Written by Jennifer Hunter
From day one at Howard University, students get a sense of the level of academic intensity that they can come to expect. While there's a heavy workload that goes along with most classes, most students still manage to balance a decent social life. This definitely becomes a little harder to accomplish the further you go into your major, but some students are still able to cope, regardless. Most of the professors, while sporting a collection of potentially intimidating advanced degrees, are actually very down-to-earth and genuinely friendly individuals. More often than not, you will get a professor who will pile on the work, all the while reminding you that you are a scholar, and therefore, nothing less than excellence is expected from each and every student. Hailing from all around the country, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa, the faculty is as diverse as the student body, and their varying personalities and teaching styles reflect their respective cultural backgrounds.
Classes are usually small to mid-sized, and the introductory general science courses like biology, chemistry, and physics are always very large, regardless of how many sections are available for registration. These general science classes are the ones that require TAs, and because of their size, sometimes the teaching workload is split between two professors throughout the course of the semester. These classes will not be as interactive as the other smaller classes, and while some feel like this is a bad thing, those who like to daydream and procrastinate couldn't be happier.