We asked Allison...
What are the academics like at your school?
Non-intro classes are small, and professors get to know students really well. They're very accessible and love to talk to students outside of class.
There are lots of hands-on classes, in which you can apply what you're learning outside the classroom. I took a class on teaching science to kids, and we did all sorts of physics experiments with balloons and K'nex and batteries. I learned more physics than I had in high school, and it was tons of fun.
Some students study all day and all night, and some rarely study. It depends on the classes you take. Science classes require a lot more time to work than some others.
Students are competitive against themselves, not each other. Most of my classes have not been curved, so it really doesn't matter what grades anyone else gets.
The psychology major requires too many hard science classes. I wish I could have taken more classes like Abnormal, Social, and Developmental Psych, instead of calculus, statistics, chemistry, neuroscience, etc.
The general university requirements are easy to meet, and valuable for a liberal arts education. I have finished all the university requirements and one major by the end of junior year, and I only have two classes left before I finish my other two majors. That means that after 7 semesters of college (3.5 years), I will have completed the general requirements and three majors. They make it easy to cross-list courses and get credit for different majors.