Purdue University - Academics

Quick Stats

College Prowler Take

Purdue’s Ivy League-sounding title belies its public standing, but aptly describes its challenging curriculum. Purdue’s engineering, management, and agricultural schools attract students from around the nation and the world because of their high academic reputation. It appears that most of the teachers are friendly and willing to help a student in need. However, in a lecture class of 600, some freshmen may feel like a grain of sand in a desert. The biggest complaint of Purdue students is the plethora of foreign teaching assistants whose accents are almost incomprehensible, and teachers who have an overestimated opinion of their personal importance. However, students are quick to note that, overall, the teachers at Purdue are excellent and have a firm knowledge of the subjects they teach. In the heart of right-wing conservative Indiana, there lies Purdue which seems to be a little town of wonders; with people all around the globe gathered in the middle of a corn-field. The feeling of being here is amazing.

As a Big Ten school, Purdue’s curriculum is top-notch. It can be challenging, but it is manageable, depending on your field of study and how you manage your time. The concept of easy and hard majors is very remote at Purdue. Especially with renowned professors from around the world, all majors are equally difficult in their own way. Just remember to keep an open mind, attend classes, and take notes. Your professors may seem unapproachable at first, especially in the lower-level large lecture classes, but remember that their office hours have been made for a reason. Purdue provides its students with dozens of opportunities. Your job is to take advantage of them.

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Students Speak Out

Anonymous says:

Because there are roughly 40,000... Because there are roughly 40,000 students enrolled here, unless you major in something that only three other people have ever majored in, you will experience all types of instructors. The problem I have run into (mainly in the technical majors, not so much liberal arts) is that the TAs have a limited command of the English language, so unless you speak some form of Chinese or Indian (just to name two), you may have trouble understanding a TA sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, they try really hard, but it’s frustrating when you can’t even get them to understand your question. Now, moving right along to professors (commonly known as docs or profs); the problem is not as widespread as it is with TAs, but some profs also have limited English ability. The profs are really intelligent, though. Some are really cool, and some are just jerks. I’ve had some profs show up in T-shirts and shorts (they are usually the cool ones), and some will always wear a suit and tie (sometimes they are cool, but some are just evil). 12345 Academics Report

Anonymous says:

Most likely, your classes will be... Most likely, your classes will be taught by teaching assistants for the first year or two. The push by the University is to have all classes taught by professors in the future. In general, the profs are willing to help, if you need it, and they are usually pretty easy to entreat. 12345 Academics Report

Anonymous says:

The professors that have a passion... The professors that have a passion for teaching are wonderful! Those who educate for the sole purpose of continuing their research, not so much. I’m not all that impressed with many of the math teachers, but they get the job done. 12345 Academics Report

Anonymous says:

For the most part, the teachers... For the most part, the teachers are great. It has a lot to do with how much effort you put into getting to know them. Going to office hours to get help on homework, or just to talk more about an interesting topic, is a good way to make connections for good reference letters. 12345 Academics Report

Anonymous says:

The teachers are alright. Bigger... The teachers are alright. Bigger lectures are led by professors, while smaller classes are led by grad students. Overall, they’re good, except I feel that sometimes they spit out facts to show off how much knowledge they have in their course of study, instead of relating the information to the students so they actually learn. I really liked the kid that taught my Introduction to Creative Writing class, because he didn’t seem caught up in the conservative manner of people here in the Midwest farm country. That was great, because I feel like my schooling up to that point was so sheltered. 12345 Academics Report

Facts

Did You Know?

If you need a lab science requirement, and you don’t want to take chemistry or physics, check out Fundamentals of Horticulture (HORT 101). Besides being worlds easier than anything having to do with pipettes or vectors, you get to play in the dirt, cut up plants, draw flowers, and go on fun field trips, and those are just the lab sessions! The lectures are easy to follow and the professors are nice and well informed.

The famous Muppet character, Kermit the Frog, was named after a professor of philosophy at
Purdue University. Theodore Kermit Scott grew up
in Leland, Mississippi, with Muppet creator Jim Henson, who borrowed Scott’s middle name for his most famous creation.

Twenty-two astronauts hail Purdue as their alma mater, including Neil Armstrong and Eugene Cernan, respectively the first and last men to set foot on the moon, and Jerry Ross, the man who has been on more space walks than any other astronaut. Purdue alumni have flown more than one-third of all U.S. manned flights into space, which has led to Purdue’s epithet of “the Cradle of Astronauts.”

Purdue has graduated more women engineers than any other university. For that matter, Purdue has probably graduated more engineers, period, than any other university, since one in 50 engineers in the U.S. is Purdue-trained.

Purdue civil engineering faculty member Charles Ellis conceived and drew up specifications for the Golden Gate Bridge, which was built in San Francisco, California, in 1937 as one of the “Seven Wonders of the Modern World.”

In 1962, Purdue became the first university in the nation to establish a department of computer science. Perhaps alongside the epithet “the Cradle of Astronauts,” Purdue should also be hailed as “the Cradle of Hackers” or “the Cradle of the Most Socially Reclusive People on the Planet” or “the Cradle of Increasingly Poor Eyesight.”

Amelia Earhart served as a women’s career consultant to Purdue from 1935 to 1937, and the Lockheed Electra aircraft used on her ill-fated world flight was made possible with gift funds from the Purdue Research Foundation. Incidentally, that flight is not listed as one of Purdue’s greatest successes.

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