In my first few weeks of class, I’ve noticed the many ways class is different at UCD than at Northeastern. UCD has a total student population of over 25,000 and the majority of class are larger than I am used to. Two of my classes are about 100 people and the other two have over 300 students. However, while lectures are large, some of the labs are very small and involve only 5 students at a time. Additionally, international students, Americans in particular, were warned that grading and teaching style might be different from what we are used to. The majority of the grade for all my classes is based on the final exam with only about 2 other assignments the entire semester. While this means there is significantly less assigned work, it’s still important to keep up with the notes and textbook reading to do well in the final exam. I also noticed that in most of my classes almost all the time is dedicated to the professor lecturing with very little being used for group discussion or independent work. Additionally, because of the size of campus with only ten minutes between classes, it can be hard to get there on time. Luckily professors at UCD seem to acknowledge this problem and are fairly relaxed with class start times, taking an extra 5 or 6 minutes to get started.
When it comes to textbooks, I lucked out and managed to only have to buy one! The UCD James Joyce library has several copies of most textbooks which can be loaned either short loan (1 week) or long loan (4 weeks) depending on demand. Overall textbooks are generally cheaper here than in the United States. If anyone has ever decided to save money and buy the international edition of a textbook, you know they are often half the price and come in paperback. The only textbook I did buy I was able to get a used copy for about $30 on Amazon. Additionally, two of my classes required us to buy note packs for 15 euro each, covering the printing and binding cost. The oddest thing I had to buy for class was safety glasses and a lab coat. While the safety glasses are not too unusual, I am curious to find out why I need a lab coat for an engineering class.
