor know my name?" "Is the professor hard?" So many thoughts go through your mind all at once and it can be a little stressful. The truth is this, most professors in those large lectures aren't going to have any idea of who you are unless you make contact first. That is a key thing if you want your professor to know who you are and it makes for a great resource later on if you need held studying or if you need a letter of reccomendation for grad school. Not all classes are huge lectures though, most of the math and english course offered at ASU are generally smaller class sizes with no more than 25 students. And if you're a science major your labs will have no more than 14 students because the labs can't handle more than that at a time. At ASU the students are very competitive, especially in the majors in which you have to apply for upper division after your first year. In those majors, if you want to succeed and move forward it is crucial for you to be competitive with your peers and make your best effort to stay on top. Out of class, many students have very intellectual conversations with one another. Whether its classmates discussing the days lecture topic or just two friends talking about each other's majors there's always some sort of intellectual conversation going on between students all the time. ASU offers a very wide variety of classes for students to choose from. I think the most unique class I have taken thus far was a Forensic Anthropology class this past spring semester. It was a very interesting course that I would reccomend to anyone who is interested in forensic science. I am a Biochemistry major at ASU, mainly because there is no Forensic Science major offered. It involves a heavy load of math and science but its not bad if you enjoy it like I do. I make it a habit to meet with my professors outside of class, just so that they can get to know me and I can get help where I need it and show them that I am interested in their course, which helps a great deal if you miss a class because your sick or if you really don't understand what was taught one day in lecture. I think that ASU's academic requirements are pretty easy to meet. Personally I think the university should have higher expectations of it's students because I believe that most students would be able to meet those requirements without much more effort. The education itself at ASU is mainly geared toward learning for its own sake, at least in the science department. Professors aren't worried about what kind of job you're going to get once you graduate, they just want you to learn as much as you can about the subject they're teaching and for you to figure out how to apply it to your everday life. Personally I think this is a great method of edcucation because students learn a lot about the subjects they're taking and then have to use their own minds to apply what they've learned to everyday life. I think that this allows for a much more personalized education.