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[warhammer651]

Right, so for part of my homework, I need to interview somone currently in college.

Problem is, I don't know anyone near my home that is currently in college. So if any of you who are in college could fill this out for me, that'd be great

Spoiler: Survey (click to show/hide)

1)How many schools did you apply to?

2) What factors influenced which school you would attend?

3)What are the pros and cons of your college?

4)What is your major, and how is it taught?(Class sizes, TAs, Number of classes, etc)

5) How many majors have you explored? How did you decide which one to choose?

6) Do you have a minor? If so, why?

7)What are the best programs on campus? What makes them better than others?

What is the social side of things like?

9) Is there a Greek presence on campus (Fraternities and sororities I think he means)? If so, what are your thoughts on it?

10) is it tough to make friends/fit in? Is the campus atmosphere more open or are students closed off?

11)How accepting are students/staff of minorities?

12) What the political climate of the campus?

13) How are the dorms?

14) what extracurricular activities are there?

[Heron TSG]

I'm in High School, but also enrolled full-time in a local community college. If that counts, have some answers.

1)How many schools did you apply to?
Just this one, so far. I'm also enrolled in a state college via some articulation in Calculus, Pre-Calculus, Physics, and Physics II, but I only had to pass their tests. I'm also in the electronics program at a far larger community college a ways away from here through articulation with our own advanced high school electronics program, but again I only had to pass the test. After I graduate from here (and high school) I'll be applying to all sorts of places. Stanford, Berkeley, University of Washington, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, and M.I.T. chief among them.

2) What factors influenced which school you would attend?
This one was available and free. Not much choice here.

3)What are the pros and cons of your college?
Pros: It's free-ish.
Cons: In a backwater cesspit of a town, not the greatest of teachers.

4)What is your major, and how is it taught?(Class sizes, TAs, Number of classes, etc)
No major yet. I have an AA I'm working towards, though, and you need 90 credits with the average class granting 5. No TAs, class sizes between 5 and 20.

5) How many majors have you explored? How did you decide which one to choose?
Alas, I have not picked one yet, I'm only in the second half of my Associate of Arts degree right now. Of the majors I plan on choosing from in the future, I have mathematics, history, physics, engineering, and communications.

6) Do you have a minor? If so, why?
Education. I want to teach people new things.

7)What are the best programs on campus? What makes them better than others?
The best program? I feel obligated to say Running Start. It lets high school students of higher-than-average quality enroll for as many credits as they can handle for each quarter with tuition entirely covered by the state. (I still need to buy my own books.)

What is the social side of things like?
As social as a school of 350 full-time students can get. You make friends, and then suddenly you know everyone because everyone is friends with a lot of people.

9) Is there a Greek presence on campus (Fraternities and sororities I think he means)? If so, what are your thoughts on it?
No Fraternities or Sororities. There is an honor society, Phi Kappa Beta, that has a chapter here. It's pretty cool, I guess. They mainly do community service.

10) is it tough to make friends/fit in? Is the campus atmosphere more open or are students closed off?
The campus is fairly open, and pretty much everyone knows everyone else already (in some fashion) due to the nature of the town.

11)How accepting are students/staff of minorities?
I would answer that question if we had any minorities. It is like a vast expanse of tundra here.

12) What the political climate of the campus?
Just like the whole area I live in, fairly conservative. Elite Liberal compared to the rest of the county, though.

13) How are the dorms?
No dorms.

14) what extracurricular activities are there?
There is a choir, a band, several intramural clubs for things like karate and lacross, and some academic societies. Not much.

[Captain Hat]

1)How many schools did you apply to?
I applied to three different schools, one rejected me because it's the top engineering school in the area (I only applied for laughs, my grades were nowhere near what it takes to get in there), the next one said I could attend any other campus of theirs other than the one I applied for, and the one that I'm currently at is the college in my own town.

2) What factors influenced which school you would attend?
Location and cost, the one I'm currently at is in my town and costs can be taken care of with the amount of student aid I receive.

3)What are the pros and cons of your college?
The college is decent, small campus, low costs, pleasant professors, and the once a year visit from crazy fundies (They're hilarious). The cons: It's a commuter college, so there is nothing at all for you to want to stay on campus. All social events are just weak wastes of money by the administration and the student government. (As in, we wasted several thousand dollars just to carve an old oak tree with a chainsaw into an ugly statue). Without a food plan, you better be ready to shell out for food. College has a very low retention rate.

