Well, I'm finally out. I swore it would never happen but it did.

For years I planned on becoming an engineer. I have always had an interest in science and design -- at least until I got to college.

A year and a half ago, I entered the hallowed halls of Hammond Building planning on a career in industrial engineering but almost immediately I became unhappy. So during Thanksgiving, I decided to switch out of the College of Engineering.

What was most disatisfying, ultimately causing me to switch majors, was the teaching methods -- particularly the large and sometimes taped lectures employed in many of my required courses.

Whether it be accounting in business, Comm 260 in journalism or Math 140 and Physics 201 in engineering, many students have to take required courses and often earn certain grades before selecting a major.

My personal hell was Math 141 and Physics 201. I had to take both courses twice. Calculus and physics in high school were easy but they didn't prepare me for the University's teaching methods or 400 person classes. And for someone who prefers small classroom settings, the lectures were overwhelming.

Like many students in many majors, I found that I was being weeded out and the size of the lectures didn't help me get those Cs or better.

You know how it goes:

You sit amongst a sea of people in the Forum or Osmond or Sparks and follow the instructor as he skillfully rotates the blackboards up and down or maneuvers between overhead projectors faster than a speeding bullet. It's virtually impossible to have something repeated, or to ask the instructor to slow down or clarify anything.

When I don't understand something, I want to be able to stop the instructor and ask a question as the material is being taught, which brings me to my next point: taped lectures.

Now honestly, if it's difficult to ask questions when you have a live instructor in front of you, how do you clarify something when it's taught by tape? You can't ask a television set a question. If you're lucky enough to personally view the tape you can rewind it but what if you still don't understand the material? Then you've got to go on a search and destroy mission to find the instructor or teaching assistant with his one-hour-a-week office time. What a way to learn.

It's important that a student have an interest in what they're learning. But do these large classes spark interest? And can students really be satisfied with the course material if they are not interested in it? I don't think so.

Pehaps for those just entering the University something can be done. After all, when a large lecture class like last semester's Physics 201 has a class mean of 59 -- a failing grade -- going into the final, something is obviously wrong.

While students could probably study more to boost scores, more needs to be done. In physics as well as in many other courses, departments should take a closer look at exams to ensure they match the material covered in the class.

Instructors also need to remember that tests should be a question of one's ability to apply material and not memorize it. In not only math, but also in other courses such as accounting and physics, equations often need to be memorized for an exam but which is more important; memorizing the equations or knowing how to apply them to practical problems? For math and science courses, is use of an equation sheet too much to ask?

Perhaps it's time that lectures and tests for prerequisite courses be re-evaluated. I realize that because of the vast size of the student body, large lectures can't be done away with, but both the delivery and testing of material can be redesigned to address student concerns and complaints.

I must confess, instead of voicing my concern, I changed my major.

And now that it's all said and done, and I am no longer in the College of Engineering, I ask myself if I made the right move. Should I have complained about the quality of my education?

Friends who are now juniors and seniors in engineering have told me that things do get better. Was I unwilling to wait and see if they were right? Well I guess I'll never know.

The one thing I do know is that the environment at Penn State often causes people to change both their interests and goals. But that's what college is for -- to find out what you really want to do for the rest of your life.

I'm an economics major now and hope to become a business journalist someday. The classes are much smaller and so far I feel more comfortable in my new environment.