<p>I’m a sophomore aerospace engineer, so I’m in the Viterbi School. Academically? Well I think it’s pretty good, but having never taken classes at other institutions, I couldn’t directly compare. We seem to rank pretty well though. Class sizes are pretty much what I expect, the general classes that I share with other disciplines of engineering (typically mechanical) are fairly large, like 60 or so people. My specialized aerospace classes (the two that I’ve had so far) have about 40 people, and I only expect that to decrease as we branch out into technical electives and stop sharing the exact same schedule. Classes outside of Viterbi, such as math and physics and chemistry, are pretty much the same. My first and only chem class was the biggest class on campus, with over 300 students. However, this was for everyone who needed to take chem, so it had engineer, biologists, pre-meds of all sorts, etc. Don’t expect class sizes of less than 20 until you get into higher level coursework. I can’t imagine any school being able to teach Calculus 1 in classes of 20, unless enrollment is exceedingly low, or they get their TAs to teach the classes. Which is another thing, I’ve never had a TA teach any of my classes, even the most entry-level ones. They’ve all been taught by professors, and TAs lead the discussion sections.</p>
<p>I’ve never had “useless” memorization in any of my classes, all the memorization I’ve done is for commonly used formulas and similar, stuff that would take way too much effort to look up in the book every time.</p>
<p>Professors? Generally very good, I’ve only really had one bad professor and I still managed to do well in the class. Most of them are good teachers and they are enthusiastic about their subject, not to mention well-versed in what’s currently going on in them.</p>
<p>Grading curves are done on a class-by-class basis. It’s completely up to the professor to determine how he wants to curve the class. Every class I’ve been in has been curved though.</p>
<p>I feel like my answers here haven’t given you any real information. Try asking more specific questions, and I’ll be able to give you more substantial answers.</p>