Are there any other Texas A&M students on here?

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Charges
Snowy Owl
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11 Feb 2012, 4:26 pm

It's a really big school; I was just curious.



USMCnBNSFdude
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11 Feb 2012, 5:03 pm

I'm still in high school, but I'm looking into A&M (mainly because it's a military school).

Quick question Charges: I heard the classes are really big. Does this affect your learning at all or distance you from your teachers?



Charges
Snowy Owl
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11 Feb 2012, 5:35 pm

Class size depends on what you are taking. I had Chem 101 my freshman year, which had about 200 or 300 people in it. But I would be a terrible judge of how that affects learning, since I am a completely independent studier by nature. I never went to tutoring or did anything with anyone; I just took the book home and worked as hard as I could on the practice problems with enough self-discipline to do just fine in there. However, our prof was GREAT and, from what I heard, was always available for office hours to answer any question that you would need. Then again, I had a big introductory computer science course with a prof who never really answered e-mails and seemed out of touch.

As for smaller classes, I've had lots! (In fact, even as a freshman you will get some). I had a ton of AP credit, so I didn't have core curriculum to worry about, but I'm pretty sure the required English class that freshmen take (ENGL 104) has classes with only about 20 people.

And like my large classes, it's all been a hit-or-miss, depending on the prof. I'm in an AMAZING computer science course now with just me a 15 or so guys, with an understanding and passionate professor who will do just about anything to help us out. On the other hand, I had an introduction to discrete mathematics (ABSTRACT thinking to the MAX) class with 20 people, and it was HELL. I was salutatorian in high school and had a 4.0 in college as well, but I could NEVER grasp the simple concepts in the proofs (probably because I'm so concrete...an aspie thing?) and ended up failing the midterm, surrounded by a number people who thought the class was a breeze. Worse, the entire nature of the class involved group work, which I absolutely hate (the perky prof would jump at the chance to say, "What an interesting concept that you 2 are discussing! Now get together this weekend and write a proof about it! Go!") With the abstraction and the social-ness, it was an autistic nightmare. It turned out okay in the end, though. :)

By the way, we're not entirely a "military school." This does have it's perks, though, because the Corps members are so friendly and polite.



eric76
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05 Sep 2012, 8:19 pm

Charges wrote:
Class size depends on what you are taking. I had Chem 101 my freshman year, which had about 200 or 300 people in it.


I was at A&M twice. The first time in the 1970s (BS and MS in Math) and the second in the 1990s (worked on PhD but left to help out a brother before the research).

I always took extra courses when I had time just to learn more. In about 1998 or so, I took a course I had always wanted to take in the 1970s but never got around to -- Organic Chemistry.

One day in the Organic Chemistry class, I started looking around and suddenly realize that I took the prerequisite for the course before anyone else in the class was born.



anonymoussun
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08 Jan 2014, 10:54 pm

Charges wrote:
Class size depends on what you are taking. I had Chem 101 my freshman year, which had about 200 or 300 people in it. But I would be a terrible judge of how that affects learning, since I am a completely independent studier by nature. I never went to tutoring or did anything with anyone; I just took the book home and worked as hard as I could on the practice problems with enough self-discipline to do just fine in there. However, our prof was GREAT and, from what I heard, was always available for office hours to answer any question that you would need. Then again, I had a big introductory computer science course with a prof who never really answered e-mails and seemed out of touch.

As for smaller classes, I've had lots! (In fact, even as a freshman you will get some). I had a ton of AP credit, so I didn't have core curriculum to worry about, but I'm pretty sure the required English class that freshmen take (ENGL 104) has classes with only about 20 people.

And like my large classes, it's all been a hit-or-miss, depending on the prof. I'm in an AMAZING computer science course now with just me a 15 or so guys, with an understanding and passionate professor who will do just about anything to help us out. On the other hand, I had an introduction to discrete mathematics (ABSTRACT thinking to the MAX) class with 20 people, and it was HELL. I was salutatorian in high school and had a 4.0 in college as well, but I could NEVER grasp the simple concepts in the proofs (probably because I'm so concrete...an aspie thing?) and ended up failing the midterm, surrounded by a number people who thought the class was a breeze. Worse, the entire nature of the class involved group work, which I absolutely hate (the perky prof would jump at the chance to say, "What an interesting concept that you 2 are discussing! Now get together this weekend and write a proof about it! Go!") With the abstraction and the social-ness, it was an autistic nightmare. It turned out okay in the end, though. :)

By the way, we're not entirely a "military school." This does have it's perks, though, because the Corps members are so friendly and polite.

So Texas A&M does have tutors for students taking math?

I'm planning on transferring to Texas A&M, but I don't have the funds to do so. So after I get my Associates of Science in Geospatial Information Systems (GIS), I won't be awarded grants anymore since I pretty much exceeded the maximum amount of hours.