4)What is your major, and how is it taught?(Class sizes, TAs, Number of classes, etc)
I'm currently a freshman going for Computer Science with a focus in Math (The other option being a focus in IT, which reads to me as "You will do technical support, and you will do it by writing a GUI in Visual Basic"). The current class I'm in is a 200 level course in programming, which mostly focuses on algorithms and object oriented programming. I'm not exactly representative of the typical freshman though, since I took college level Computer Science courses in high school and got to skip what freshman usually learn. My class is pretty large (35?), and the class make up is one fourth typical college age students and the rest are adults returning for a degree. No TA's.
 
5) How many majors have you explored? How did you decide which one to choose?
I was already settled on Comp Sci as a major back in high school. I really don't think I would enjoy the other possibilities, which are Informatics and Comp Sci with a focus in IT. Informatics is described as "less theoretical than Computer Science, and more focused on the practical applications of technology." Or you could just say it's learning how to manage software, rather than actually being the ones who create it. I've already explained my feelings on the latter option.

6) Do you have a minor? If so, why?
No.

7)What are the best programs on campus? What makes them better than others?
The Theatre program. I could just be saying that because I work there as part of a student workstudy, but I really enjoy the theatre program here. It's the only program around here that seems to really enjoy what it does and isn't afraid to put on shows that might offend, such as Equus.

8)What is the social side of things like?
Unless you meet up with anyone you already knew, nothing. There are a few events put on by student groups, they're rather forced and no one has time for them.

9) Is there a Greek presence on campus (Fraternities and sororities I think he means)? If so, what are your thoughts on it?
Yeah, we have a few Greek groups here on campus. My thoughts? Meh, the Greek life here is completely social, in the "get drunk while throwing beanbags" method of social life.

10) is it tough to make friends/fit in? Is the campus atmosphere more open or are students closed off?
No one really hangs around once classes are done, unless they're off studying in the library or have business with the administration. Like I said earlier, it's a commuter college, and there's little in the way of social events to hold people on the campus.

11)How accepting are students/staff of minorities?
Very accepting, from what I can tell. I've never heard any complaints that someone had a problem that was ignored due to belonging to any sort of minority. There was a student in one of my classes who had cerebral palsy and was confined to a wheelchair, and the professor was very accommodating and cordial with the student.

12) What the political climate of the campus?
Hard to gauge, but judging by the area I live in, mildly conservative.

13) How are the dorms?
I don't live in the dorms, but they were just recently built, and seem rather nice.

14) what extracurricular activities are there?
Sports, marching band, and driving home after classes are over.

[MaximumZero]

1)How many schools did you apply to? Just one, in my hometown.
2) What factors influenced which school you would attend? Location and availability of student aid
3)What are the pros and cons of your college? Pros: Location, class size of under 20 on avg, fairly inexpensive as far as schools go. Cons: Parking is terrible.
4)What is your major, and how is it taught?(Class sizes, TAs, Number of classes, etc) Computer Programming/Game Design. Class sizes are small, 15-20. There has only been a TA in one out of the 8 classes I've been a part of. I'm currently taking 5 this semester. The curriculum is somewhat overwhelming in choices (although it's probably more limited in scope than a major university, as it's a Community College.)
5) How many majors have you explored? How did you decide which one to choose? Several, including (but not limited to) Architecture, Civil Engineering, Law, Art, English and Foreign Languages for Interpreters. I chose Programming because it falls in line with my true passion, computers.
6) Do you have a minor? If so, why? The only minor I have is the child living in my house.
7)What are the best programs on campus? What makes them better than others? Don't know. Haven't really been there long enough to find out.
What is the social side of things like? Don't know. I work and am a parent. I don't have a social life.
9) Is there a Greek presence on campus (Fraternities and sororities I think he means)? If so, what are your thoughts on it? Not that I'm aware of.
10) is it tough to make friends/fit in? Is the campus atmosphere more open or are students closed off? No, not particularly, but then again, I'm a salesman.
11)How accepting are students/staff of minorities? There have been no major incidents about anything, that I'm aware of. We have various students who barely speak English, and (believe it or not) students from all around the world, including India, Japan, and South Africa.
12) What the political climate of the campus? I haven't bothered to find out.
13) How are the dorms? If there are any, I'm not aware of them.
14) what extracurricular activities are there? Sports include: baseball, women's basketball, men's basketball, soccer, softball, and volleyball. We also have a handful of organizations scattered around the campus.

