When discussing faculty ratios, the conversation typically comes around to class size, which of course is an important manifestation of student:faculty ratio. Going beyond that, an important benefit of small class size is access to professors outside of class. It’s one thing for faculty to have iffice hours when they are accessible to students, but it’s something else for a professor to be available to students when s/he teaches 3 sections each with fewer than 20 students vs a professor who teaches 3 sections each with more than 40 students. When we then get into the large lecture halls, it’s hard to imagine how those professors can possibly have time to be available to the numbers of students they teach. This isn’t to say that the college with large lecture halls is a bad option, but it does mean that an applicant’s decision should factor in how Important faculty access is to him/her.
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