Home > University of Florida Group > Discussion Board

What are classes like? Are professors accessible? Are classes challenging?

Every department within the UF school system has their "weed out" classes. Weed out means exactly what it sounds like. You take the bad weeds out. These classes are made extremely difficult to pass. So therefore one should make up their mind about pursuing their major early so they don't have to run into all these different weed out classes. However, things do change as soon as one gets into their junior and senior years. That is the time when you really start taking classes that actually teach you the stuff you want to learn and the most fun. 

Professors have office hours. Because all humans are different. And teachers are human they vary also. I've had teachers that gave us their home/cell phone numbers. And I've had teachers that never showed up to class once, all I ever saw was their T.A. - teaching assistant-.

Are classes challenging? The weed out classes are. But the rest as long as you study and pay attention in class the prof's do a great job at hammering the info into your brain .  There  are always exceptions and when you get into UF people will tell you who those exceptions are. Listen to them, please. 

Classes vary in different sizes ranging from having under 10 students in a class to having hundreds of students in a class. Usually in small classes you can receive more attention, however in big classes you can always attend the teacher's office hours. All classes vary in difficulty. Some are more lay-back and of course there are some very difficult ones. At UF course levels are divided but 000s. 1000 level is the lowest to 4000 the highest in undergrad. Personally, all of my teacher throughout my college years have been accessible and willing to help, I can always reach them by either visiting their office hours or just by contacting them through email or phone.

Just as bgl5604 said, every department at University of Florida has its so called "weed out" courses, which are essentially courses that are intentionally more challenging in order to "weed out" students who don't truly want to be there. As far as the general classes are, most classes are neither difficult nor overly easy. A's are not easy to achieve but are achievable nonetheless. Most professors are very easily accessible, considering that a majority of classes either have websites or are placed on an E-Learning website. The professors are normally very flexible and very understandable when it comes to exam concerns, and most are also very helpful during their office hours.