[Stealtharcadia]

1)How many schools did you apply to?
Just one, I was accepted my Junior year of High School for concurrent enrollment.


2) What factors influenced which school you would attend?
Accessibility, it was close to home and had good Music (my first major) and Anthropology (current major) programs


3)What are the pros and cons of your college?
Pros: Close to home, good houses to rent, many places to study and overall it's just a nice place
Cons: Maybe a little too close to home, parking is a bitch, administrative systems like enrollment are wonky as fuck


4)What is your major, and how is it taught?(Class sizes, TAs, Number of classes, etc)
My major is Anthropology, it is taught holistically and few of the professors try to be know-it-all's. Class size is about 30 person to a class, there are a large number of different classes to take and almost every class has a TA. One crappy thing is that some lower level Anthropology classes are taught by grad students, usually it's not that bad but other times it just makes the class a little difficult if they don't know what they're doing.

5) How many majors have you explored? How did you decide which one to choose?
Two. I was a Music Major but the work load seemed too much for me (I was taking 8 classes that only added up to 15 hours). I took an Anthropology course my Freshman year and fell in love with it.

6) Do you have a minor? If so, why?
Nope

7)What are the best programs on campus? What makes them better than others?
Engineering is probably the best. After that it'd be Business or the Health Sciences. Why? Well OU spends the money on those programs so they each have their own buildings and shitloads of grants
 
8-What is the social side of things like?
Generally pretty lax, meeting people isn't hard as you can talk to anybody without feeling out of place. The only people that make it a little difficult are those in Fraternities or Sororities as they tend to know enough people already and generally have a poor outlook on those who aren't in such things. But then again it's not like that all the time.

9) Is there a Greek presence on campus (Fraternities and sororities I think he means)? If so, what are your thoughts on it?
Yes. I guess I can accept an institution that helps rich students go to college and get bullshit connections. Bastards.

10) is it tough to make friends/fit in? Is the campus atmosphere more open or are students closed off?
As previously stated, not at all. Campus is pretty open.

11)How accepting are students/staff of minorities?
Pretty accepting. IE. No incidents. The student body isn't nearly all white or anything.

12) What the political climate of the campus?
There's some left or right bullshit now and then. You'll see political slogans marked in chalk all the time but you can ignore it most of the time.

13) How are the dorms?
Never lived in them. But I wouldn't want to, they seem standard for college dorms though.

14) what extracurricular activities are there?
There's clubs out the ass, there's events out the ass. You can watch a movie for free every Friday at the Student Union. You can do a shitload here.

[de5me7]

By college do you mean university?


1)How many schools did you apply to?
5 - standard in the UK, accepted by all but i mainly punched below my weight

2) What factors influenced which school you would attend?
get as far as way from home as possible, have a good geography dept, be by the sea

3)What are the pros and cons of your college?
This is a rather broad question so difficult to answer. Pros; nice open city, lots of green space and sunshine, subsidized union bar, academics with available office hours. Cons;uniformative and assessed employability modules, libary could be better (more journals, books and longer opening hours).

4)What is your major, and how is it taught?(Class sizes, TAs, Number of classes, etc)
BSc Geography , 3 year course. Two types of module, core and elective. Core class sizes typically 150-200 (depending on how many showed up) elective 30-10. Typically between 10 and 2 classes per week (less in the 3rd year).

5) How many majors have you explored? How did you decide which one to choose?
I was interested in Geography and Environmental science, i got better marks in geography at school so i went with it

6) Do you have a minor? If so, why?
nope, minors are less common in the UK (language students often take them)

7)What are the best programs on campus? What makes them better than others?

dont know as i havent tried them, most people rate the courses they took reasonably high but have no comparison

What is the social side of things like?
Depends what your looking for, nightlife was respectable enough, theres plenty of clubs and societies to join, socialising wasnt hard.

9) Is there a Greek presence on campus (Fraternities and sororities I think he means)? If so, what are your thoughts on it?
In UK only oxbridge really does this, Durham pretends to

10) is it tough to make friends/fit in? Is the campus atmosphere more open or are students closed off?
pretty easy, most campuses ive been on are pretty open. At both Plymouth and Leeds (undergrad and plymouth, postgrad a leeds) ive made student and non student friends
11)How accepting are students/staff of minorities?

