Muhlenberg College Top Questions

Professors absolutely know your name. Classes are tiny; my intro to psych was a lecture class and it probably had around 35 kids. Class participation counts towards your grade, as does attendance, which definitely motivates you to go to class. Students have intellectual conversations outside of class if they want to, but its also easy to avoid if you want.

Some of the most popular majors here at 'Berg are Biolgy, Business, English, History, Psychology, and Theater. We also have an Education Certification program, 7-year Bio-Dental Program with University of Pennsylvania, and 4/4 Medical Program with Drexel University, just to name a few. I personally am in the 7-year Bio-Dental program, which entails being at 'Berg for three years and then moving onto UPenn School of Dental Medicine. Both this and the various medical programs we have a great option if you know for sure that you definitely want to be in the medical field. We also have three honors programs, Dana Associates, RJ Fellows, and Muhlenberg Scholars. Each of the three programs has there own individual requirements. I belong to the Dana Associates, and have personally met so many interesting people and met some of my best friends through the program. The requirements for the Dana program include freshman and senior book-end seminars, along with internships and research throughout the two years in between. I can not stress enough the strong relationships you build with your professors while here at 'Berg. I can tell you that skipping class is not going to be something easily done here, but that's only because the professors know your name and when you're not showing up for class. This definitely holds true, even in the larger lecture classes. As a biology major, I had to take two entry level classes, Biology I and Chemistry I. In both of these classes I started with about 110 students. Even in both of these large lecture hall classes, the teachers still knew each and every one of us by the fourth week of school. All of the classes here at Muhlenberg are taught by teachers themselves, with TA (teaching assistants) sitting in on classes and holding additional office hours or "workshops" during the week at night. Outside of the classroom, there is never a competitive atmosphere among students, even in the Pre-Med area.

As previously mentioned, Muhlenberg College professors are going to know the names of their students within the first few weeks of classes. Students are required to take General Academic Requirements in addition to the classes in their major(s) and minor(s). These GARs (as we call them) include two science classes, literature, fine arts, history, religion, philosophy, two behavioral sciences, three writing intensives, diversity, and two semesters of a foreign language. While that may seem like a lot of classes, all of our majors and minors are designed to have many of the GARs within their requirements as well so students can take a wide variety of classes. Also as previously mentioned, conversations definitely go past textbook material as can be seen by our student-faculty relationships - many students house-sit, babysit, or even dog-sit for their professors on weekends, during breaks, or during the summer. Class participation is extremely common and due to our small class sizes, it is pretty much expected that all students will be active members. Studying for classes varies depending on how often the class meets, student preferences, and level of material necessary for each class. As a Business Administration major with a concentration in Marketing (and a previous Accounting and Spanish double-major) I can definitely speak for those departments. Accounting, Business Administration, Economics, and Finance majors will all have to take Principles of Microeconomics and Principles of Macroeconomics as their beginning classes. For these classes, practice makes perfect - the more students do the problems and read the text, the better they will be in the subject. From there, students can take Financial Accounting where studying daily is a must. The great thing about this class is the experience students will receive in Excel, using the formula toolbar and inputting data. Past this class, students will take either Statistical Analysis or Statistical Methods and then they will begin to take classes more specific to their major or concentration. In Accounting, I was told at least 15 hours per week outside of the classroom would have to be dedicated to studying, doing review problems, and going over class notes - this was definitely not an understatement and students should know that success comes with practice and diligence, especially in the Accounting/Business Administration departments. While it seems to take a lot of time with studies, Muhlenberg students learn to balance studies with extracurriculars quite well. As for classes outside of my major, I must say that it is easy to hop around from department to department getting a little taste of everything you're interested in. Even as I go into my junior year, I am thinking of picking up another minor or even double-concentrating in Business. Education at Muhlenberg is not taken lightly but students are encouraged to take classes that interest them, not just classes to fulfill requirements and what they think will 'look good' to future employers.

Overall, I have been very happy with my studies here at Muhlenberg. While it has been a rigorous curriculum, it has been a very rewarding. I have found that my professors have been well qualified and extremely helpful for all of the courses that I have taken, even when they fall outside of my major. Also because Muhlenberg is a small school I have been able to foster relationships with my professors even after the classes have ended which is something I have found particularly helpful.