Yes, professors know my name. That's a combination of the relaxed nature of our school (it's always "hi, Tom" not "not good morning, Professor Gasek.") and the fact that I'm often outspoken.
My favorite class of this quarter would have to be Acting for Animation. It doesn't so much feel like a class as a workshop, and one with your friends. It's very active (we have to act in class), creative, educational, good practice, and very, very relaxed. Our school has a lot of these types of classes in which students gather around a single table (classes can be small) and we discuss film concepts and ideas, and critique each others' works.
My least favorite is Programming for Animation. This may, in fact, be a professor problem. His lectures tend to go on longer than they should and contain very little information. Keeping interest and myself awake is incredibly difficult. The labs are okay, because they allow us to apply what we've learned (or rather they let me teach myself what we're supposed to be learning) and we can go at our own pace. I make better use of this time, and usually get out quite early.
Students here don't study - we just work on our projects A LOT. Communal all-nighters are not uncommon, especially near the end of the quarter.
Yes, class participation is common. Again, we have a very relaxed atmosphere, so it allows us to be more open with our thoughts, whether we're being honest with our critiques or just joking around with the professor. Of course, some of us are more open than others. And, of course, this behavior is only common in non-lecture type classes, and with the better professors.
Yes, students do have intellectual conversations outside of class. And by “intellectual”, I’m referring mostly to creative conversations, but it’s still much related to our studies. Don’t worry – there are plenty of inane conversationalists hanging around, too.
I’ve heard rumors of students being competitive with each other, but I haven’t seen it just yet. All I know is that the only competition going on is between the student and him/herself. The better students will compete with themselves and try to one-up their previous project.
Most unique class? Foods of the World!! It’s was a two hour class from 12-2PM. For the first hour the professor would talk about a region of the world and the particular foods associated with the country. Then from the kitchen doors in the head of the room, some chefs would cart out those exact foods we were talking about. We plated up and ate for the remaining hour. It was like a course that forced me to eat lunch. And quite a delicious lunch at that!
What a vague question – there’s too much to cover when talking about my major and department (animation and the school of film and animation, respectively). I suspect the answers to the rest of these questions will give you a fairly good idea of what it is like.
I don’t spend much time with professors outside of class. Every so often I’ll pop by their offices and chat, maybe grab a cup of coffee. We’re all such busy people, however. Occasionally there are school parties in which faculty and students intermingle effortlessly.
The academic requirements are fine. Some classes are bunk, which we could do without. (For instance, there are required courses teaching us how to use basic functionality of computers. It’s a class students should be teaching, not a technologically-impaired generation. Sorry, but it’s true!) All in all, no complaints.
In our school they gear us to be independent filmmakers. That is not necessarily a good thing, however. Most other colleges gear students up to get a job (required co-ops, for instance). By the time the students graduate, they are very knowledgeable and have plenty of work experience. The school of film and animation has no required co-ops, unfortunately, and the administration has little in terms of business-world contacts. Businesses only come recruiting to RIT because students who have found work have shown excellent abilities.