Warren Wilson College - Academics

The teachers are wonderful. There...

The teachers are wonderful. There is a teacher for every style of learning in my department. The professors are very close with all of the students, and I got to know most of the psych faculty before having class with them. The workload is pretty heavy. There's more of a workload that when I was at Hofstra, and now there's the work program keeping us busy, too. It's a lot to handle, but you get in a routine. Our school has a great ENS program, and it shows. The environmental awareness spreads throughout campus, not just with ENS majors.

If you're in the sciences you will...

If you're in the sciences you will have excellent teachers. If you're in anything else, you have about a one in twenty shot of getting an awesome teacher. We can't afford full-time teachers, so we're hiring a bunch of adjuncts that, for the most part, are absolutely horrible. It's a joke how bad a lot of them are. And I don't feel like the student/teacher interaction here is anything special. Most teachers I've had hardly acknowledge me when they see me, even if I've done well in their class and we're on good terms. The classrooms are not that intimate, and they are lecture-based classes that, at least in the humanities, are taught by dull teachers who don't know how to facilitate discussion. The classes are overcrowded, and all the teachers acknowledge it. I have been thoroughly frustrated by the academics here. I learned the majority of what I have here through the work program The crew bosses are, for the most part, incredible people with a huge breadth of knowledge. You also learn a lot of practical things on the work crews, like how to operate heavy machinery, do electrical and plumbing work, or forest management—whatever you want, you can pursue here. But then the question becomes 'What am I going to class for when I'm really learning at work?'

I am surprised time after time at...

I am surprised time after time at how far my professors will stick their neck out to help me with something, a job reference, advice on paper topics, cookies, a walk around campus, whatever. They will do whatever is in their power to do.

The teachers are as diverse as the...

The teachers are as diverse as the student population, and this determines whether the classes are interesting or boring, easy or difficult. The range of teaching outlooks and the methods chosen make the education on the whole very interesting, but very hard to pin down. However, the teachers all love their subjects. Unlike at other academic institutions, they are willing to form personal, as well as advisory, relationships with students. This makes the experience much more open and communicative than at other schools.

Sometimes, seeing the same...

Sometimes, seeing the same professors each semester gets a little old. At bigger schools, you get so much more variety.