Modeled after the University of Pennsylvania’s school of business, SMU’s classroom experience is quite similar to NEU’s. Classes are lecture style but each class has 40 or less students. So, students are expected to actively participate because class participation counts as 10-15% of the total grade. Despite the similarities, there are a couple differences that I observed. I noticed that my fellow SMU peers do not raise their hands and wait to be called on. Rather, they raise their hand and interject by calling out “Prof” to get the professor’s attention. The most shocking differences are the length of the class, the course selection process, and the grading system. The majority of classes offered at the university are 3.25 hours once a week and to obtain the classes, one must bid with virtual dollars. Every student is allotted $100 e-dollars and the objective is to outbid others. It is fair to say that although the process provides an equal playing field for students, it is quite stressful. Achieving A’s is also not an easy feat at SMU because students are evaluated on the bell curve. And for those not familiar with the bell curve, it just means that one’s performance is ranked against the performance of others, limiting the number of A’s given out in each class. A bit daunting, but my Singaporean friends did tell me that A’s are definitely attainable!
One thing I will miss about SMU is the campus layout because almost everything you can imagine is in their underground concourse. The bookstore is also located on the concourse and students can purchase all their textbooks there or the more frugal option is to buy them second hand from other SMU students. My experience is that the textbooks here tend to be cheaper than the ones at NEU. All the professors recommend buying the textbooks, but depending on the teaching style and the class, it is not compulsory to buy.
