The College Prowler Take On Academics at Georgia Tech

Written for Georgia Tech: Off the Record, 160 pages, published by College Prowler, Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. www.collegeprowler.com

If you choose to attend Georgia Tech, you can expect that the professors in any given course of study will be among the most recognized and respected names in their fields. Doctorates from Princeton, MIT, Stanford, CalTech, and Georgia Tech roam the halls, instructing the next generation's leading scientists and engineers. Having come from demanding academic backgrounds themselves, Georgia Tech professors are notorious for being stingy with grades. Do not expect to receive exemplary grades at Georgia Tech, unless you are willing to put in the time and effort required. With that said, the vast majority of these professors will do their best to accommodate unforeseen difficulties and problems, if they are informed. Most large classes are constructed with one professor that oversees several teching assistants, or TAs. The professor is obligated to carry on the regular lectures and the gneral administration of the class, but each TA is given charge over a small subset of students. Most of teh interaction that takes place in the course is experienced between the students and these TAs. TAs are generally very helpful, since they were also students not long ago.

More specifically, different fields of study usually beget different breeds of professors. Social science professors are generally muuch more supportive than math professors. Engineering professors always require a lot of homework, and are usually difficult on tests and exams. Physics professors are known for being vicious. Computer science professors are usually very helpful and are always very knowledgeable, but their TAs are very strict and sometimes not helpful. Overall, you will be expected to learn things without supervision, and will be held to very high standards. Of course, the harshness is not without reason, and Tech graduates are generally very well-trained and sought after in their various fields, whatever career path they choose.