<p>In my experience, popular intro classes had 150-400 students - with discussion sections limited to no more than 30 students.</p>
<p>The upper division lectures, of course, get smaller with a max of ~50 students - and even some of these classes had smaller discussion sections.</p>
<p>With regard to professor access, I had quite a few professors begging students to show up for office hours. </p>
<p>In a large university, you can be the anonymous brainy student who shows up only on test days and somehow manages to set the curve, or you can be the active participant. It’s up to the student to make the experience his/her own.</p>