12) What the political climate of the campus?
More volotile this and the past year than in previous, marchs on London etc, anti cuts and goverment graffiti more common + debates are better attended atm.

13) How are the dorms?
expensive, In my first year i was in cheap crappy dorms (awesome) but these are much less comon these days. Most universties in the UK assume students are rather rich so more dorms include ensuit bathroom etc.

14) what extracurricular activities are there?
Loads - most sizable uk universties have teams for all popular sports, and some niche sports, and dozens of socities for things from LARPing, East asian film, to Karate, Real Ale, and GayLesBi

[ed boy]

I'd just like to preface this with the fact that I go to the UK, where the structure of the university systme is different. The word 'college' means different things over here, too. What americans refer to as college, the UK refers to as university. Some universities in the UK are composed of smaller organisations, which are called colleges.


1)How many schools did you apply to?
Five. The norm in the UK is to prepare an application and send it out to up to five universities (though people doing medecine can only apply to four. Furthermore, one cannot apply to both Oxford and Cambridge). Each university recieves the same application, so you cannot tailor your application to each university. Upon receiving your application, the university will either reject your, offer you a place, or offer you a place dependent on you getting certain grades in your A-levels. The five I applied for were:
Oxford - offer for AAA (going to oxford)
Warwick - offer for A*AA plus I would have had to do an extra exam and score high enough in that
Sheffield - AAB
Sussex - AAB
Edinburgh - Rejected


2) What factors influenced which school you would attend?
I selected four universities so I would have two main choices (warwick and sheffield) and two backup choices (sussex and edinburgh). I was careful of rejections because of my GCSE grades (A*ABBBBBBBC). I put down oxford as my fifth choice for the hell of it, not because I though I had any chance of getting in, and because there would be no harm in applying there.


3)What are the pros and cons of your college?
Pros-Very good academic reputation and standards, very good quality education, very good resources
Cons-Terms are very short (only 8 weeks long each), so you have to work really hard. High standards mean lots of people, who are normally top of their school, find themselves struggling to keep up to average, whichsome people find distressing.


4)What is your major, and how is it taught?(Class sizes, TAs, Number of classes, etc)
I am studing for a Master of Mathematics. I have ten one-hour lectures a week. There are also tutorials, which consist of a tutor and two students going over material for an hour, of which I have five every two weeks.


5) How many majors have you explored? How did you decide which one to choose?
I considered mathematics and philosophy, but decided to stick to straight maths. Maths was the choice because it has consistently been my area of expertise.


6) Do you have a minor? If so, why?
Minors do not exist in the UK system like they do in the american system. The american system is a lot more modular than the UK system.


7)What are the best programs on campus? What makes them better than others?
Once again, the UK system is not modular at all, there is a lot less choice for what to do within your subject. I do not get to choose any aspect of my course until halfway through the second year.


8) What is the social side of things like?
Most of the social activies take place within the college, instead of the university. There are about 100 undergraduates per year in the college, which makes for a good-sized community. There are university-wide clubs and societies, but I personally do not interact with them much, so I cannot tell you much about them.


9) Is there a Greek presence on campus (Fraternities and sororities I think he means)? If so, what are your thoughts on it?
There is a greek society for the university. I have had no experience with it.


10) is it tough to make friends/fit in? Is the campus atmosphere more open or are students closed off?
Not at all. Within the college, the atmosphere is incredibly open.


11)How accepting are students/staff of minorities?
Very. Recently, there has been some stuff in the papers about how the proportion of black students in oxford is low, but that is because not many black students apply to oxford. Of those that apply, the black students are accepted in the same proportion (or even slightly above) as the white students.


12) What the political climate of the campus?
The students are mostly left-wing (as all students seem to be), but there is no political pressure put on people. Politics are not an issue, and rarely get brought up in regular college life.


13) How are the dorms?
Incredible. If people at oxford score highly enough during their first-year exams, they are colled oxford scholars. During their third and fourth years, oxford scholars are given priority in the room ballot. The room I am currently in (a firs-year room) is one of the largest I have seen as part of univerity accomodation. If I become a scholar, in the third or fourth year I could end up in a three room suite (bedroom, bathroom, study).


14) what extracurricular activities are there?
An absurd amount. Pretty much any sport or activity has a society. I personally am involved in the university maths society, rowing for the college, coxing for the college and croquet.