Class size at UVA and William and Mary? VA tech?

[Anonymous]

If you have or recently had a DC at one of these schools, can you comment on class sizes, especially for intro classes such as Econ, Chem, and/or Bio? Having attended an SLAC, class size is the main downside I see to sending DC to one of these instate schools, despite the attractive price tag. I know the upper level classes can be small, but I have heard about enormous classes (300-400) even at W&M (DC's top choice). Would appreciate any real world info. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

I went to Virginia Tech and graduated within the last 3 years. My intro to econ classes had about a 120 capacity, but probably only about 75 students routinely showed up. I took the "agricultural" economics though. My intro to chem lecture probably had 175-200 students and it was capped at 25 or so for the labs, which were taught by TA's but my professor only missed 2 or 3 labs the entire semester. My bio class was roughly the same size but I did not have to take bio lab. The biggest class that I had was probably about 300, I think intro to sociology or something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went to Virginia Tech and graduated within the last 3 years. My intro to econ classes had about a 120 capacity, but probably only about 75 students routinely showed up. I took the "agricultural" economics though. My intro to chem lecture probably had 175-200 students and it was capped at 25 or so for the labs, which were taught by TA's but my professor only missed 2 or 3 labs the entire semester. My bio class was roughly the same size but I did not have to take bio lab. The biggest class that I had was probably about 300, I think intro to sociology or something.

PP here. I do want to add that once my core requirements were fulfilled and I was in my major-specific classes, I never had a class taught by a TA (actually only my chem lab was taught by TA) and my class sizes never exceeded 40-50 absolute max and averaged 15-25. So once you really get into the nitty gritty of college (upper sophomore, junior and senior years), class sizes were a non-issue. Even before that, I didn't mind the large lectures at all. The people who would otherwise make that type of environment disruptive don't show up except for exams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Virginia Tech and graduated within the last 3 years. My intro to econ classes had about a 120 capacity, but probably only about 75 students routinely showed up. I took the "agricultural" economics though. My intro to chem lecture probably had 175-200 students and it was capped at 25 or so for the labs, which were taught by TA's but my professor only missed 2 or 3 labs the entire semester. My bio class was roughly the same size but I did not have to take bio lab. The biggest class that I had was probably about 300, I think intro to sociology or something.

PP here. I do want to add that once my core requirements were fulfilled and I was in my major-specific classes, I never had a class taught by a TA (actually only my chem lab was taught by TA) and my class sizes never exceeded 40-50 absolute max and averaged 15-25. So once you really get into the nitty gritty of college (upper sophomore, junior and senior years), class sizes were a non-issue. Even before that, I didn't mind the large lectures at all. The people who would otherwise make that type of environment disruptive don't show up except for exams.

+1 also went to VT - but a little longer than 3 years ago, haha.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have or recently had a DC at one of these schools, can you comment on class sizes, especially for intro classes such as Econ, Chem, and/or Bio? Having attended an SLAC, class size is the main downside I see to sending DC to one of these instate schools, despite the attractive price tag. I know the upper level classes can be small, but I have heard about enormous classes (300-400) even at W&M (DC's top choice). Would appreciate any real world info. Thanks.

DD transferred from VT to JMU this year. Her chief gripe was class size and anonymity. Which is weird because her classes at JMU sound just as big.

DS went to W&M...surprisingly the first year classes there can be quite large.

[Anonymous]

DS is at GMU. So far, classes have been surprisingly small: seven to ten students to real professors, not adjunts. He still hasn't hit a huge class yet and is in jr. year.

[Anonymous]

Class sizes vary. Look at the ratios. Plus, William and Mary was just ranked the second best school in the country for undergrad teaching, fwiw. If you want tiny classes, go to a small liberal arts college, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Class sizes vary. Look at the ratios. Plus, William and Mary was just ranked the second best school in the country for undergrad teaching, fwiw. If you want tiny classes, go to a small liberal arts college, I guess.

Or GMU, looks like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have or recently had a DC at one of these schools, can you comment on class sizes, especially for intro classes such as Econ, Chem, and/or Bio? Having attended an SLAC, class size is the main downside I see to sending DC to one of these instate schools, despite the attractive price tag. I know the upper level classes can be small, but I have heard about enormous classes (300-400) even at W&M (DC's top choice). Would appreciate any real world info. Thanks.

DD transferred from VT to JMU this year. Her chief gripe was class size and anonymity. Which is weird because her classes at JMU sound just as big.

DS went to W&M...surprisingly the first year classes there can be quite large.

I am the original VT poster.. this is very strange to me. JMU is smaller in every way than VT and more often the opposite happens for students when they transfer.

[Anonymous]

DD is a second year student at UVa and first year had at least one class with 400+ students (they met in an auditorium and an overflow room) but it was Larry Sabato's last semester of teaching Intro to Politics and they may have expanded enrollment for that reason. She also had an upper-level poetry seminar with 12 people, and the whole range in between. I don't think the class sizes are as much of a problem as the difficulty getting some basic classes when you need them (especially language classes - an area where the university has really cut the budget in recent years).

[Anonymous]

DD is at WM and many classes are less than 15 students(sophomore). I think one had 70.

[Anonymous]

I for one will never pay for this:
http://magazine.good.is/articles/how-technology-helps-keep-this-3-000-student-class-engaged

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have or recently had a DC at one of these schools, can you comment on class sizes, especially for intro classes such as Econ, Chem, and/or Bio? Having attended an SLAC, class size is the main downside I see to sending DC to one of these instate schools, despite the attractive price tag. I know the upper level classes can be small, but I have heard about enormous classes (300-400) even at W&M (DC's top choice). Would appreciate any real world info. Thanks.

DD transferred from VT to JMU this year. Her chief gripe was class size and anonymity. Which is weird because her classes at JMU sound just as big.

DS went to W&M...surprisingly the first year classes there can be quite large.

I am the original VT poster.. this is very strange to me. JMU is smaller in every way than VT and more often the opposite happens for students when they transfer.

I find this puzzling as well. DC is a freshman at JMU and has only one large class, and it's a core requirement that all freshmen have to take. All other classes are roughly 20-30 students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I for one will never pay for this:
http://magazine.good.is/articles/how-technology-helps-keep-this-3-000-student-class-engaged

VT PP again. I did take John Boyer's World Regions class, and also another class of his, though I did not mention it in my original post for fear that people harp on the fact that Tech simply has a class that large. Boyer is a fantastic professor (look up the number of accolades, awards and other achievements he has received/made) and World Regions, though offered once every fall in the largest possible venue, always has students scrambling for spots despite it's 3,000 capacity. It is hands down a class that every student should take before graduating from Tech, and most do. I learned so much in that class and the enormous size played no factor in that. The only gripe I had was that Burruss' auditorium seats are not very comfy for a 2-3 hour lecture.

[Anonymous]

W&M alum here. Intro classes were fairly large in Chem and bio but all other classes were small...like 20 or so.

But it's very intense there and there are lots of competitive students. It was harder material than in my professional school. Think about all the TJ students you know crammed together in a small, fake historical town. I loved it and met my DH the but it's not for everyone.