Does class size matter at the college level?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My freshman kid is at a SLAC and one reason they chose it is for the small class sizes. In my opinion (and personal experience), there is a significant difference between a 40-50 person class and a class of 100-300. My kid had one class with around 40 students this year - that was their largest class, but the professor still knew them all, called on them by name, had lots of class participation, and was able to give very detailed feedback to them. No TAs ran labs or study sessions or did any grading. When grades were posted, the prof wrote each of the students an email about their performance in the class and her thoughts about other courses they might like in the department, and for some of them, that she hoped they considering majoring in the department. She also suggested research and summer opportunities to some of them. As for other classes, my kid's smallest class was 12 students - next semester they will have an even smaller class. And it's not just the relationships with the professors, your interaction with peers is also very different when there are 12 of you, or even 40 of you, versus 300 of you. It's personal preference of course but obviously there is a big difference.

Everything you just described has been my kid's experience at a large state school. She's on a first-name basis with most of her professors, several of whom have written deeply personal recommendation letters for her. She's also never had a TA in the classroom at all, and certainly no classes larger than an intro of about 150. Since then, her classes average around 30 people, more or less.

I don’t think they disagree with you, but at many large state schools the profs really don’t care to know your names.

True. The worst I saw was a LOR that seemed to openly blackball a student for being in office hours…this student had an A in my class, but…

How do you and your peers react to a LOR like that? I'd assume you'd read it as positive on the student but negative on the professor.

Very negative on the professor, put everyone on guard, ignored the letter, but ultimately the student was not hired

So many a-holes out there, another professor just sent his course description (different school/student)

[Anonymous]

The huge classes are easier. No essays, tests are multiple choice.

[Anonymous]

Most freshmen at large schools have large intro courses (hundreds in the course, sections that are smaller taught by TAs). When they get into the upper level classes, with students who have more interest in the core subjects, class sizeds go down, even at the large schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My freshman kid is at a SLAC and one reason they chose it is for the small class sizes. In my opinion (and personal experience), there is a significant difference between a 40-50 person class and a class of 100-300. My kid had one class with around 40 students this year - that was their largest class, but the professor still knew them all, called on them by name, had lots of class participation, and was able to give very detailed feedback to them. No TAs ran labs or study sessions or did any grading. When grades were posted, the prof wrote each of the students an email about their performance in the class and her thoughts about other courses they might like in the department, and for some of them, that she hoped they considering majoring in the department. She also suggested research and summer opportunities to some of them. As for other classes, my kid's smallest class was 12 students - next semester they will have an even smaller class. And it's not just the relationships with the professors, your interaction with peers is also very different when there are 12 of you, or even 40 of you, versus 300 of you. It's personal preference of course but obviously there is a big difference.

Everything you just described has been my kid's experience at a large state school. She's on a first-name basis with most of her professors, several of whom have written deeply personal recommendation letters for her. She's also never had a TA in the classroom at all, and certainly no classes larger than an intro of about 150. Since then, her classes average around 30 people, more or less.

I don't doubt this at all, and I'm glad it has been her experience with her professors. But it is a very different learning experience to sit in a class of 12 versus a class of 150, or honestly even 12 versus 40 - again, I am not saying one is better or worse. Different students want different things. Though I am very surprised that she took classes with 150 students and there was no TA involvement in labs, study sessions or grading. That is unusual.

Here are tips from a state school grad on how to get to know the professor.

Sit up front.

Introduce yourself before class.

Ask questions/answer questions.

Visit office hours once, early on, to have a 1:1.

Show up at departmental events they publicize.

Repeat office visits as needed to meet your academic and career objectives.

When you sit in the first few rows, the professors are looking and speaking right at you and it doesn't matter how many rows are behind you.

I personally didn't feel the need to have a relationship with professors whose subjects were of lower interest to me. I did take small classes in my major and in areas of particular interest.

My later grad school admissions were after 7 years of work, and required work recs. I knew this would be true while in college. So I didn't stress about needing recs from undergrad professors.

It all worked out fine. I don't think a SLAC would have worked for me because the departments often have small numbers of core professors. I liked a variety of classes and wide choice of professors.

[Anonymous]

Our DC transferred from a school where some, not all, of her classes had hundreds of students, 300 and up. That was not too much of a problem but DC's labs were also huge, and not professor-led.
Happier with much smaller classes at the new school.

[Anonymous]

I was in grad school at UMich and was a teaching assistant for a poli sci class with one prof and an army of fifteen to twenty TA’s. We did all of the grading, led sections and also wrote all of the letters of recommendation that students requested. We received very little training on teaching and I can tell you now in retrospect that I did those students a disservice. A letter from a TA is not going to get you into grad school etc the way a letter from an actual professor would. We sent our kids to LACs.

[Anonymous]

Successful people come from diverse academic backgrounds, so while it is easy to intellectually gravitate towards small class size being better, this is not a universal truth like the laws of physics.

To do well in large classes you have to learn to be self-motivated, take notes effectively, fight for resources/opportunities. All these are very useful skills in the real world of competition.

If your kid needs a lot of hand holding, they will likely do better in a small class environment. If your kid is a self starter and operates independently they will do well in either environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My freshman kid is at a SLAC and one reason they chose it is for the small class sizes. In my opinion (and personal experience), there is a significant difference between a 40-50 person class and a class of 100-300. My kid had one class with around 40 students this year - that was their largest class, but the professor still knew them all, called on them by name, had lots of class participation, and was able to give very detailed feedback to them. No TAs ran labs or study sessions or did any grading. When grades were posted, the prof wrote each of the students an email about their performance in the class and her thoughts about other courses they might like in the department, and for some of them, that she hoped they considering majoring in the department. She also suggested research and summer opportunities to some of them. As for other classes, my kid's smallest class was 12 students - next semester they will have an even smaller class. And it's not just the relationships with the professors, your interaction with peers is also very different when there are 12 of you, or even 40 of you, versus 300 of you. It's personal preference of course but obviously there is a big difference.

Everything you just described has been my kid's experience at a large state school. She's on a first-name basis with most of her professors, several of whom have written deeply personal recommendation letters for her. She's also never had a TA in the classroom at all, and certainly no classes larger than an intro of about 150. Since then, her classes average around 30 people, more or less.

I don't doubt this at all, and I'm glad it has been her experience with her professors. But it is a very different learning experience to sit in a class of 12 versus a class of 150, or honestly even 12 versus 40 - again, I am not saying one is better or worse. Different students want different things. Though I am very surprised that she took classes with 150 students and there was no TA involvement in labs, study sessions or grading. That is unusual.

Here are tips from a state school grad on how to get to know the professor.

Sit up front.

Introduce yourself before class.

Ask questions/answer questions.

Visit office hours once, early on, to have a 1:1.

Show up at departmental events they publicize.

Repeat office visits as needed to meet your academic and career objectives.

When you sit in the first few rows, the professors are looking and speaking right at you and it doesn't matter how many rows are behind you.

I personally didn't feel the need to have a relationship with professors whose subjects were of lower interest to me. I did take small classes in my major and in areas of particular interest.

My later grad school admissions were after 7 years of work, and required work recs. I knew this would be true while in college. So I didn't stress about needing recs from undergrad professors.

It all worked out fine. I don't think a SLAC would have worked for me because the departments often have small numbers of core professors. I liked a variety of classes and wide choice of professors.

You likely would’ve been fine at a lac, but rushed to judge before even understanding what the experience could’ve been like. DC’s lac has over 26 professors for his department. If you can’t find what you like 26 times, you’re maybe too picky.